PPP - How to Price Your Work


Todays session on how we should price freelance design projects that we undertake was really useful. I have done a few paid projects before and have always come out of it feeling like I’ve under-charged because I have felt like charging more is too pushy and asking too much. I had always considered that for any given project e.g. a logo, a poster, a rebrand, there would be a fairly consistent price, however it was interesting to hear about pricing and how much it varies, dependent on the client, but also depending on you personally; how much money you need to make and how much you can justify charging. 

For the paid projects I have done before, I have set a fixed price at the beginning; while this is a viable way to do it, and appropriate for smaller projects with a singular outcome, we also learnt about setting a day rate, considering how much we will be working on it and how much we would ideally like to end up with you can figure out a day rate. We also leant about how confidence is really important in the negotiation process, if you confidently express the amount you think you deserve then you’re more likely to get it. Also we were told that often it could be better to have a higher price, in regards to thinking about the risk the client is taking: if they pay you more, they’ll have more faith that the outcome will be successful, however if they’re paying you a lot less, there is more room for error. 

Project Price Exercise 

  • Logo for promising new business set up by student or graduate - the nature of the client means a smaller budget, and a logo project won’t take as much time - £150. The advantages of this is that the client has a new business so if you don’t charge them too much, they’re likely to come back to you with more work if you do a good job. 

  • A re-design of an indie magazine that has already published twice but hasn’t got much hype yet - This is a much bigger project with a longer timeframe. Even though the magazine doesn’t have much hype yet, its still a business which has published magazine so you can assume they have a reasonable budget. Because of the amount of time it would take to undertake this project, about 1-2 months - £3,000 - 5,000.

  • The identity for a new summer festival in Leeds, aimed at a student audience - Given the size of the project, and the magnitude of the client, the charged price for this would be a lot higher. This description ism fairly broad so for this project it would really be a case of ascertaining exactly what needs to be designed and break it down. - about £10, 000

  • Branding and Publication design, Way finding, signage and march for a new exhibition at the Tetley - This depends on the client and what exhibition it is, this can vary depending on if its a well known artist/designer or maybe its someones first show. However, it is a big project, probably about £15,000 - £20,000.
Invoices
  • all the clients details
  • Schedule and breakdown of work
  • Your details
  • Payment terms - add a 14 day win down you must be paid in
  • Date and invoice number

UTR number - Tax

I found this session very valuable and I would definitely be more keen to do some client work, and feel more confident about pricing it. I have always thought that I would prefer to work for a studio when I leave uni, however talking about free-lancing and client projects today has warmed me to the idea slightly more. 

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