My philosophy on the topic of inquiring about a prospective client’s budget before, during, or after: I’ll be honest and admit that it’s tempting to ask what her budget is so that I can charge that much (if I was planning on charging less) or politely decline the project (if it’s less than what I need in order to take a bite out of that semester’s tuition, bills, etc). Yet, my conscious and my gut refers me back to this: if I’m in a legal bind and I go to a reputable lawyer, he isn’t going to ask me what my budget is and then create a package to suit my legal needs. If my need is great enough, I’m not going to allow his legal fees to be a barrier to hiring him. I’m either motivated by the knowledge that his lack of representation will land me in jail or my desire to stay out of jail is greater than my desire to hold on to thousands of dollars or both. Can you image going to a doctor, especially one in the emergency room, who proceeds to ask you what your budget is before deciding if he’s going to prep you for surgery to remove a bullet from you chest?

There’s just that sense of urgency and immediately identifiable value in the services these professionals offer. I’ve observed that the businesses or business owners that experience the financial comfort they seek do so by identifying the value of their skills/experience and charging accordingly. They see their service as being vital to someone’s quality of life — their prospective client, whether the client consciously realizes it or not. (They wouldn’t inquire if they didn’t have a hint of the service’s value). The successful business owner values herself. She values her client. That’s why she charges what she’s worth. It’s in the best benefit of the client.

If I make a commitment to charge what I’m worth, because I value myself and I value my client, does asking for a budget/range fall in line with that principle? I don’t believe it does. When I do the opposite (lower my price to fall within that budget, land a client/job) what I find is that I end up compromising on my standard of living and not on the adjustments I make to my design process because I’m not willing to compromise of the quality of the end product. What that course of action/behavior indicates is the following: whether I charge a penny or $1 million, the consistency of the quality of my work is going to remain the same. Asking for a budget speaks volumes of the integrity of my practices as a designer and business-owner. While we may not experience the same type of protection or benefit in this field as a health provider (who is required by law to provide a service, like emergency care, knowing that the patient cannot afford that care and subsequently benefit in the diligence of the billing department) or a patient (whose health provider cannot ask for her budget/refuse care based on that response, guaranteeing her service), well, that’s the upside of our field. We can pick and choose who we want to provide our services to. If designing according to the principles or philosophy that you stand on as a professional is a top priority for you then set your price. You’ll discover soon enough if the value of your work is worth the price tag you’ve placed on it — the clients will either roll in or out. If it’s the latter, here’s the worse of it: you charged too much, your ego is bruised, your reputation is shot, you have to build a new client base. But, those don’t really sound like the end result of the actions of a self-valuing designer, anyways. So, what do you have to lose? (Did you notice there’s no suggestion for the inclusion of a budget inquiry in David’s outline for a creative brief? I wonder why that is…)

I’d like to go back to budgeting. Personally, I charge on the service and not the timescale it’s takes to complete a project. I think clients are more reluctant to go for the pay per hour/day route as they have no idea on the efficiancy of the designer. Remeber, clients have no background info on your workflow and turnaround times, they just see what you can produce from your portfolio. If you are an experienced designer then you will have an idea on timescales, and you should have a set of prices laid out from which you can create from past experiences.

I remember when I was asked by my brothers girlfriend to discuss about designing a logo for her new business, I hit her with a very competitive price of £300 and she hit the roof lol. I tried to get the point across about the amount of time and effort I would need to put in, but she just didn’t want to pay it…so I dismissed her. Ignorance!!! Also many people don’t like the fact you are earning more money than themselves.

Just my take on things. This web site is bookedmarked.

We operate a national franchise which offers graphic design as part of an optional service, and we have a design brief/questionnaire that we use to extract the right information from the client.

Your article will help us make this clearer for the clients we deal with – which will hopefully help the sanity of the graphic designers!

Thanks so much!

I have always felt that the only way to gain professional respect from clients is to treat their projects as a “business” problem to be solved. And that process should always begin with a project brief. It forces clients to really think through the problem (logo/identity/web etc.), and encourages them to go all in and collaborate for the best solution. If you can get them to engage in the collaboration, they start to feel that they are partners in both the process, and the eventual solution.

Also as Jane (5.14.09) noted above, the document can serve as a useful benchmark when a new “player” enters the process. The new person/s can often be a disruptive force because they don’t know the groundwork that has already been laid. You can refer everyone back to the brief and determine whether new information should be added or “politely” discarded. To use a poker term, it’s your ace in the hole.

After 16 years on the design agency side I am heading back out to self-employment. I hope you won’t mind if I adapt and tweak a few things either (as Marc noted above) as I build my online presence and portfolio.

Hmmmm – I believe I will have to head over to the store and pick up a copy of Logo Design Love…

Rick
Rainy Saturday in Atlanta GA