A question of cost


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Suppose you had to make a photo album.. 40 pages, around a 100 something pictures in it, and you give it to a designer to tweak the layout and stuff. How much would you expect to be charged? Does $200-250 sound reasonable?

The pictures are all ready, no editing required. Just have to arrange the pictures properly in the album, make it look classy and presentable. Thats it.

200 sounds fair right?
 

Suppose you had to make a photo album.. 40 pages, around a 100 something pictures in it, and you give it to a designer to tweak the layout and stuff. How much would you expect to be charged? Does $200-250 sound reasonable?

The pictures are all ready, no editing required. Just have to arrange the pictures properly in the album, make it look classy and presentable. Thats it.

200 sounds fair right?
Errm. It might be fair to a novice designer. But to those more experienced ones, it might not be cheap. Why don't you look for someone at clubsnap to do it for you. Might get a good job than the shops out there. Or try it yourself. A personal touch is something money can't buy.


GMAN
 

uhhh...no no you got it wrong.. I am the one who is charging :p

A client came to me and asked to make a wedding album... I have done other stuff before, photo retouching, editing, even made posters banners etc...never an album. Didn't know what to charge...and couldn't find anything on the internet.

I can be considered a novice designer I guess.. I have the skills but not the experience soo...200 seems reasonable right?
 

uhhh...no no you got it wrong.. I am the one who is charging :p

A client came to me and asked to make a wedding album... I have done other stuff before, photo retouching, editing, even made posters banners etc...never an album. Didn't know what to charge...and couldn't find anything on the internet.

I can be considered a novice designer I guess.. I have the skills but not the experience soo...200 seems reasonable right?
Yeah, it's fine. Haha. Sorry. I got it wrong. But that price include materials?


GMAN
 

Charge according to what you think you are worthy of. :)
 

Charge according to what you think you are worthy of. :)

That really doesn't help...I have a bloated ego..so if I charge according to that...the client will go bankrupt. :p

no seriously, I would charge reasonably provided i know the standard cost a designer would charge...
If say, a professional would charge 500..then maybe I would go to around 200...something like that.
 

That really doesn't help...I have a bloated ego..so if I charge according to that...the client will go bankrupt. :p

no seriously, I would charge reasonably provided i know the standard cost a designer would charge...
If say, a professional would charge 500..then maybe I would go to around 200...something like that.

Experience and portfolio = Your charges.

Never be scared to charge higher if you can deliver. If it's good, people will pay for it.
 

You have any works to show? I may need some services like that in the future.
 

i think 200 sounds fair. yeah.
 

materials?
no just giving the album files..illustrator files probably. They want to print it themselves.

Find out where it'll be printed as different vendors have different file acceptance standard. If you are designing the book on Illustrator, path it and save to pdf.

Some of our Pro Photographer clients outsource their book design and layout to graphic design students, freelance designers at $5 a page. It's kind of low price but an average book is 40pp to 80pp, 4 to 8 books a month is a decent amount of work and value.
 

... $5 a page :bigeyes:... is it any wonder graphic design students and freelance designers price themselves too cheaply here...
 

... $5 a page :bigeyes:... is it any wonder graphic design students and freelance designers price themselves too cheaply here...

...
uhh..I am a graphic design student :p
multimedia design actually, but GD is part of my curriculum.
and...I charged $7 a page..for 56 pages. ..
*cha ching*
 

Is your pictures/screen calibrated to their output printer?

This maybe a problem if it doesn't match and you may not like the output.
The cost is there... printer calibration ;p
 

from the pictures, you can try printing from some of the photobooks recommend @ the service sub forum.

From there you get your cost and see if it worth the effort and how much closer you are near to your D90. :)
 

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... $5 a page :bigeyes:... is it any wonder graphic design students and freelance designers price themselves too cheaply here...

A graphic trained designer or photographer would have little issue in setting it up and get it done in a few hours or a couple of days depending on the complexities. That’s why some photographers are not keen to do or sell coffee table books, it’s just too time-consuming. But it’s a nicer way to present the images, and “up-sell” to the same customer, a great value-add to a package. Some photographers are getting more deals because of the quality in the deliverables in coffee table books. Outsource the design and layout at a low cost, or most photogs would just do it themselves.

The next question is, at what costs? Production cost is fixed, your time cost is based on productivity. If getting a book done in a couple of hours is very productive and profitable, getting the same book done in a couple of days is extra time cost without extra money. It’s good money for layout only, a full page or double spread image is just drag and drop. You would need lots of templates, motifs, etc,. The question is: Can you do it in 2 hrs or 4 hrs? Do you need 2 days or 4 days?


you can take a peek at the album here : Link

Its still the first draft though..waiting for client's critiques...if she likes, then I give the pdf versions, get those lovely singapore dollars and I am one more step closer to buying the D90 :p

You are a sub-contractor; do you have the permission to post online? Your client and his/her clients do not need this publicity from you, it had to be discreet as a designer.

Your design are double spread, seemed more for flushed mount album. 56 pages would be too thick. If it’s coffee table book, you may want to take note of your bleed and trim, images on center spread would be split into 2 sheets of papers. 12 X 12?

Is your pictures/screen calibrated to their output printer?

This maybe a problem if it doesn't match and you may not like the output.
The cost is there... printer calibration ;p

No image editing, colours are not designer's responsibility. But designer would have an obligation to advise the photog if the colours are off.

Printer calibration is print vendors' responsibility. You do not need to worry too much about output printer if your colours are consistent. You're working in RGB, just have to take note that you would be eventually printing with CMYK.
 

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