How much does working with a graphic designer cost?
Budgeting is on everyone's minds right now, with the price of living going up, global current affairs affecting people worldwide and the concerns of an impending recession in the UK. This week at Soley creative HQ we've been considering pricing vs. value and thought we'd share some information about how we, and many great designers, price projects and retainer work to give you insight about what to expect when hiring a freelance graphic designer or design agency.
TIME
Design takes time, for each concept you see plenty of hours have gone into ideation, trial and error experimenting, researching and testing before the work is filtered down to the versions your designer shows you.
After the initial designs, Soley creative includes two rounds of feedback and amends in most project work. Time has to be factored in for these developments as well as the initial designs. It's all part of a collaborative process.
All this work has to be taken into account when pricing a project, and you should expect to see a price reflective of this time.
VALUE
As explained in my previous post, investing in good design makes you money. It helps showcase your products and services in their best light and attract an audience that will convert into a customer. Consider if the design work you are commissioning will help you reach financial goals? Now turn that on its head, what's the impact on your business if you don't commission that design work - or have it done cheaply, could it create lasting damage?
EXPERIENCE
If you choose well, your designer should be an expert in the field you are looking to commission. They have a wealth of experience to draw from, and a good designer will take design strategy into account with any project. Your design will be able to advise you on the best approach for each project, and even ways you can do elements of the project yourself to reduce the price (especially if you are looking for a hand's on approach)! A great designer will be a sounding board for ideas both for design and generally for business - we've all seen a lot of successful businesses and can offer hints and tips from other case studies.
A non- or novice designer, might not have the experience to foresee future-proofing branding for instance or know what colours/fonts etc would be most effective and can be a time drain. We see this time after time with founders whose friend designed their original logo without considering brand identity and strategy as a whole. Although initially, they might be cheaper, they say 'buy cheap, pay twice for a reason!
If you are interested in starting a design retainer, we've written a post about the value of investing here. For project work, we'd love to hear from you - get in touch by filling in our contact form using the button below:
