DESIGNA MAGAZINE DESIGNA ISSUE III 2019 2 | Page 100

VIEWPOINT
A guide to assigning the right value to your creative work.
HOW MUCH SHOULD
YOU CHARGE FOR DESIGN WORK?
You can learn a lot about the business end of
design and illustration by trial and error and
reading articles and books, and lately
browsing through the pages of the internet.
but one thing that is seemingly impossible to
get a grasp on is pricing.
Whether you are a student, a young
designer, or a seasoned pro, pricing jobs
can be one of the most frustrating parts of
the creative process. The cost of creative
work is shrouded in mystery and very
subjective. While it makes some people
uncomfortable to talk about art and money
together (as we all know creatives are really
meant to suffer through life and die
penniless), they are incredibly similar when
you think about it. What is money other
than dirty rectangles of pressed tree pulp?
Because we all believe it has value it is
valuable.
I know this subject goes to the heart of
many creatives in the design industry as
this has been a subject of many design
professionals per se. “ Most of the time
what i charge is dictated by the client” I
was ounce told by a designer operating a
Printshop in downtown Nairobi. He
explained to me that at times the condition
the client gives is that the design work has
to be free so as for him to print his work
with you. And should you refuse this offer,
they just walk to the next printshop of
which in the same building they had over
50 establishments offering design services.
Pathetic isn’t it? And as whether they are
qualified or not doesn’t matter as long as
they can use the design software in the
computer and produce something. I shall
dwell on the subject of qualifications,
pricing and who should be called a
professional designer or the many
individuals (design quacks) who
masquerade as designers everywhere.
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June 2019
completely insane. You know that there
will be many rounds of revision in your
future and that over the course of
working together you'll be as much a
therapist as a designer. Totaling those
500 hours at whatever your hourly rate is
will equal a pretty good pay day.
Athanas Oscar Olweru, is Creative Director
Oscar Design Consultants and Co-Founder The
Design Institute of Kenya. He is also team leader
creatives and editorial consultant for DESIGNA
magazine.
I know you're all dying for me to get down
to brass tacks and explain how to price for
each and every design situation, but what
follows won't be anywhere close to a
definitive guide, just some of my own
opinions and words of wisdom on how to
avoid screwing yourself and the rest of us
over by doing too much work for too little
pay. We're in charge of assigning value to
what we do. My viewpoint goes...
1. Pricing hourly punishes efficiency.
So this is a pretty bold statement and it
should be taken with a pinch of salt. As
this only works with big agencies , even
though its always an estimate. Hourly
pricing can be incredibly advantageous in
certain circumstances, like when you
receive that first email from potential
clients and, through their thousand-word
introductory essay lousy with emoticons
and unnecessarily capitalized words, they
paint a clear picture that they are
It's more than just crazy people that can
make hourly pricing worthwhile though-
-pricing any long term design project
hourly can be advantageous, as long as
you communicate clearly along the way
what kind of hours you're devoting to
the project. If the first time your client
sees your total hours is on the job-
concluding invoice, a world of hurt
awaits. It will be like being audited
except somehow more unpleasant. Be
prepared to forward them every
approving email, to itemize every minute
spent on the concepts/sketches/website /
book / computer time whatever.
Pricing hourly seems much easier than
flat-rate pricing, but because you have to
give clients a ballpark full-cost price
upfront (the total hours you plan to work
x hourly rate), you can end up in a very
tough spot if you don't have a firm grasp
on how long it takes you to do things.
You're nearing the halfway point in the
project and are already over the total
hours you're contractually committed to.
What does this mean? It almost never
means that you're paid double your
original fee. Even if you can eke out a
little extra money from the client, your
hourly rate will look more like the one
you were earning at some voluteer jobs
at age 16.
So once you have a grip on your work
flow and become more and more
efficient, hourly pricing makes perfect