Graphic design question

[competitions]

I'd imagine in a lot (maybe the majority?) of cases, customers rely on the designers to interpret/come up with the designs for the customers business, but if the customer already has the design idea in mind or even roughly sketched out and the colour(s) in mind, logically does this mean the designer charges less because then the customer is relying on the designer to do mainly one aspect, bring the design to life using their technical skills as opposed to coming up with some designs and then going through the process of approval and then bring to life?

That was one long sentence/question!

[linkartist]

It depends on what we have agreed upon for me.

If you come to me with sketches and are organised and articulate about what you want, that's fine and I would most certainly reduce the price (it is calculated based on hours anyway, even if its a fixed price, underneath the quote is an anticipated number of hours x the hourly rate )

BUT

If a client comes to me with a vague idea and says the magic words "I'll know it when I see it" - then no, I charge the full mock/revisions... because inevitably it'll probably take some time to extract the client's ideas

So, to answer you, it depends really

[Carl]

A good designer would 'diplomatically' look beyond the clients colour sense and artistic ability and concentrate on the clients potential business or target audience. How they think, what turns them on, etc. Then design and present a solution which has long term benefit to the client and his or her audience. That's basic design strategy in my humble opinion. Cheers.

[linkartist]

Agreed in principle, Carl...

But have you ever tried to convince a client that their ideas might actually be a bad idea for their business? Some are receptive to it, but sometimes, what the client wants, the client gets... its an unfortunate fact, but I do try to incorporate their ideas if they are set on certain things.

I think with clients who just want us to be the Photoshop/code monkey, well, I tend to not take those jobs on... but the reality in business is that not every project is going to be "wow", because of the client's inability to trust the designer

[competitions]

Thanks Carl and Téa, some interesting points there for sure.

[Renee Barber]

First of all, this is such a great question!

From my perspective as a designer, I believe the perfect client is someone who has some ideas about what they want, but is also flexible because the best designs tend to come about when at least two people are brainstorming. The 'bounce' is the fun part of the creative process for me.

If a client comes to me and says, I want to have my headline in all caps in a script font in this alternating shade of green and orange', I'm very likely to fire them (after my heart attack). My reasoning is simple: people don't generally hire mechanics and then hover over them telling them how to fix their car. On the other hand, people also don't expect to leave a Corvette with the mechanic only to be presented with a Pinto upon their return. (I'm so not a car person so why I chose this analogy, I'll never know, but hopefully you get my drift!)

Really, as linkartist so astutely put it, it boils down to trust, trust in the designer's expertise and also trust in yourself. If you hate a design, you won't be happy with seeing it day in and day out so speak up. However, by the same token, if you insist on having what you have in your head reproduced with no deviation, you may well be missing out on a golden opportunity for your designer to lift the ordinary to extraordinary.

Regards

Renée ♪

[De'Amour Designs]

Originally Posted by Renee Barber

First of all, this is such a great question!

From my perspective as a designer, I believe the perfect client is someone who has some ideas about what they want, but is also flexible because the best designs tend to come about when at least two people are brainstorming. The 'bounce' is the fun part of the creative process for me.

If a client comes to me and says, I want to have my headline in all caps in a script font in this alternating shade of green and orange', I'm very likely to fire them (after my heart attack). My reasoning is simple: people don't generally hire mechanics and then hover over them telling them how to fix their car. On the other hand, people also don't expect to leave a Corvette with the mechanic only to be presented with a Pinto upon their return. (I'm so not a car person so why I chose this analogy, I'll never know, but hopefully you get my drift!)

Really, as linkartist so astutely put it, it boils down to trust, trust in the designer's expertise and also trust in yourself. If you hate a design, you won't be happy with seeing it day in and day out so speak up. However, by the same token, if you insist on having what you have in your head reproduced with no deviation, you may well be missing out on a golden opportunity for your designer to lift the ordinary to extraordinary.

Regards

Renée ♪

Just wanted to let you know that I thought that was a great anology regardeless of car make/model - it made the point most of us designers face daily

[Renee Barber]

Originally Posted by De'Amour Designs

Just wanted to let you know that I thought that was a great anology regardeless of car make/model - it made the point most of us designers face daily

Why thank you! I do think it's great to be able to liaise with other designers and small business owners (especially when those two categories overlap). The more we know about each other and the challenges we face, the better able we are to find ways to assist each other.

[ahortin]

Originally Posted by linkartist

It depends on what we have agreed upon for me.

If you come to me with sketches and are organised and articulate about what you want, that's fine and I would most certainly reduce the price (it is calculated based on hours anyway, even if its a fixed price, underneath the quote is an anticipated number of hours x the hourly rate )

BUT

If a client comes to me with a vague idea and says the magic words "I'll know it when I see it" - then no, I charge the full mock/revisions... because inevitably it'll probably take some time to extract the client's ideas

So, to answer you, it depends really

I totally agree with Téa. If the client has a good understanding of what they want and obviously, if it's something that's going to work, then you'd end up spending less time on the design. In the end, the price should be a bit cheaper.

If, on the other hand, the client simply says "it has to be green", then that's not much help.

Cheers,
Anthony.