Why do designers' quotes vary so much?
Who executes and who designs, compared.
Quick answer: Because different crafts live under the word "design." There is the person who executes (takes your copy and puts it on the page) and the person who designs: studies your customer, proposes the strategy of the piece, measures the result. Experience, process and scope of delivery all change: revisions, source files, support with the print shop. Before you compare the numbers, compare what they include.
Executing and designing: two crafts under one word
| Executes | Designs | |
|---|---|---|
| What they ask you for | the copy and the logo | who you sell to, what the piece has to produce, what you have already tried |
| What they do | puts the material you give them on the page | builds the piece around a result: structure, offer, hierarchy |
| What they deliver | the design file | the file, the source files and the reasoning behind the choices |
| How it is judged | by whether you like it | by the responses: calls, requests, coupons redeemed |
Neither one is cheating you: they do different jobs and charge for them differently. The problem starts when you compare their quotes as if they were the same service.
Compare the lists before the numbers
Two quotes with the same number and two different lists are two different prices. The line items to put side by side:
- Goal of the piece, written into the quote
- Concepts and revisions, with a number
- Deliverable files: print PDF and open source files (what files you should receive)
- Who writes the copy
- Support with the print shop for printed materials
- Delivery date in writing
Starting prices for single materials are in how much does a designer cost.
The question that sorts the candidates
The other signals to spot it before you pay are in how to tell if a designer can sell.
And is the most expensive one the best? The number alone says little. A high price with a thin list is genuinely expensive; a full price, with strategy, revisions and source files inside, often costs less than two jobs done twice.
Before you spend, have your case assessed
The Feasibility Analysis costs $147: we review material and goal and tell you in writing what we would do, at what cost and with what realistic expectations. If the project goes ahead, the $147 is deducted from the deposit.
