Sure, we all know that doing our own designs, if we have that ability and time, is the least expensive way to go, but it always seems like a good idea to bring in some fresh blood and see what they can do.
I recently placed some posts on some freelance sites and one lunatic offered to design a shirt for me for $3,000!
Then some guys from India offered to do them for $8.00 an hour.
Sadly, based on their portfolios, neither one was better or worse than the other.
So ... where do you typically hire them from and what do you consider a fair rate to pay?
Thankfully, I can do my own, but I am open to the idea of hiring others and paying them a reasonable flat rate or giving them a % of sales, if that interests them.
Why? So I can have more to offer and I can have more free time for marketing and sales.
My company hires graphic artists straight from the local colleges or university. They usually start out with an internship. Our head artist looks at their portfolios. They are paid as full-time employees, not on a per-item basis, so it winds up being cheaper for the company.
I've seen rates from $50 per design to about $2000 per design.
Generally speaking though, I would say the average is a few hundred per design for t-shirts that are going to be resold that you want the complete rights to.
I go to the high school art department and talk to the teacher then after getting permission will talk to the students and have a contest or talk to the student that the teacher thinks has the best talent. Also the other students find out that it was designed by a student you'll be surprised how many shirts you'll sell.
Great stuff guys. I to design my own shirts but I am always looking for "new blood". Seattle has a great design community as well so you might post a Craigslist ad there. Who know, maybe you could set up a design trade-off, you design one and get the rights to one in return. Great way to cross-brand.
there's various "crowdsourcing" services out there that might work for t-shirt design. I've primarily used them so far for logo and website design, but the designers are pretty talented and I can't see why they couldn't create a good t-shirt design. use google and search for "crowdsource" or "crowdsourcing". One site i've used is 99designs. I got my logo design for $200 and website for $450. I'm getting the website coded for about $300.
To me, it was a much better experience using a service like that, then to try and pick a designer based on their portfolio.
Hey, I was just wondering if anyone creates a WORK-FOR-HIRE agreement with artists and then copyright the design, with them as the "author" and you as the owner.
Hey, I was just wondering if anyone creates a WORK-FOR-HIRE agreement with artists and then copyright the design, with them as the "author" and you as the owner.
Is the work-for-hire agreement even necessary?
It's a good idea to have some type of contract in place, especially when intellectual property is involved.
Alot of the scope of the price has to do with the actual design itself. If you have a vision of what the design is and you know the art direction... then the next step is execution.. if you are looking for a mona lisa, then expect to pay a mona lisa.. if you are looking for a simple font and a smiley face.... Depends on what you are looking for really... if your looking for concept art
Last edited by Rodney; April 16th, 2008 at 03:45 PM.
Reason: link dropping generally isn't bad :) But the topic is "the method" not looking for specific designer recommendations
Where do you hire designers? 
I am not a woman. I am a man. It's just a nickname. Honest.
