what to chardge for graphics work (UK Student)

[Simplesimon101]

Hi

i'm a graphics student and i did some graphics as a favour for a friend of mine. they really liked the work and i'm now being paid to produce graphics for the charity that they're involved in. (they're paying me £9/hour)

but now someone who helps out the charity who also runs another small business wants me to help them out by doing graphics for them.

what would be a good hourly rate to charge? (as a student designer...) does £9/hour sound like a good rate to tell everyone? or should it be different as it's for a business?

thanks... any help from people in the know would be much appreciated.

 

[Eraserhead]

£9/hour seems low for a skilled job, especially as you are consulting for them. How good are you?

 

[bvonarx]

Whatever you decide to charge, above all else make sure to retain all rights to your work, or negotiate an addition fee for those rights.

 

[design-is]

If your professional about the way you conduct yourself and are a capable designer who knows his stuff I'd say about £25/hr

 

[shecky]

i would never, ever pay a student more than US$25/hour, or about £13/hour.

 

[Eraserhead]

i would never, ever pay a student more than US$25/hour,or about £13/hour

So at the real exchange rate, £20/hour is OK .

 

[klymr]

So at the real exchange rate, £20/hour is OK .

According to google:
25 U.S. dollars = 12.8211703 British pounds

and according to the Unit Converter widget:
$25 = £12.891

 

[LeviG]

According to google:
25 U.S. dollars = 12.8211703 British pounds

and according to the Unit Converter widget:
$25 = £12.891

Don't forget the UK tax like every american company (including apple) adds on. $25 is really about £15-£20 ( or if you like Vista and Adobe it should be £50 as they seem to like doubling the US price )

Personally I wouldn't pay a student more than £15 however they would need to be very good for that.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

I don't know about in the UK, but every time I'm in Europe it seems like the numerical price is the same, but it's in Euros instead of Dollars, which, in essence, makes everything about 50% more expensive for me.

 

[Simplesimon101]

£9/hour seems low for a skilled job, especially as you are consulting for them. How good are you?

yeah... i was wondering that. i'm fine doing that for the charity because they're a charity but i wasn't so sure about for someone in business... also because i'd be undercutting the pro's by a large amount it maybe seems unfair to them (like musicians aren't supposed to charge less than a certain amount for lessons because it brings the whole market down to unreasonable levels)

in answer to your question 'how good am i?' ...i guess that's hard to answer because it's relative... but i've got all 1sts and 2:1s so far in my degree if that's any measurement to go by? i guess i think i'm pretty good (probably in the top few in my class)... but i'm always striving to be better.

also i don't know all the ins and outs of the industry yet so it probably takes me a little longer than a pro to do the Job (something to take into account)

thanks

 

[Simplesimon101]

PS... sorry for the typo in the title... i meant charge. (there's no 'd' in there evidently)

 

[design-is]

Just to add... as your still learning, only charge for the time your doing their work, rather than time spent figuring things out in programs etc (if that applies to you).

When I was starting out, this was something I was always sure to do and re-assure anyone that questioned what they were paying for.

 

[appletastic]

I would not charge by the hour at this stage of your career.

When I began I charged by the job.. ignore the hours and say I'll produce XYZ for you for £200. Then you'll likely to make a little extra. A good thing about this is the client knows where they stand, have a budget and know what the final cost will be.

It's like buying a chair or a table.. you buy the final product, not necessarily the time that went into it.. so who cares if it took 10 minutes or 10 hours.. it's still the same table. As long as the table satisfies the demand of the buyer.

If you have to charge by the hour group them in blocks, so you can guarantee yourself a decent amount of work, say £200 for 10 hours work. That saves you putting lots of effort into trying to get a small job of say £50.

I tend to charge £50 per hour now, but that can shoot up to around £500 per hour for set-price jobs.. especially if there are short timescales.

 

[Krebstar]

I would not charge by the hour at this stage of your career.

When I began I charged by the job.. ignore the hours and say I'll produce XYZ for you for £200. Then you'll likely to make a little extra. A good thing about this is the client knows where they stand, have a budget and know what the final cost will be.

It's like buying a chair or a table.. you buy the final product, not necessarily the time that went into it.. so who cares if it took 10 minutes or 10 hours.. it's still the same table. As long as the table satisfies the demand of the buyer.

If you have to charge by the hour group them in blocks, so you can guarantee yourself a decent amount of work, say £200 for 10 hours work. That saves you putting lots of effort into trying to get a small job of say £50.

I tend to charge £50 per hour now, but that can shoot up to around £500 per hour for set-price jobs.. especially if there are short timescales.

That would be my advice also as a current student. At this point, charge by the project/job, and it can vary on the size of it.