Advice on being approached about design?

[viral-divinity.livejournal.com]

Hello all, I find myself in need of some advice.

Earlier today, I was noted by someone on FurAffinity, who said they had stumbled on my page and inquired about a commission. But it wouldn't be anything that I'm used to - they requested conceptual art of a computer case design they were going to be building. And they would like it to be a collaborative project. (Which I have no objections to! None at all; it's just different.)

They already had something in mind, and my designs vs their designs would be more of a back and forth collaboration in setting up the design groundwork for their computer case. They'd be able to work out the dimensions and whatnot, as they would be building the entire computer from scratch, and I'd be in charge of getting a mock up concept of what the case wold look like and they'd go from there as additional ideas/concepts were thought up.

My question is, how much should I charge for this type of work? I'm only used to doing personal illustrations for my clients, and If applicable, here is what I normally charge and do for my clients, in my ToS journal on furaffinity, prices and examples included.

I suppose I'm just a little lost on where I should go with this - how much should I charge, mainly. Or if I have anything I should be wary about in this type of commissioned conceptual art, as I've really never done anything like this before.

Thanks so much for your time in responding - if any additional information is needed, I'll be sure to either edit the main post or reply in the comments. :)

Comments

[fenmere.livejournal.com]

Treat it like one of your digital paintings. $120. It'll be a steal by graphic design standards, but fair to your workload. I'd give them 3 revision sessions for $120, with each successive revision being $20-$30 depending on how much of a break you wanna give them for continued work ($40 would be fair).

If this were on my price list, it'd be something more like $60-$80 per round. And if it were a business asking for my work, it be a lot more. But that's going outside the scope of what you're doing.

Don't be afraid to charge a fair price.

[fenmere.livejournal.com]

Oh, and you should draw up some sort of written contract that clearly states what is expected of both parties. That's really the most important thing. You can negotiate the price, but once you've started work you should be negotiation what you're doing for that price.

It can be very simply worded, but you should also be clear as to how much of the work is yours and how much you should be compensated for giving them your rights to that work.

This sounds very serious, and it is, but it can be done very quickly and easily with little fear on anyone's part. Just say something like:

For full rights to the design, to alter and reproduce as they see fit, the client agrees to pay $NN plus $NN for each revisionary round. I, the artist, reserve the right to copy, display and share all versions of the preliminary design, including the final comp for the purposes of my portfolio.

Then write something about how a revisionary round will go:

A billable revisionary round shall consist of a discrete file or set of files that represents a completed comp based on an agreed upon set of instructions from the client. This may not include one or two minor changes or corrections made to the final design, but is calculated at the discretion of the artist.

Then, when you're doing the work, be really clear and up front. "OK, this is going to comprise a new billable revisionary round. Is that OK with you, or do you have more changes you'd like to add?"

A comp, by the way, is a version of the work you are creating.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

Alternatively, maybe some kind of per hour charge if this could take a while...?

[thaily.livejournal.com]

Don't forget to charge an additional fee if they want to start producing them to sell them.

[fenmere.livejournal.com]

Those are called royalties, and aren't always used. For this kind of work, it's probably easier to sell the reproduction rights up front for a large sum than it would be to negotiate royalties, but only because they used the term "collaborative."

When the client uses "collaborative" it indicates that they don't really understand the design process and may be trying to reduce their costs unfairly. It's a warning sign, but can be worked with.

Almost all design work is extremely collaborative with the client.

I also recommend everyone interested in taking on this kind of work to peruse the graphicdesign community.

[viral-divinity.livejournal.com]

They, thanks so much for the advice. :) I got a note from the guy after I quoted him and he said $120 was a little out of his budget. (But he liked the idea of the rounds and I think was alright with the price for each successive round,) I noted back and explained that it was to cover my butt for labor costs and, because it wasn't a project that I was going to dive into immediately, asked him if he could save up for the initial $120 or if he had any wiggle room to save at all. (And asked for his budget. It's a project I'd *like* to peruse, but at the same time, I'd really not get knocked down so low that it's not worth my time.)

I have yet to get a response, but if this goes forward then I'll definitely keep this in mind and implement it at the start of the transaction and each billable round. :)

[fenmere.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the disheartening thing about graphic design is that most people have no clue what's really involved on the artist's end and how much it's actually worth. You'll get a lot of "Oh, wow, I can't afford that." even for prices that are unfair to you. But it's really important to watch out for yourself and make sure you don't overbook for too little money.

This kind of job can balloon into way too much work if you're not careful with it.