"How much am I worth?"

Designers and non-creatives alike, have all ask themselves this questions at somepoint or another. Personally, you are the ultimate source of your self-worth. This can be tricky to figure out though and can depend on a number of factors ranging from, experience and education to emotional maturity.

A few things to consider:

1. Conduct yourself in a professional manner and always get everything in writing. Email works fine, but some sort of contract with an outlined pricing structure and timeline is always best.

2. Ask yourself, “What are they asking in terms of design?” (Seems you have this with your comments on what design projects are expected.) Is this a new logo build or an adaptation of the old one? Will you be handing their corporate identity standards manual along with a logo design, letterhead, business card template and so forth?


2. Ask, “What are they asking in terms of leg work?” Will you have to provide the materials and negotiate printing costs and budget for final product shipping? Do you have to provide the finished pieces and do installations for said artwork? Basically you just need to know if you are strictly designing the art and handing it over for them to send to processing.

3. What is your time worth? Are you currently employed with a 40hr+ full time job and this will break into any other time you have or are you freelance with more time to devote? I say never charge any less, per-hour, than you would if you worked for a corporation as a base price point.

4. How much time will this take? Day? Months? Year? What is the timeline they have in mind? (The shorter the time the higher the price for rushing.) Make your time valuable so you have incentive to continue when it looks like your drowning. If the answer to number 3 was x amount for 1 year of work, and they want the same amount of work in 6 months, be sure to double that.

5. No matter what, always always always design in vector format - Illustrator/InDesign. It’s the mark of a seasoned designer. If you go into Photoshop thinking your design will be amazing in print, for the most part, you’d be wrong. It’s not the smart, or cost effective thing to do and they’ll end up asking for it in vector format later anyway and then you waste a ton of time trying to figure out how to recreate it in vector without losing what the client has built in their mind from the original proof they signed off on. Then they get angry and have to pay more for replication cost by outside vendors.

Take the overall time in hours you plan to work or think it will take to finish this project and be sure to add padding room. It’s always best to over-estimate time and budget. Under-Promise and Over-Deliver as they say. You should multiply that time estimate by the base per-hour rate you feel your time is worth, (I’d say for a seasoned artist, no less than $45/hr.). You can then demand half up-front before submitting the logo design. This is a common practice with freelancers that I know and I myself use.

Also, NEVER, EVER, EVER give them high-resolution composites before you are paid at least your up-front fee. When you present to them, outline your timeline, cost expected for the project and the 50% up-front / 50% upon completion compensation you expect. I also make the up-front amount non-refundable in case they back-out half way through proofing and demand money back.

If you’re looking for Pay-by-project vs. hourly salary breakdown, then I’d say,(depending on what you have to do in totality.), you should factor in your experience a little more heavily. Will this take an art-house intern a week do vs. your highly skilled and efficient, two days? Figure out what your competition might charge for the project, before submitting the first round of proofs. If they back off from that amount and request to see the proof first, offer a low res jpeg proof. This keeps them from using your vector file illegally by shipping it off to FedEx/Kinkos for letterhead reproduction. Also, demand a smaller up-front fee of your choosing. If they say no, chances are they are using you and will take you for a ride and not pay you in the end citing some “technicality” or “miscommunication” when pricing was concerned and now they have you tied up in litigation for years and they got a complete re-design for free. Always remember, a designer’s work is valuable even if it’s not used. Never do something for free that includes a first proof. Be clear about this from the get-go and never back down. Show a backbone and they will respect you in the end.

Good luck!