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Erostratus posted:
It's the latter because the agent only gets paid if they can successfully sell your art. Agents often have specific clients and a network that they have built up a relationship with. So a good agent will be in a position to know what will sell or what won't for the people they work with. Getting an agent isn't a trivial matter but it is a great benefit if you get one that is a good fit for your needs. Like the galleries and anything else, you'll have to be assertive and put yourself out there to get a agent. If you do get into talks with a potential agent, make sure to ask them which artists have they represented and what were they able to do for them. I'm talking about specific stuff, like they got the artist into x gallery, or they sold 40 pieces of the artist's work to y business to redecorate their offices, etc. A good agent will be upfront about what they have done and can do. As you might have already experienced, a bad or inexperienced agent can be worse than no agent. If you guys are close to that big name artist in your area, you can ask them if they had worked with any agents that they felt were pretty good. Same for anyone else you have a personal relationship with. You'll still have to contact the agent yourself but the more information you have the better position you'll be in. Art events like art walks or receptions at major galleries can also be good networking opportunities too. Just be careful cause there are scammers out there and if they ask you for money then that's a huge red flag with very very few exceptions. Your grandmother's work is excellent. There is a good market for it somewhere for sure.
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Aug 12, 2016 06:14
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JuniperCake posted:It's the latter because the agent only gets paid if they can successfully sell your art. Agents often have specific clients and a network that they have built up a relationship with. So a good agent will be in a position to know what will sell or what won't for the people they work with. Getting an agent isn't a trivial matter but it is a great benefit if you get one that is a good fit for your needs. Like the galleries and anything else, you'll have to be assertive and put yourself out there to get a agent. So it's more of s sales pitch and interview process. I have a better idea of where to start and how to proceed now, thanks. I'll redo her book, website, and business cards and maybe get in touch with some of the more successful artist friends of her. Then start just try to network. I'd like to get her more high profile exhibitions rather than selling because that would make her day. But i'd be lying if i said i didn't also want to look after my own future and try my hand at the business side of it. Florida has a ton of rich, old people and i know a lot of artists making bank - just trying to figure out their secrets. Edit: Here's her real site http://www.joanbsonnenberg.com/ Erostratus fucked around with this message at 10:41 on Aug 15, 2016 |
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Aug 14, 2016 17:14
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Got approached last night by a guy who's interested in having me illustrate a hipstery, touristy map of local New Orleans spots. Not sure on much of the details yet, but assuming he actually gets back in contact with me this could be a really good opportunity. Seems like he works for some sorta design firm here, he showed me a picture of the previous map they'd commissioned so it doesn't seem like he's just blowing smoke up my rear end. This would potentially be my first professionally commissioned work. A lot of the details are yet to be ironed out like total size, colors, amount of writing, fonts, etc. What are some things I should be aware of going forward? Obviously I won't do any work without a contract, but I really have no idea how much to charge, or really anything else since this is potentially my first gig like this.
