You know you need a designer but think you can't afford it.

A client recently told me that she knew she had needed a graphic designer for her young business but thought it was unaffordable.

We are many months into our working relationship now and we have completed a number of small to medium-sized jobs together. At first I quoted on each job but now she is happy to pay per hour as she feels comfortable with the end price – she's no longer worried that she can't afford it.

Design costs differ per project of course but a good graphic designer with plenty of experience understands the value of the service. For example, something with a single use and probably low returns may only require an hour's work, whereas an e-commerce website has ongoing financial returns and warrants more design time and thought.

Apparently, (trawling the internet) the national average for graphic design freelance rates are $65-$75/hr (+GST) which is interesting as Sarah Heath Design charges $75. And less for straight typesetting.

As a guide, most small businesses require a logo, business card, website and Facebook images to get started. This averages around the $2,000 mark and most small business will take a few months to get all this done so that their sometimes sporadic cash flow is managed.

Each project is different and is quoted so that the client is comfortable and knows what to expect. Any possible extras will be outlined upfront. 

A good graphic designer understands business, has experience within your industry group and has lots to share. You will be asked questions you haven't considered and start to feel really excited as your brand unfolds.

So can you afford a designer? Can your precious business afford not to have a designer?

Every brief starts with a blank page

Design in Spring

Brisbane is at its best in Spring. Fabulous clear blue skies, warm weather and… festivals.
Festivals, pretty much my favourite thing.
Right now in Brisbane we have the Brisbane Writers Festival and The Brisbane Arts Festival. Despite Campbell Newman's apparent lack of interest in The Arts, Brisbane has managed to look great and be full of inspiring stuff right now: visually, musically and intellectually.
Closer to home, The Hub continues to do a great job, curating interesting exhibitions with really high quality pieces.
In the smaller gallery right now is an exhibition by John A Robinson and Malcolm Cassidy – I loved these pieces by John.
So what does being surrounded by all this creativity mean to a graphic designer? I start thinking about collaborations, how to create projects to include people like John. How to create projects to include the student I'm now mentoring from QUT Creative Industries, Taylah Elliott.
And I feel grateful to live in a place where creativity is valued.

Do you like me? Are you following me?

I have been on a very steep learning curve for the past year. This time, a year ago on a family holiday in Greece, four over-40s had a very funny conversation about social networking. It was revealed that we really knew very little. Guy did seem to be the most knowledgeable of us all but the conversation ended in peels of laughter and a mutual vow to learn this stuff when, to Guy's horror, he logged on to read us his company's tweets, only to find that the 23 year-old in charge of this important side of company marketing, was tweeting about his weekends!

I have kept my promise: I have been working with a fabulous woman Tanja Perl of The Perl Project who advises business, small and large, of which social networks to use and how to use them. (And yes, I designed her identity and website.)
And just last week I went to a workshop with Sam Shazzam, principal of Brisbane-based social media company, Good Funny Smart who practices what she preaches by having created and continuing to run  Aldi Mum (43,000+ likes) and School Mum (22,000+ likes) which are both a source of income.
This new knowledge is not only good for my business but crucial for being a great designer for other business.

And what about you. Are you using social networking for your business and has it earned you any money yet? Are you curious about what else you can do and have the quality of tweets improved? Tell me.

I'm on Linked In, I have a Pinterest Board, I love my Facebook page.
And I have 56 likes today. I'm aiming for 100 by next blogpost! Please like me – I'm curious what can happen.

Mentoring moments

If you have been following my blog, you will know that I have been working with Greta Bennett from QUT's Creative Industries' faculty in a mentoring role for the first semester of this year.
I remember when I was studying to be a graphic designer, I didn't really understand what the designer did – they didn't do the illustrations or the photography, they didn't write the copy… what exactly did they do?
So that's what I tried to introduce Greta to – the role of the designer.
Greta is drawn to photography so towards the end of the mentorship we worked on a few real life photography assignments. The first was for Laeta Loca and the second was for Queensland Strawberries.
Queensland Strawberries and Sarah Heath Design have created a tagline 'how do you eat your Queensland Strawberries?' and we have come up with many ways to answer this question: one being a photo essay by Greta.
You will see that Greta's photographic style is vintage so we worked together to plan the images, planning the running sheet for the day, organising any props, clothing styles – amongst other things. Here are the 9 images which will appear as A2 prints at the Regional Flavours festival for Queensland Strawberries this weekend.
Well done Greta.