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After a few months of talking this friend of a friend I decided to hire him to help me design my next shirt. He's never designed a shirt before, but he's done logos, environmental graphics and some packaging stuff. I figured since this is only my second shirt and he wanted to get a shirt design to his resume we'd both help each other out. I got him to sign a contract (similar to one from this site), paid him $300 up front and emailed a bunch of photos that captured the vibe of what I was going for in the shirt.
About a month later I get an email with around twenty sketch ideas, all sorts of stuff. He asks me to pick the top three I like. I tell him I really like just the first one (which I wasn't amazed with, but I figured it was a rough draft and it was on the right track to what I wanted), but I point out two others that are cool enough. About another month goes by and over the weekend I get about a dozen variations of my first two choices, mostly color changes in the background or placement of my logo in different spots. With my favorite design I'm not really happy with it...maybe 50% happy, as it needs more detail to define what it is you're actually seeing (a guitar, in this case) and showing it to family and friends I'm getting mixed opinions as to how much it looks like a guitar.
In our contract I agreed to pay $300 for the first draft of the work and $50 an hour for work beyond that. He's technically given me two drafts, right? So I understand I gotta pay for more revisions to the design--which he says I'll need to start doing, seeing how he's already invested 20 hours of his time into this project.
So...anyone had an experience like this? We signed the contract, so I gotta pay if I want to finish this--I don't dispute that. But I don't know how much more work is needed to get this design where I want it and I really wouldn't be happy putting what I've got so far on a shirt. On top of that I was doing a Google search for the images I'd sent him, doing a little review, when I found a drawing of a guitar that would have been PERFECT for what I was after. If only I'd found it sooner I could have made that guy an offer.
Anyway, I'm thinking I have to take the financial hit as a learning experience, but I'm curious to hear what other designers and folks who hire them have dealt with. Thanks.
move on to someone else... preferably sumone with more shirt experience (in the end, when it comes to separating the art... the experience will make less headaches)
Yeah, he acted surprised when I said I'd paid $200 for the design on my previous shirt. But reading messages here I've all sorts of prices being paid for a design, so I let it go, seeing that we had a mutual friend and I wanted to be respectful of his skills & time.
for $300 you should have a FINISHED, perfectly separated piece of art to every specification you requested, completed QUICKLY... served with a big steak dinner
My best friend has been struggling with designers for months and his experiences are very much like yours. My advice to him from the beginning was to work with an experienced designer with a portfolio he likes. You might spend more upfront but an experienced designer will probably intuit what you want and get very close on the first go around, many I've seen will also do the first revision at no charge. It's tempting to save money but the world is lousy with so called 'designers' who are not really designers but people who have taught themselves to do basic layouts. When you find the right person you will know it, their portfolio will speak for them.
As for the friend of a friend, it sounds like he is better at milking than designing, this guy is taking you for a ride. It sucks but I would cut my losses and hire someone else.
20 hours...on sketches??? I'm sorry but that sounds a little shady to me, unless these are really detailed sketches. Esspecially if you provided him the reference ideas and he didn't have to spend hours researching on his own. I'm a slow artist and rarely ever charge by the hour and that still seems a bit crazy to me. I would suggest dropping this guy, take the work he's provided so far, since you like it 50% and then go to someone else to finish it. Also, a month between revisions...eh. You have to pay what you owe, but I wouldn't drop any more into this person. Honestly, for $300, he should have given you more than one set of revisions before the 50 an hour.
You need to be communicating with the designer all the concerns you have. That will help make sure you guys are on the same page.
You also need to be able to communicate very CLEARLY what you are looking for in the design. If you aren't getting what you want from a graphic designer, then a lot of times it can come down to you not explaining what you want so they can deliver it. If you are unsure, then the designer can only keep "guessing" at what you want which will cost you time and money. The more clear you are, the better experience you will have. If you could have described that perfect image, then the designer probably could have delivered it to you.
So I definitely wouldn't put all this off on the designer at this point. If they have to keep working at figuring out what you want, then they have to charge for their time that they are putting in if that's the way you guys setup the contract.