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Aug 27, 2016 16:07
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dog nougat posted:Got approached last night by a guy who's interested in having me illustrate a hipstery, touristy map of local New Orleans spots. Not sure on much of the details yet, but assuming he actually gets back in contact with me this could be a really good opportunity. Seems like he works for some sorta design firm here, he showed me a picture of the previous map they'd commissioned so it doesn't seem like he's just blowing smoke up my rear end. make sure your contract has at least some money up front and a bail out clause where you get paid for your work to date if things go south. go to Clients From Hell for more freelancing resources and advice
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Aug 28, 2016 14:13
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dog nougat posted:Got approached last night by a guy who's interested in having me illustrate a hipstery, touristy map of local New Orleans spots. Not sure on much of the details yet, but assuming he actually gets back in contact with me this could be a really good opportunity. Seems like he works for some sorta design firm here, he showed me a picture of the previous map they'd commissioned so it doesn't seem like he's just blowing smoke up my rear end. Everything Defenestration said, plus my two cents: Have a "kill clause" that specifies how you'll receive partial payment if the project is cancelled before completion. Mine also specifies that if files are already completed and ready to be delivered, I am still owed full payment (Defenestration already said this but I think "kill clause" sounds more bad-rear end than "bailout clause"). Specify different stages as milestones - sketches completed, linework completed, final files ready, etc. - and make client approval, as well as partial payment of the fee, mandatory at each stage before continuing. This ensures that if your client wants to go back and, say, change the entire layout after the linework has already been completed, you can point to their approval of the previous stage and either negotiate for more money, or not have to do it. Also if your client bails, you've already received at least a portion of the money from them. Specify how many days the client has to give approval, and that any delay on part of the client will delay the final delivery accordingly - that way if they are late giving the OK, you're off the hook for delivering a late project. Make sure to hash out who will own the rights to the final image - consider how many people will be seeing this and how often, and try to frame that as a separate cost in addition to your hourly rate. As a design firm they will probably want to own the rights to the final image. If they want to put this on a big 4' x 3' placard in the middle of a touristy section, ask for more money than if it is only printed as a trifold brochure available at a specific hotel. Also specify in writing that you will retain the right to display this for self promotional purposes (portfolio site, printed portfolio, etc.), and that your name will be credited alongside the image every time it appears in their publications. It all sounds a lot easier than it really is, but you get better at negotiating the more you do it. Just remember not to sell yourself short or feel bad about asking for money - this is a business operation, this guy represents a company, just do it and get paid. Good luck on that!
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Aug 30, 2016 16:48
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Same as above, and also, don't take no for an answer when it comes to having all this poo poo in writing. I have had the experience several times of a client trying to be all buddy-buddy and saying "We don't need to go through all THAT, right? We'll just be bros about it!" Don't accept that. Be an rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 30, 2016 16:57
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Word, thanks! I definitely won't do any work without anything in writing. I sent over some samples of my work today for them to check out and get a feel for my style. Gettin good vibes.
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Aug 30, 2016 17:38
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Got offered the illustration gig!! Need to respond with fee. Not sure of what to charge here. It's gonna be about 30 spot illustrations involving some type and several larger ones for the cover/back of the map, and 1 design for a cup. All due by the 20th of Sept. I really have no clue what to charge for any of this since I've never done this before. Advice?
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Sep 2, 2016 20:42
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dog nougat posted:Got offered the illustration gig!! Need to respond with fee. Not sure of what to charge here. It's gonna be about 30 spot illustrations involving some type and several larger ones for the cover/back of the map, and 1 design for a cup. All due by the 20th of Sept. I really have no clue what to charge for any of this since I've never done this before. Advice? First off, make sure you GET A CONTRACT. You can use this as a reference for writing a contract. If the person won't sign a contract, don't take the job. Period. Someone else may have a better contract resource for illustrators, that one is mainly aimed at designers. However the bulk of it will be the same. Now that that's out of the way, people commonly price projects like this two ways, either hourly or as a defined scope of work for a set budget. Either way you need to figure out what a reasonable hourly rate is for yourself. I've posted about this before: kedo posted:Here's Kedo's Ghettorigged Freelance Formula: There are also calculators that can help you figure out your rate. If you decide to do it as a scoped project, estimate the number of hours it'll take you to perform the work (say 30), then add some time on top for project management, then add a few more on top as protection against project creep/difficult clients. So if you think the work will take you 30 hours, you should probably estimate it around 40-50. If you figure out your hourly rate is $50/hr, you'd want to start your quote around $2000 to $2500. Then decide if you want to add anything else on top. Good reasons to do so are A) your client is going to make money with your work, B) you're signing away copyrights, C) your client is highly visible, or D) your client has a lot of money. When I've worked with illustrators in the past I've usually defined the number of illustrations I'm looking for and then I ask for a quote. If the person comes back with something that fits my budget, I ask for them to send me a contract.
