Wanted: Album cover art

Out of context: Reply #14

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  • Bennn0

    Seems like I've started some king of debate over here, i will make some comments to make my message clearer.

    First, I have a cracked copy of Adobe CS6, it's true. But I dont do freelance at home anymore since 2 years. So I'm not going to pay 960$CAD to Adobe each year just to play on my personal project. it's not OK, i know. If you've never done it, raise your hand

    When I was doing freelance, I was adjusting my price depending on client, always. The last digipack i've made was for a band with a ok-small budget, for 1,200$ i've made the whole digipack including booklet and a vinyl sleeve. I just worked faster than normal to fit the budget, the job was good and the client loved it.

    If you charge 500$ on a job and work on it during 2 weeks, you're devaluating your job.

    Have you ever heard of a dentist or an electrician doing a job half price because his client have a small budget? Never. Have you ever heard of a dentist or electrician doing a job hlaf price to get exposure? Never.

    Why graphic designers do this? No wonder many clients dont want to pay anymore and dont understand how we can charge 1,000$ to design something when they can have it for 20$ on the web!

    As for the music industry, I understand how hard it is for bands, and I know they have super small budget. If you want to design a whole digipack and stuff (because they're is always other stuff coming in on the side) for 400$ and put 50-60 hours on it... Well, I hope you have another job cuz you wont pay your bills like that. And you're sending the message that the work of a graphic designer can worth only 8$/h ...

    If you want to help someone, like a band, its OK to make a special price, but make sure they understand whats the real cost normally so they know how much valuable the work of a graphic designer worth. Dont just say "fine i'll do it for 400$" ... explain how much it normally worth.

    It's kind of frustating that all the creative jobs are devaluated like this. Photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, musicians, writers, tattoos artists, name it! Everyone thinks they can make special price for wathever reason... 'i have a small budget' 'its just for a joke' 'it wont take a long time for you to make' 'its just a logo' 'we wont make much money out of it anyway' ... Again, who say that to any other professionals?

    So I may have sounded direct when I answered Noggin by saying that for 400$ i'd put no more than 5 hours of work, but it's the reality. I also asked him if it was only the cover album or a whole digipack and made sure he know how I charge for such a job. I could have been more subtle and polite, I understand it was direct and harsh a bit.

    • 10 paragraphs??!
      http://weknowmemes.c…
      Al_dizzle
    • you are right about everything man, we are devaluating ourselves, it's true. But in an industry so competitive like music is, the rules change A LOTMiguex
    • I'm saying it's not realistic, I'm not saying you are wrong by any means.Miguex
    • thanksBennn

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