I work for a graphic design studio, where we do mostly high end design work, and the prices are steep. Recently I have agreed to do some freelance work for a small start up company, who has a very different idea about pricing. However, their standards of quality are much lower. I don't want to outbid myself, but I don't want to work for free. I am trying to figure out a happy medium.

Are there any sources out there in print or on the web that you could recommend that would help me come up with a happy medium? Thanks in advance.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2000

Answers

Hi, Julie!

One helpful resource is "Web and New Media Pricing Guide" by Jp Frenza, Michelle Szabo. It is out of print (although I'm *sure* you can find it around) and a tad out of date (1997) -- but it's a very helpful resource, including pricing strategies and case studies for small, medium, and large design groups.

Another resource is the "Graphic Artist's Guild" handbook of pricing and ethical guidelines -- http://www.gag.org/pages/pegs.html I believe there's a new edition coming out; right now they're carrying the ninth.

The HTML Writers' Guild also has a "How to Set Your Rates" FAQ: http://www.hwg.org/resources/faqs/ratesFAQ.html. See the "Pricing FAQ" mentioned in the first paragraph for other resources, as well. So you know, the reason why the guild does *not* permit discussion of the topic on lists is that it could be considered a form of "price-fixing" -- a big no-no! I believe other guilds also actively discourage on-list discussions of this as well -- Webgrrls does, I'm reasonably certain the GAG (above) does as well.

Hope this helps!

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2000

Good heavens, someone remind me to put in more HTML tags and less "as wells" next time...

:P

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2000

thanks, roe!

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2000