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Sep 2, 2016 21:15
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Cool, I quoted the guy $2250 to do it. Hopefully that's not excessive, but I don't wanna undersell myself. Only problem is that the cost of living in NOLA is pretty low. Plus it's a fairly short turnaround time for 30 small illustrations and 3-5 larger illustrations. All would be due by the 20th. Guess I'll wait to hear back, but I'll write up a contract in the meantime.
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Sep 2, 2016 22:53
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Still haven't heard anything, but I got the email sent out late on Friday, and labor day. Wrote up a basic contract with what I'll do, cost, timetable, and a termination clause. Not sure about what's appropriate for distribution/rights of ownership here. Basically I expect to sell them my work and they'll have rights to do with it as they please, and I'll non commercial display rights (read: portfolio). Am I totally off base and loving myself here?
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Sep 6, 2016 04:35
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Yeah, they probably need at least a couple business days (that's business days, not long-weekend-with-a-federal-holiday days) before they'll get back to you. Calm down, breathe. It will be OK. Personally, I would send a short email next Monday if you still haven't heard anything by then. As for the contract, it's good to have a base contract form written up so that you don't have to write up a brand new contract from scratch each time. Standard clauses like kill clauses, milestone definitions, etc. can be written up ahead of time and then new dates/names/timeframes can be plugged in based on each client. However, I would not go to the next meeting with this client with a copy of your contract printed out expecting them to sign - typically, you discuss the terms specifically with the client before sending a written contract with those terms included. Coming with a sample contract could be good, just be prepared to mark it up a bit according to both of your needs. Also no, you are not overtly loving yourself - a lot of companies and firms want the rights to what you design for them, some are OK with letting you keep ownership and only granting reproduction rights, just talk with them and see. Just make sure that you are comfortable with the payment received for whatever rights you sign away.
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Sep 6, 2016 09:58
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Right on, made a general contract template that I can edit as needed. Definitely stressing the project a bit, looking at 2 weeks until they want the final drafts at this point, so time is pretty tight. Dude said he'd send out an outline today of more detailed stuff about project, so I'm inclined to call him to see what's up, but don't wanna seem desperate. I'm legitimately excited to work on this thing though and really wanna get the ball rolling.
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Sep 6, 2016 18:12
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dog nougat posted:Dude said he'd send out an outline today of more detailed stuff about project, so I'm inclined to call him to see what's up, but don't wanna seem desperate. I'm legitimately excited to work on this thing though and really wanna get the ball rolling. Sounds like the ball is already rolling! I wouldn't stress it until Wednesday or Thursday.
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Sep 6, 2016 18:40
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OK yeah, I was rethinking my stance and if I'll probably give him a friendly call or email tomorrow to let him know I'm interested/excited to work on it. Don't wanna seem desperate to get work. I kinda am, cuz this world be my first legit freelance gig and a great experience for me, if nothing else at least the interest validates me and my work.
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Sep 6, 2016 18:47
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Well got turned down for a cheaper option. Oh well. Frees up time for me to work on personal projects at least. It was a good experience at least and helped me realize what I'll need to do in the future. Edit: weirdly the guy didn't even shoot me a counter offer. dog nougat fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Sep 7, 2016 |
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Sep 7, 2016 21:04
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Sucks man, better luck next time. You did everything right though, there will be other clients in the future.
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Sep 7, 2016 21:59
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Re rights, I generally always grant full rights while retaining right to use for promotional purposes but I do denote that rights do not transfer to the client until final delivery which is retained until after receipt of payment. Some larger clients will want to negotiate that to account for pay schedules, but a lot just agree to it and I've never had an individual or small business ask to change that. It gives me a final piece of leverage if I need it.
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Sep 8, 2016 08:09
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Yeah, that's been a good set of How-To posts in arranging a contract and keeping cool about any end result. Now go get some more offers.
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Sep 10, 2016 05:50
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Yeah that's the hard part. I don't really have any established base or anything. Keep showing people my work I suppose and more poo poo'll turn up. Gonna work on my own personal stuff in the meantime and build my portfolio.
