Get advice to help you create your t-shirt graphics. Discuss t-shirt design software, special effect techniques, or other topics related to creating a t-shirt design on your computer. If you'd rather hire a graphic designer to do the work for you, please post in our Referrals and Recommendations section here.
im trying to find a designer to transfer my ideas and concept into a file which in turn will be printed on t-shirts which essentially, i hope, will start a new and small clothing line. how much is a "reasonable price" to pay a designer?
i dont know if this is the right forum to ask this question for i am fairly new in this site. thanks in advance for your help!
Jehd, Designers are like cars you get what you pay for. The one we use charges by the hour, if our idea take him 1 hour that's it The more specific you can be the cheaper it is. If there are a lot of changes you pay for them in time. Check out the Referals section it may help, if not ask for Artists in a post. John
Reasonable is relevant to the project and the designer in question. Design fees vary from $15 or $20 an hour to hundreds of dollars an hour. For example, if you use a college student, their rates should be on the lower end of that spectrum, and if you use someone that has designed for big name clothing lines, expect to pay on the upper end of that spectrum.
interesting.. i met a guy who is willing to do it for me... he charges $75 per hour/3 hours minimum per design... i told him i will call him in 12 years...
is it cheaper to pay them by the hour? or will it be cheaper to pay them by design? im just thinking, what if they woke up on the wrong side of the day and worked on the design for 6 hours just because it was a slow day for them?
well everything is laid out from concept to ideas and only needs someone to transfer it for spot colour printing... i also provide pictures and or sample of the designs.
usually i would go, "the concept of the design is sample1.jpg, the angle will be of sample2.jpg, and the size would be of sample3.jgp".
of course, im still starting so a reasonable price would be good. if everything works out good, then of course, i'll need more, which means more projects for the designers..
is it cheaper to pay them by the hour? or will it be cheaper to pay them by design? im just thinking, what if they woke up on the wrong side of the day and worked on the design for 6 hours just because it was a slow day for them?
Not all designers are the same.
Some may be cheaper by the hour, some may be cheaper by the project.
Some may not work on a project basis and will insist that they be paid hourly.
There are lots of designer choices out there on freelance places like elance.com, guru.com, odesk.com, etc. The more you talk to, the better idea you'll have of what you like, what you need, and how much it will cost you.
Now why would you react that way? $225 for good creative is not that bad at all. We routinely see art bills of $600 plus for high end designs. Just curious what you consider reasonable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jehd
interesting.. i met a guy who is willing to do it for me... he charges $75 per hour/3 hours minimum per design... i told him i will call him in 12 years...
is it cheaper to pay them by the hour? or will it be cheaper to pay them by design? im just thinking, what if they woke up on the wrong side of the day and worked on the design for 6 hours just because it was a slow day for them?
You need to look at it from the artist's point of view also. If they charged a flat rate per design, some customers would love the first draft of the design. More often than not, there are some changes that need to be made. And occasionally, you have a customer that will change 15 different things, only to like the first draft the best. Time=money. I personally, do not work on a per design basis for this reason. Hourly fees deter customers from making unnecessary changes, just for the sake of making a change.
Now why would you react that way? $225 for good creative is not that bad at all. We routinely see art bills of $600 plus for high end designs. Just curious what you consider reasonable.
he told me a good design for him could take about 14 hours.
First off, what would you consider successful? Selling 20 shirts a month or making a living off of it? Everyone and their mother wants to "start a clothing line", but few people have a grasp on what it really takes to be successful. A clever idea? Good artwork? Guess again. Marketing & promotion are what will determine the success of your line and if you're balking at a $600 design fee, then you're gonna absolutely choke yourself when the reality of those figures hit. (plan on 10,00 to start) We get at least 4-6 people a month in our shop that want to do the same thing-one guy was in last week wanting to do 4 6-8 color designs with multiple print locations and couldn't understand why the minimums were 144 pieces per design. If your serious but a grand a design (between art shirts, printing and some small advertising) is too rich for your blood, you might want to rethink it. Not that it can't be done, but the people who have taken the simplest of ideas (TapOut is a good example) and become successful, have had connections, money and just dumb luck behind them to get them there. For every one of those success stories there's a million that tanked.
On part of the fees, i think it depends on the difficulty of your artwork.
The more complicated the artwork and then more time to cost, accordingly
the fees will be higher! So personally I do believe the cost should combine
the time and the difficulty and then give a relatively resonable price! If your
price is ok for both and the artwork is fantastic, both of us will have more chance
to cooperate with each other and a win-win goal will be reached!
graphic designer's fee? 
Re: graphic designer's fee? 
