Do you charge for artwork?

[James Wallace]

Was wondering whether any of you out there charge for artwork or whether you include it? I have had a couple of times when I've done the design work and then the client has gone elsewhere - waste of my time, but I'm afraid if I ask the client for money they'll just go elsewhere.

[Naomi Archer]

No I never charge - don't think you can really unless you're a graphics or design agency.

[Morgan The Sign]

No I never charge - don't think you can really unless you're a graphics or design agency.

Naomi, let me ask you a question. What is the difference in you working four hours in front of the computer and four hours in the workshop applying your design on a van.

I would suggest nothing!

It is your skill, knowledge and expertise that you are giving to your customers for free. You are working for nothing. Be proud of you designs and charge for them. I have done since I started eight years ago and my customers are happy to pay and keep coming back.

[dano555]

whats a rough charge for artwork, up until now i havent charged but now when customers ask for the design and then dont have their signwriting done here ive just given away the design basicly

[EricT]

I usually build it in with the price of the job and work out my time at £10 per hour. Can price you out if you charge too much but then I don't want to work for nothing!

[ScotGold]

It's really down to how much work is involved as compared to the anticipated margin on the overall job.
We've had clients who expected a full, gold-plated design service and wanted to spend a few pounds on the final product.
Based on experience, what we tend to do is absorb the artwork costs on high value work (ie factor it into the total price)
Where we anticipate that more than an hour's studio work is required, we quote on artwork charges as a separate item but give the client the option of shopping around to see if they can better our studio rate or produce the artwork themselves. (another can of worms, being sent a publisher or DTP file!!)

Where a client has not paid for studio time we retain IP ownership.
Where the client has paid for studio time, we supply the vector artwork in whichever formats are required for future use and make no claim to IP rights.

It's a good idea not to provide editable or unlocked artwork proofs until the client has agreed to terms (ie they get us to do the artwork and then place the order elswhere). To avoid this, we often 'watermark' the digital proof copies to prevent unauthorised use.

Having said this, we do get caught out occasionally but simply have to take it on the chin.

Chris

[James Wallace]

Like the idea of the watermark and locking the file - that will help avoid the problems Ive had with clients going elsewhere.

I have had the joy of customers supplying their own files. A children's drawing image supplied as a pasted image in a word document was my particular favourite. Had to redraw it!

[Adam Wyles]

Like the idea of the watermark and locking the file - that will help avoid the problems Ive had with clients going elsewhere.

I have had the joy of customers supplying their own files. A children's drawing image supplied as a pasted image in a word document was my particular favourite. Had to redraw it!

Its good to know that those 'challenges' are still out there! Thank heavens for expresso!

[Marc Busby]

Receiving thumb nails taken off the internet and the request to enlarge them is still my favourite request

I hear this arguement quite a lot when I'm teaching courses at our academy, and I'm a firm believer that you should always charge for your work. As people have already said, how much you charge is completely dependent on the job. If you're going to send proofs, I always find that a water mark works better than locking the file, but make sure you go overboard with the water mark, make it complicated so its difficult to edit out.

Regards,

[BurtsBoyz]

What I do is water mark everything sent for proofing then if they go through with the work I include it in with the price. If they decide not to get me to do it I charge them £50 for the work as an eps pdf and a jpeg