OT: Pricing Design Work & Creativity

I watched the first 15mins but as usual in the creative world its all bullshite.

The presenter got a bit 'defensive' when they were role-play acting in reference to the 'client' asking about the hourly rate charged for designing a logo. The 'client' questioned why would it take so long to design a logo. The 'designer' basically said he wasnt interested in the client but more about his own 'creative desire' to design a perfect solution, however much time and 'clients' money it took, using the client as a cash-bag for his own creative purposes rather than considering the clients needs and budget. Of course a lot of creatives DO have a desire to produce the perfect solution in their eyes but must not lose sight of they are working with a client and the client also has needs which must be a consideration.

As it is the hourly rate in this instance was immaterial in terms of the overall budget being discussed - that's why the presenter said he personally didnt charge by the hour, but by the project. Assuming the budget for the project is 'astronomical' who cares about the hourly rate. If you can't make money out of the budgets being discussed then you should not be in the job. The real skill comes when trying to make money out of a restricted budget, then hourly rates and time most certainly do count because you generally always end up spending twice, three times as long as you quoted for.

In the 'real world' most clients will not be able to afford the budget/s the presenter was talking about for designing a logo and applying that logo. 10k for applying the finished logo to a business card, letterhead and email blast - very few companies could afford that. Of course we dont know if that 10k included the printing etc,  which would be more realistic depending on the print run required and the number of different 'personal' business cards which had to be produced, so there is a lot of missing information in the presentation, which is to be expected while ad-libbing.

This is less about how much to charge and more about how to 'get into bed' with bigger companies. i.e., don't waste your time with smaller companies because you will be doing the same amount of work for considerably less financial returns than working for a big company. If we were all honest, which we are not, we would charge the big company the same price as what we charge the smaller one in terms of actually designing a logo, it takes no more or less time.

Take the presentation with a pinch of salt as the majority of creative types will never be in a situation, working with or for blue chip companies were budgets are generally more lucrative.