How many times has a client come to you with a need and asked for a quote on how much it will cost, only to leave you staring at the wall wondering how much it will actually cost you? I ran into this issue when I first started designing and photographing and have since made friends with a lot of designers. Below is my process for quoting, and I have had quite a bit of success with it.

Concept Establishment

I start with estimating the cost for coming up with the concept of the design or project. This includes all research, investigating, brainstorming and thinking work to establish the look, feel and brand of the job. If this was for a magazine type of project, this is where you would design the mast head, a couple spreads,  and generally put in place what it will look like. This I like to call “Concept Establishment” and I put down the approximate number of hours it will take to do this.

Concept Implimentation

Next point is to say how much time it will take to impliment the concept into each page or spread. Now that you know what it will look like, you do not need to spend more time than you need to in order to continue this project. This number should be nearly the smallest in this quote. I quote by page or by spread and then multiply it by total number of pages or spreads.

Cover Design

Next I put down how much time it will take to come up with a total cover design that really emphasizes the internal guts of the magazine. This is extremely important to the overall design of the project as it is the number one thing the customer will look at first. Dare I say “Judge this book by its cover please?”

What about the Extras?

Now that you have the core set up, what about all the extras? Tables? Charts? Stock photography? Illustrations? No problem. I just put a note at the end saying how much each would cost for each. I spend about half an hour per chart and mark up my stock photos a certain %. Illustrations are a bit harder to say, but you should still mention something.

Once you have completed these steps you should have something similar to this:

Project Name:                           Dan’s Magazine
Pages:                                          20
Due:                                             June 30, 2009

Contact:
Name:                                          Dan Penton
Phone:                                         403.555.1234

Concept Establishment:          4 – 6 hrs
Concept Implimentation:       10 hrs (0.5 hrs/page)
Cover Design:                            2 – 4 hrs

Extras
Charts/Graphs                          0.5 hrs/each
Stock Photos                             $20/each
Photo Editing                           Shop rate/hr

Total time required                 16 – 20 hrs + extras

Conclusion

And there you have it. The client will get a good sense of what it will cost you and you have completed the first step in your project after the Discovery Meeting. Let me know how it goes

Thanks Candace for sending this in! I love it!

Thanks Candace!

So I’ve seen a few photographers work in different ways, some are organized and some fly by the seat of their pants. From my experience, I’ve found that this can lead to some problems such as lost files, memory cards that are full from your last shoot or inconsistent exposures. I like to be organized and stick to a system so that I do not loose things and my pictures can consistently turn out well. Here is a quick process list of how I work my system from preparation to the shoot all the way through post-processing.

1. Before the shoot I always make sure I have my memory cards in my bag, lenses clean and batteries charged. Do this the night before.
2. Review your kit the morning of the shoot to make sure you have all your gear lined up. If you need two lenses, pack these, plus your flash. This is a no-brainer. What is important is leaving out the gear you don’t want to take, I hate taking more weight than I need. I usually pack my camera body, one mid-range zoom, one telephoto and one prime. Always take at least an extra battery, memory card and charge cords if you can.
3. Reset your camera settings and make sure you choose your correct ISO, White-Balance and click on RAW + JPG.
4. During the shoot, do you your thing. Make magic!
5. Immediately take the images off your camera and store them in a particular system. I always store mine as follows:
   a.    Year Folder > Month Folder > Specific Date (taken off the camera)
   Eg.   2009 > May > 05.31.2009
   b.    Split this folder into RAW and JPG.
   c.    Add a “Touched up” folder so you can preserve the original photos.
6. Format the memory card once you have the photos backed up.
7. Do your post-production work.
8. Clean your equipment with micro fiber cloth, lens pen and rocket blower.
9. Put your toys away.

Using this system, I have improved my work flow and quality of my work dramatically. Not to mention being able to find all my photos when I need to reference them later.

In this article I will guide you through my design process of creating the logo for World Wide Views (WWV) Canada offering insights into not only the thought process behind creating the logo but also the creation of the logo itself.

The main objective of WWV is to give a broad sample of citizens from across the world the opportunity to influence the COP15 negotiations and thereby the future of global climate policy. The overarching purpose is to demonstrate that political decision-making processes on a global scale benefit from the  participation ordinary people.

Taken from http://www.wwviews.org

The first step in the process is to meet with a representative from the group and discuss the purpose and direction via a Discovery Meeting. In this meeting we talk about the technical details such as due date, deliverables, quantity, as well as the creative side. The creative side is a little more difficult and this is why I am a firm believer in Creative Briefs. Below you can see the notes I took and two pages Edna filled out as well as three quick samples of what she might think it could look like. This is a perfect starting point! (Click for larger images)

A funny thing about the samples I always get is they always seem cheap, look like “clip-art”. This is exactly what to expect, but even though they are extremely low quality, your job, as a creative, is to identify the key points your client wants to communicate. Take note of the samples.

The key messages she wanted to communicate are this:

Canada                 People
Voice                    Climate

And you can definitely see these in her samples, so this is exactly where to start and build your inspiration from.

After the brief is completed and you review it, I sent her a quote for the complete deliverables. This was broken down into the initial concept design and then the cost for applying it to the pieces they require.

For this job, I was to create the brand, envelopes, letterhead, business cards and brochures.

The next stage of the project was developing the brand and logo. Developing the logo design concept is where creativity comes into play. Based on the design brief and research conducted, this is where I let my ideas run wild. I brainstormed and sketched down my ideas and then experimented with them on the computer. I also had breaks between these sessions so I could reflect on the designs and have a fresh perspective on the job at hand This is a crucial part of the process when designing a logo.

When conceptualizing, some designers get too concerned with the graphic style and image of a piece while others such as myself try to convey a deeper meaning or some sort of visual puzzle into the logo. My process always starts with a black and white logo to and then add color later on. This is important because color can swing the logo in too many directions at once.

A good example of a puzzle and meaning would be the arrow hidden in the FedEx logo. Did you know about that one?

These concept based logos have a bigger impact on the viewer and when a designer creates one, they know it straight away… It is unique and adds a dimension to the experience and to the identity as a whole.

Now, here are a few samples I came up with after I had poured out my brain onto paper. I then explained my thought process and the meanings to and had my colleagues critique with their thoughts and opinions. You can see their scribbles on the sheet.

From this point, my process moves into presentation for the client. For this, I would choose my top few favorites and a throw-away piece you don’t like. I think it is important to do this for the client’s sake. You have your style and likes and they might have a completely different idea.

After we settled on a shape we added color and this was pretty obvious to us. Since this group represents the great nation of Canada, we thought we could introduce Red to the logo. I also wanted to touch on the “green” and “climate” aspects, but these did not fly.

See below for the final logo design. I also included an alternate for them to use if they wish.

Once the brand was established, we could then apply it to the other materials. See below for a link to the finished brochure that turned out great!

• WWV_Brochure

In closing I would like to say that this was definitely a learning process. Here are three things that I took away from this project:

• People do not always like your style.
• Be thorough, this is your job as a creative.
• Make it special and unique for the client. This adds value in their eyes.

Thanks for reading!

Client Testimonial

“The brochure and brand is stunning, beautiful in design and the finished product looks great.  We have everything in the mail now. Thanks for all your efforts, especially the quick turn around!”
- Karen, WWV Canada