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Sep 10, 2016 06:50
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Guys, I hope I'm in the right place, I have a question for illustrators and designers. Recently, I received an email invite from Curioos, asking me to set up an account with them. Now, I'm used to getting spam emails like these, mostly from a company called VIDA, but I never heard of Curioos before, and after doing a bit of research, everything seems legit. But, I'm still a bit skeptical. I want to be sure that this is in no way a scam. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
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Sep 24, 2016 16:22
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Rad R. posted:Guys, I hope I'm in the right place, I have a question for illustrators and designers. Recently, I received an email invite from Curioos, asking me to set up an account with them. Now, I'm used to getting spam emails like these, mostly from a company called VIDA, but I never heard of Curioos before, and after doing a bit of research, everything seems legit. But, I'm still a bit skeptical. I want to be sure that this is in no way a scam. Any advice? Thanks in advance. By the word of people I know on Twitter, and some Reddit testimonies from back when, VIDA and Curioos are both real companies, but their business model involves acquiring the rights to your work and not compensating you fairly. In VIDA's case, in exchange for a waiver of your moral rights (including your right to be credited), you get 10% of profits (note: profits, not sales), and the contract has no termination date. There's a more detailed blog post about VIDA here but the gist of it is "avoid," unless they're selling something of yours that you don't mind losing control of. Frankly, if you want to make money from productions of your designs, Society6 / Redbubble / Teepublic have much more transparent and amenable contracts for you to sign, and pay about the same. Plus, those sites let you terminate at any time and retain the right to your creations. I haven't had any encounters with Curioos yet, but I expect that if they're cold-calling artists via email, their business might not be so appealing to spread via word of mouth. Approach with caution, or better yet, avoid and make sales on your own terms.
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Sep 29, 2016 23:28
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I'm wondering how much it would cost to hire an artist to produce some art for me. I'mnot sure if I should be estimating prices individually (i.e., $X per spritesheet, $Y per portrait) or as a package (i.e., spritesheet price + portrait price x 20 characters) . I want art for 20 characters to be created in two formats in a consistent style. I'm not sure which formats would be easiest for an artist, I'm not sure whether this is something I could afford to do with any combination of formats, and I'm not sure if asking for a consistent style means the price is going to be like 10x or something. Format 1. Character portrait: Clash Royale:  ,  Brave Frontier:  (And how much greater effort would it take to do something more detailed like this:  ?)Fire Emblem:  Format 2. Character sprite* sheet: Clash Royale (attack, walk in 8 directions - see the red wizard crossing the left bridge and the three goblins on the right bridge):  Brave Frontier (idle, attack, walk in forward direction):  ,  Fire Emblem (1 attack animation each, one idle animation, one super simple 2-frame walk animation in forward direction):  *- Doesn't need to be sprite. The first example for 2. Character sprite is actually a 3D model which is then animated and converted into a sprite sheet. Does anyone have any idea how much the per-portrait cost would be for each of those three games in Format 1: Character portrait? How much would I expect to pay for a single sprite sheet for each game listed in Format 2.: Character sprite* sheet? Does asking for 20 characters (portrait + sprite sheet) mean I need to spend more to find someone who won't disappear halfway through? Does asking a consistent style imply the same? Thank you for any advice you can give!
