paulscottondesign
41 Years Experience
Marbella, ES
Male, 58
I have been in the graphic design industry since 1981 working in London, Los Angeles & Spain. My career started in the traditional way on a drawing board, using Rotoring Pens, Magic Markers, Pantone Pens & Letraset working as a Designer/Visualiser/Artworker. My design career has taken me through the music, toy, t-shirt, packaging & print industry. I am now a freelance graphic designer (British) based in Spain with many clients worldwide ...now using Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign on a Mac.
As in 'make' I assume you mean 'design'.... I have designed marketing flags for different companies. Mainly real estate who put out flags on new developments etc. Pretty boring design jobs as all they need is a logo and a bit of text ...but if a client is paying then I design for them.
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UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . I used to charge per hour but most clients like to know the final cost before they commit to using me. So I always charge per project now ...I give a client a price based on the brief they supply but also tell they that if the brief drastically changes I will add extra costs ...so they have to agree to this before I start. I take 50% deposit on all jobs plus only supply low res watermarked images of the designs for approval and only give the final hi res version once the balance has been paid. I never take a deposit off of my regular loyal clients as I have had them for years and can guarantee payment from them. As for doing jobs for free ...NO, I never do anything for free or at a discount. I have bills to pay like everyone else and all my clients get charged the same amount depending on the job. Graphic design is an investment in a company. When starting up (or well established) all companies should have a marketing budget. I have some clients say that they have just spent loads on office furniture, computers, etc, etc so do not have a lot for their logo, marketing etc and come to me with a begging bowl ....well, that is not my problem. They are the ones in control of their companies spending and should work this into the budget before spending it all. At the end of the day people start up businesses to make money right? ...so why should I offer my services next to nothing so they can be the ones making the money. I work for myself and I am in a business to make money too.... graphic design is not my hobby, it is my career and has been for 40 years. If they want cheap either do it themselves or get an inexperienced wannabe designer sitting at home in their bedroom with no outgoing expenses ...then they will see they will get what they pay for. I get all sorts of offers to get me to design for free ...mainly promises of regular work once they make money ...or telling everyone how good I am so giving me loads of exposure... well, when I first became freelance I thought that was a good idea and accepted clients like this ...but guess how many of them turned into regular clients ...a big fat ZERO. Plus their companies did not last long as they did not plan their monthly marketing budget ...they just spent money on irrelevant fancy things forgetting that the most important thing is branding and marketing as that is what gets them the work. So after all that I guess you know my answer to you asking for something for free ....NO ...lol
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UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . Well ...I have learnt my lesson over the years ...never work for free or on a promise as it never ever works out in your favour. Ask yourself these questions:Do you know these people well?Do they have a success record with other projects making money?If they are investing money into making these cards, why are they not investing in your time and design work?At the end of the day, if it is very little work for you then you will be investing very little time into this project ...so if the equity % is good then go for it.If there is loads of work involved which eats into your time of other paying jobs and the equity % is poor then do the maths and you will probably say no.
Ask them about how much work is involved and how they plan to market these cards and then honestly value the potential of these cards doing well.
If you can see that it will lead to nothing then give a quote for your work ...or offer a discount for a small equity % ...if they can afford to print the cards and market them then they can afford to pay a designer.... if they can't then they have no money and are grasping at straws.
At the end of the day, do not under sell yourself ...good luck
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We are all human and mistakes happen. At the end of the day if a mistake has been made in a design job make sure the job has been officially signed off by the client. I always make sure I check, double check and triple check and then when I send to the client I tell them in the email to check everything carefully as I will not be responsible for errors once approved and signed off. This usually gets them to proof it with a fine tooth comb as they realise that once they approve the job it is in their hands. I remember back in the 80's when I designed record sleeves, a cover was approved and went to print. When the all records got delivered the producer picked up the sleeve the correct way up and the vinyl record fell out the bottom ...lol. Luckily I was just the designer and not the artworker ...there was a difference back then when computers were not used. I was the one that designed the covers on a sketch pad with felt pens, then I went to a photoshoot with the band ...then the actual final artwork was done by an artwork department that placed everything into the cutter guides etc. A very different process than nowadays. So the artworker had mistakenly indicated the front cover to be placed the wrong way up. No one checked and it went to print. They all had to be printed again... the record company was not happy at all but l was not to blame. In todays industry us designers have to make sure everything is checked carefully. I once did a typo on an advert (a number was missed off the telephone number). I did not spot it and the client did not spot it and the advert went to print. The client noticed it once it was in the magazine and was not happy at all and was on to me by email straightaway and wanted his money back. I apologised but pointed out my email had said that "to check everything carefully as I will not be responsible for errors once approved and signed off". He apologised and admitted he did not check properly ... but I also apologised too as it was my fault I had missed the number (but actually I think it was cut and paste from his text and he was the one that missed it). But anyway I value my clients and gave him the next design job for free as compensation, even though it was not entirely my fault. This was about 7 years ago and til this day he is still my client. So at the end of the day, no matter whose fault the mistake is, always keep the client happy as it will be to your benefit in the end.
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SWAT Team Commander (Retired)
How much protection do those bomb disposal suits really provide?
Hairstylist and Makeup Artist
What's the grossest hair ailment you ever saw?
CPR Trainer
Are you supposed to perform CPR differently on a man vs. a woman?
UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . Well if you are a professional designer you should really have the Adobe Creating Suite in which you can do this. But if it is just a one off job and you do not want to spend money on expensive software then please check this link out for free alternatives to Adbobe Illustrator... https://vectorguru.org/featured/alternatives-to-adobe-illustrator.html ...hope this helps
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UPDATE...I have now written a guide to becoming a graphic designer. It is available as Kindle or in print ...check it out here... AMAZON LINK . Sometimes, not always, depends on my mood on that day. If have to design something cool and funky I may listen to upbeat music ...if I have to design something more laid back and classical I listen to relaxing music ...it gets my mind in the right mood for the theme of the design. Hope this answers your question.
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WHAT???? ....I think you have drunkenly stumbled into the twilight zone ...this lockdown is affecting your brain ...lol
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