[thelist] Logo Design company graphics

[dwain]

Mike wrote:

> At 09:37 25.01.2005 -0600, you wrote:
>
>> try http://www.aiga.org.  this is the industry's major design 
>> organization.  there is even a generic contract that can be 
>> downloaded for you to use.
>> dwain
>
>
> I thought you could explain it - ?
>
>
> _____  mike s. krischker  http://webdesign-schweiz.ch/
>        webpro mailing list  http://webdesign-list.com/
>        flashpro mailing list  http://flash-list.com/
>
to determine what one should charge for graphic design work you first 
have to know what is your "cost of doing business" (cob).  you know, all 
of your overhead expenses (rent, utilities, insurance, equipment, 
software, etc.) for a month.  then determine how many days a month you 
want to work as a graphic designer and divide that number into your 
cob.  that will give you a  base "day rate".  you can then determine 
what to charge based on the time and effort (research) to come up with a 
concept and present several (open to interpretation) ideas for a final 
design.

now comes the fun part.  how will the art be used and where and for how 
long?  what use rights does the client want to lease for each use (i.e. 
web, broadcast, print)?  a usual license will allow the client to use 
the piece in a specified media for a specified time (or issue) once 
during one year.  the more rights they lease (i.e. one time, north 
american rights for one year; world rights on the web for one month) 
costs more.  the examples here are in the hundreds to thousands and even 
tens of thousands of dollars for usage.  now remember, these rights are 
in addition to what you will charge them for creating the art work.

all of this must be spelled out in your contract, that is why it would 
be a good idea to download and read the contract and adjust it to your 
needs (this time).  btw, before you start work on the logo, get them to 
sign your contract.  don't forget to have a clause for additions and 
changes or a complete redesign (especially if they sign off on a design 
comp).  indemnification is always an issue, so be sure your covered with 
a clause protecting you from a law suit.

there are more nuances to this, but i don't want to use too much bandwidth.

hope this helps,
dwain