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Nov 13, 2016 20:28
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oliveoil posted:Does anyone have any idea how much the per-portrait cost would be for each of those three games in Format 1: Character portrait? How much would I expect to pay for a single sprite sheet for each game listed in Format 2.: Character sprite* sheet? Does asking for 20 characters (portrait + sprite sheet) mean I need to spend more to find someone who won't disappear halfway through? Does asking a consistent style imply the same? Thank you for any advice you can give! I'm not sure i completely understand what you're asking here, but the price is going to be dependent on a lot of things - the physical dimensions of the portraits you want, the level of detail you need in each portrait, and how much design work the artist will have to do will all affect your price. I can tell you right now though - a sprite sheet with an 8 directional walk cycle, attack animation, and idle animation will be an order of magnitude more work to produce than a single character portrait. If the artist in question has to design the characters as well - as in, you don't have any "final artwork" images of them in the style you want, model sheets, turnarounds, etc, you're looking at more than double the amount of work as well. If I understand you correctly and you want 20 character portraits and 20 sprite sheets which each contain at least 10 different animations, you're looking at well over a hundred hours of work- if the characters are already designed, modeled, and have turnaround poses created, that is. If the artist has to do all that as well, you can expect to more than double that estimate. Add in more time for corrections, revisions, etc. and you're looking at a huge amount of work. I would write up a list of exactly what you want the artist to create - including a list of each image you need, pixel dimensions for the portraits and sprite sizes, number of frames for each animation, and present that to potential artists. Be prepared for some higher estimates than you might be expecting - over the last 10 years, my hourly rate has fluctuated between $20 and $50 per hour, depending on how desperate I was for work at the time, how quickly the client would respond to me sending a bill, and how likely I thought the client would be to bail in the middle of the project. EDIT: TL;DR - the cost will depend as much on what you want produced as the artists you seek out. Make an organized list of what you need and the dimensions of each thing and the artists will be better able to give you a solid estimate. Also if you share what your maximum budget is an artist could tell you what they could do for that price. gmc9987 fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Nov 13, 2016 |
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Nov 13, 2016 22:30
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If you are asking for that much art first off make sure you get a contract to protect both yourself and the artist. Specify all requirements/expectations/# of revisions/pay/etc and make sure everything is crystal clear and in writing. You can look up templates online if you need. I would go to places like art station, instagram, etc and look at artist portfolios. It's not a problem to find someone who can do 20 characters in a consistent style but since you have a certain style in mind it's important to find someone who is a fit for it. So look for portfolios that have pieces in there that match the style you are looking for. That will tell you if the artist A) Likes the style they are going to be creating 20 characters in and B) also has a lot of practice in said style. It will also show you what to expect from the commission too. Portraits and busts will cost you less than the others, especially if its with simple/no shading and in 2D. Full body will cost more, especially if there is a lot of textures and details involved. How much it costs will depend on the experience of the artist and how long it takes them to make the work. Good artists will cost more but will also work faster and have a higher likelihood of being professional. People usually list their rate break downs somewhere on their site so that'll give you an idea of how much they'll charge. I expect you won't get a discount (people set their rates at where they are at for a reason) so if you just multiply their rate by the number of pieces you want then you'll get a good ballpark of what it will likely cost. If you do something like 2D portraits and 3D models you might be able to get away with using two different artists, one for each. Good 2D skills doesn't mean the artist knows anything about 3D and vice versa anyways though there are some who do both. It's probably easier to get 20 pieces of work out of two different artists than 40 pieces from one. Though sprites like those in clash royale are going to be extremely expensive in particular as well as those 2D animations with lots of moving parts. What might also help is to find an artist you think might work and try a few small commissions first. Maybe try getting the art for 1-2 characters and see how that works out. This also helps even in the case that you don't end up going with that artist, you'll still get some good examples of what you exactly want hopefully. You can also start with hiring an artist just to do preliminary work, like some simple sketches and thumbnails for the designs of each of your characters. That'll save you some money and difficulty in the long run. It's much cheaper to iterate and do revisions there then later on in the process. Finding someone who is going to match all your needs is going to be difficult. It's just the nature of large scale commissions like these. Like this could easily be a month or more of work depending on what you are asking for. Just finding someone who has the skills and professionalism to do a good job but isn't already so booked with deadlines and previous commitments that they can devote a month+ to your project will be pretty hard. Especially if there is no pre-existing business relationship between you two, since there are so many ways for a project like this to go pear shaped. tl:dr Get a written contract! (Just imagine the rest of this post is this line copy pasted 100 times) JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Nov 13, 2016 |
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Nov 13, 2016 23:23
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All of that makes sense. It sounds like I wanted (20 characters, ideally with full-body portraits, and corresponding sprite sheets or 3D models which I could turn into sprite sheets - I don't give them anything about the characters except maybe a few sentences or a paragraph of descriptive text for each character and the fact that I don't care too much about most of the things in the text as long as the result looks professional) is unrealistic (worst case of 400 hours at $50/hr comes out WAAAY above my budget) for less than $5k , but then it also sounds like finding someone to make 20 portraits and then I make my own terrible mincraft-esque 3D models would be pretty doable on that budget. It also sounds like I need to actually talk to artists and be super specific about exactly what I'm looking for (what size should the images be, which animation, how many frames. etc) and ask how long they think it would take them to create these and what their hourly rates would be. I'm not at the point where I need art, but now I know that hiring someone would feasible and I wouldn't have to stick with my own programmer art for most things. Thank you both!