That being said, I would have suggested that you take the $300 and start a guaranteed prize t-shirt design contest at 99designs.com. You would have received probably over 100 designs from talented designers and you wouldn't have to worry about going over budget because you set the budget out front.
Why not send him the guitar you found and say this is what your looking for.
Now he knows what you want and has no reason to dink around with it. Both are now on the same page.
I tell my customers for websites , graphics etc to send me what they want. Rough draft it, sketch it whatever. That way theres no miss-communication, and I have a starting point and I know what they are looking for.
Nothing worse then spending hours working and finding out I went in the wrong direction.
So send it to him, tell him this is what your looking for. If he don't produce then you know to move on.
It's tempting to save money but the world is lousy with so called 'designers' who are not really designers but people who have taught themselves to do basic layouts.
+1
This man speaks the truth
See, i've always been an artist since i was five, been in the printing (on paper) industry since 19...
Been nothing but a Graphic Designer since and i'm 35...
This background really helps me in what i'm doing now... hell, i've been doing color seps for well over 18 years...
What you need to keep in mind is this...
When hiring a "Graphic Designer" you need to keep in mind that there's a lot of people out there who kinda fake it... there's all kinda "creator" software out there now that automates what many of us real graphi designers have been doing for years...
I pay my guy between 300 - 400 for a complex design.. Less for a simple one.. if i dont have time to do that..
But that covers a finished design.. that im happy with..
.. also.. my designer is local.. and He gets no money till the design is done.. ..
reallllllllllly reallllllllllllly complex designs.. dont take any more than a few days with him..
I agree with what Rodney says.. in that You really have to tell them exactly what you want and or need.. i used to be more carefull wording what i said to him.. like i was worried to hurt his feelings.... Now that I know him better.. I just say.. NOPe that aint right.. I need it this way.. redo this.. ect...
rodney is right... communication is huge... that way nothing or very little is left to chance... it's probably even a good idea to get a designer who isnt a friend... than you won't feel so bad if you dont like the designs...
good luck...
rodney is right... communication is huge... that way nothing or very little is left to chance... it's probably even a good idea to get a designer who isnt a friend... than you won't feel so bad if you dont like the designs...
good luck...
Helpful comments, ya'all. Thanks.
IMO, I did communicate my idea the best I could. I wrote a page of notes detailing what I was after as well as several photos that captured the vibe I wanted. I'm thinking my mistake was not studying his portfolio enough to consider whether I would be happy with the results based on that. When I did my first shirt and poster I really liked the designer's previous work. In this case I thought, "Eh...he hasn't done a shirt before and the portfolio doesn't have much art in it, but hey, let's give it a shot and learn together."
Then I kept the same thought when I agreed to pay $300.
As for the 20 hours of work, I'm mixed about that. The first "draft" consisted of twenty different designs. I basically picked a favorite (and was asked to pick two other favorites) and got back a bunch of variations on two of the designs. 20/20 hindsight, but I'm thinking if he'd done a couple designs and gotten back to me sooner we could have discussed whether we were moving in the right direction and thus had more time to revise the one design I liked.
OTOH, I took a closer look at my second choice revision and found myself liking it more. So who knows...
20 hours? just for the sketch??.....$300 for a draft????? $50 per hour beyond that?????
and 20 sketches later and nothing hit the spot??????....(ok, i'm calming down now.. hehehe)...
that designer knows how to make money.
20 hours? just for the sketch??.....$300 for a draft????? $50 per hour beyond that?????
and 20 sketches later and nothing hit the spot??????....(ok, i'm calming down now.. hehehe)...
that designer knows how to make money.
Jeez, man...what's the proper amount to pay? I've read all sorts of scenarios on this sight.
And it wasn't one sketch, it was about eight sketches with variations on those (color, angle, etc.) for a total of twenty "rough" images. I got back several variations on the two I liked best...though I honestly wasn't in love with them, but happy they were on the right track. I figured we'd go back and forth on my favorite one until we nailed it. Instead I sent my notes on the second draft and got the, "need to charge $50 an hour) response.
I got an email this morning about the twenty hours...he didn't know the guitars would be so technical to draw and take so long to do.
Need opinions on designer I've hired... 
