Pricing Considerations for Wide-Format Design

If you offer wide-format printing, it’s safe to assume you have a decent system of how to price your production services. But when it comes to graphic design – increasingly a service offered by print providers – the pricing of design services often receives too little thought. I’m not referring to minor tasks like changing a spot color or resizing a logo, but rather, designing the visuals, logos, text and combinations of elements into completed graphics to be printed. Here are a few common pricing approaches, along with some considerations for each.

Project-based pricing.
Setting a price for each individual project offers a great deal of flexibility, based on the customer’s budget, the the complexity of the design, the difficulty of the client or any other factors. It will likely include some estimate of your time and your hourly design rates (another topic all together), but will result in a price that the customer can depend on to get the results they desire. The key is making sure you know exactly what they want and the process it will take to get there.

Time-based pricing.
While different approaches to pricing may include time-based calculations, this is billing for the time you actually spend. You log and get paid for the time you spent. The risk for your client is that a price that is not set – though it’s wise to offer estimates – but this allows them the flexibility to try out options and change direction more freely along the way, because you get paid for it regardless. For this, your customer may deserve a lower hourly rate than project-based fees, given that you have less risk.

Pre-set pricing.
This approach involves pre-determining design prices for different types of work you offer. For instance, posters, banners and logos would all have set prices, or pricing options to choose from like good, better, best. This creates a high level of clarity for your customers, with little for you to think about from job to job. Just ensure you can deliver results the customer expects for the pre-determined cost.

Value-based pricing.
This approach involves pricing your design service based on how valuable it is in the market (to your customers), or at generating results. Like the saying goes, “something is worth however much someone else is willing to pay for it.” This approach has the likelihood of being questioned by potential clients, given the difficulty of measuring the “value” of your work. But if you find yourself fortunate enough to have made a name for yourself, in a situation where results can be clearly measured, or trading your services for alternative compensation like a percentage of equity or profits, then this approach offers the greatest ROI potential.

Whichever approach or combination you take, the important thing is that you put the thought and analysis into a pricing model that makes sense (and dollars) for you, and your clients.

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