I have been asked to submit a bid for a major contract by the end of this weekend. The email was sent to a number of large companies…and me! This is an amazing opportunity for me to pick up some evening and weekend work. I am a new graphic designer and I want to charge a flat rate for projects, not by the hour. I don’t want to bid too low or too high but really have no idea what to charge. The company needs flyers, posters, manuals, brochures and ads on an ongoing basis. What flat rate should I charge for the initial design AND what should I charge for editing the content of their monthly newsletter, for example. Thanks!!!!
I just want to clarify that the only service I am providing is the design. The company is going to do the printing through their in-house print shop so I won’t be spending any money on paper, ink etc. I create the design for them, PDF it and email it to them. I want to do a flat rate because even though I have great design skills, I am pretty slow so how can I penalize them with an hourly charge? I am confident that I will get faster with more experience so in a few years, my “per hour rate” is going to increase even though I’m charging a flat rate. I have tried being sneaky and getting quotes from “real” design shops. They all charge by the hour and want to see the project before they quote on it. Thanks for responding so far.
Hi. Me again. I only do print design, not web design.
Thanks Charlie D for your advice. I will have to give this whole thing some thought. It will be very difficult to raise my price significantly if I’ve been working for them at a very low rate.
