Design services can be for anything. If you need a graphic kit designed but not printed. If you need a logo designed. If you need a logo improved or a redesign. If you need brochures or flyers. If you already have the designs but need them turned into usable images for social media banners and profile images. The need for design services is endless.
If the customer has nothing but ideas and a need for a design, I need to know every detail, idea, and expectation you have for that design. I will ask a variety of different questions based on the design needed. I need to know what the design will be used for and what it will represent. I need to know if certain colors or images must be included or excluded. I need to know the design’s intended use to ensure the design is completed to the standard for that particular use.
What to expect during the design process. First, I like to talk to the customer and ask all those questions that I stated above, along with other questions directly about the specific project. Once I get all the information I need to get started, I will invoice the customer a design fee of $50 (non-refundable fee). If the design is purchased, the $50 fee will be credited as the first hour. Once that design fee is paid, you will get design options to look at within a few days. This is where the customer can make changes to the designs. Those changes will be made and sent back to the customer. Changes can be made as many or as few as the customer would like. Invoices are sent out every 4 hours of billable design time, or for every week, whichever comes first.
If the customer gets the first set of designs, and those are what they wanted, no changes are needed; we can then move on to completing the process. The designs are formatted to the file extensions needed for project use.
Your final design will also come as a PGN (with a transparent background), an EPS file (for future editing), a JPG, and a PDF. At the end of the day, you can use the design for anything from letterheads to decals to screen printing.
The final invoice will be emailed to the customer, and once the invoice is paid, the customer will receive an email with a link to the cloud account to download only their files. These files are only in the cloud for 30 days. If the customer needs those files resent to the cloud, they can be resent for 15 days. If they need to be resent after that, there is a $25 fee.
Can I work on retainer? Yes. I currently offer two different retainer options. Option one is for a guaranteed 4 hours a week (Monday through Friday)of design work. This option is an auto-pay that is paid every Friday for the following week at a rate of $200. If design time is not needed, that money is not refunded or carried over to the next week. If design time is needed, the customer only needs to call or email with project details. That project will start that day. If the project exceeds 4 hours during the week, a separate invoice will be sent at $50 per hour over.
Option 2 is a monthly retainer that is auto-paid on the 1st of every month. This will cover Monday through Friday, giving the customer 40 hours worth of design time per week for the month at the rate of $3200. If, for some reason, design time exceeds 40 hours in a given week, those hours will be billed at the end of the week in a separate invoice at a rate of $20 an hour. With this option, a weekly meeting either by phone or video conference is needed. If services are not needed at the time of the meeting, all the customer would have to do is contact me with project information during the week when services are needed.
