Sunday, April 3, 2016

The Price of Design

The other day I was scrolling through a photography group on Facebook. There was a certain person who asked a question inquiring about what one should pay to have a logo designed. She said that she was quoted somewhere around $150 for a simple design. She could not understand why it would cost so much for such a simple design. Oh boy did she start quite the heated conversation about the price of graphic design. She had all kinds of remarks stating what I have stated before. "You get what you pay for"! People where getting angry with her wondering why she would even ask such a question. Seeing that she was an up and coming photographer they assumed she should know the value of ones time. So. . . I sent her a pm. I told her that all designers are different. You will not find two designers that charge the same price for the same thing. Some are an hourly rate while others charge a flat price. There are all kinds of factors that come with designing a logo. Revisions being one of them. This is where the hourly rate gets expensive where as a set price usually gets you 2 revisions. I gave her my hourly rate and the files that she would receive and she was very grateful that I wasn't over the top expensive. I live by the rule that I am not out to get rich off of one person. But I've also got to look out for me and my family! I can guarantee you that I am cheaper than most designers out there and I can also guarantee you that my work is equally as professional! With that information she entrusted me with her business logo and turned me loose. I came up with a simple design and to both of us it was perfect. To think that others would charge $150 for this amazes me. But, it also makes me sit back and wonder if maybe I am to cheap.
Over the last couple of days I have wondered if the fact that I do keep my prices affordable is the reason that I don't get a ton of business. Do people look at my prices and think that I don't know what I am doing because graphic design is supposed to be expensive? What do you think?


- Jacob Reno


3 comments:

  1. Great thought! Although I also believe that artists and designers work so many years to get to the point of perfection. And it's A LOT of hardwork but it can be said in a nice way as well.
    As for your question, Jacob, I charge low as well and that's because I wanna be able to help those who cannot afford a 150$ logo(I know I can't)
    And believe me that's not the reason why you're not getting much clients. I don't know you but maybe it's because you're not completely putting yourself out there(that was my case when I wasn't getting good responses) or maybe you don't have enough reviews. or you're not marketing your product in a way that you should.
    Hope I helped. Thanks for this post :)

    Aiman from aimzfolio.com

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  2. Pricing is hard to work out. I took me five goes to get my blog header / logo to the point where I'm happy with it. If you were able to help that client and she was happy with the result, then no matter what you charged you're doing well.

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  3. I try to look for a happy medium price. I can't afford 150.00 for logo design and don't many people who can. Check out the competition and decide what you want to charge. Best of wishes for much success.

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