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Nov 14, 2016 00:07
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I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to what to do to keep organized - myself as much as my clients. I do a lot of contract web design work for one particular company that has a handful of sales people. Previously, I would only get emails from their office manager, who was really good at being a go-between and conveying what information the sales people wanted. But now the sales people are contacting me directly, and they're very confusing. I'll get emails labeled like, "Please put this on the site," with an image attached and no clue to which of the thirteen sites I'm currently working on it goes. Or a dozen unlabeled emails with one image in each to put on a particular site, reminder emails for a task an hour after the original email, and so on. Asking them to include the name of the site in the subject line and the url of the site in the body of the email works for, like, twelve hours, but then they go back to cryptic emails, so it's a lost cause. Sometimes I have to reply asking them to give me the url of the site, but that just slows down my work process. Or perhaps it's something I have to do, like: an email comes in, I immediately pop open some kind of organizer app/spreadsheet and pop the information in before it gets lost in my inbox with a subject line and body that I can never accurately search for. I thought about opening some kind of ticket/help desk system, but I don't think I can count on them to use it when they can more easily shoot me an email.
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Dec 10, 2016 07:47
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That problem is not going to be solved by a tool. If you have a good relationship with someone relatively high up in the company, let them know that the current method of communication is slowing your process and costing them money (which it sounds like it is) because you don't have a single, reliable point of contact. If they're smart, they'll stop the sales people from emailing you. If they're not smart, I certainly hope you're billing for the time you spend trying to figure out what they want.
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Dec 10, 2016 17:25
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I've had a sort of an odd interaction with a potential client through Upwork. I signed up with Upwork just to have another avenue of potential clients, and the first project I worked on through there went pretty smoothly overall. This one is a bit different. The client is pretty new to the site, They joined the same day they posted this job and as such are not verified and have no prior work history or reviews. Now already this should have been a red flag, I was cautious to only send proposals to clients with verified histories and I don't really know why I sent one to these people. A few weeks pass, and they contact me asking me to do this small project with no contract of payment present so presumably for free and if the work was good enough they would give me ongoing work from there. I really didn't like the sound of this, especially since the message was generically written so I knew this was probably sent to everyone who had applied. I politely decline the job and don't think much else of it. A day or so later they contact me back, asking if there was something wrong with what they presented because I was one of several people to decline. I thought this was odd, since if this was a client looking for bottom-barrel work they would not really care. So I gave them an honest answer of why it seemed unappealing. They got back to me today, apologizing if their message sounded like they wanted free labor and sent a payment structure of $12 an hour, 5 hours a week. Which still seems very low to me. The job is for very generic "website graphics, facebook graphics, instagram graphics, etc." for a "newly accquired ecommerce site". I'm already more than likely not taking this job due to the low rate, but I'm not wrong in thinking this is weird right? I should steer clear?
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Feb 18, 2017 03:23
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That doesn't sound scammy to me so much as this: probably someone who has no experience with this kind of thing, is new to web-based stuff, and is using Upwork to try to get someone to help them. I meet people all the time who are just starting to branch out into ecommerce stuff who have little to no previous computer experience beyond just using a smartphone or doing email. They want to promote on Facebook or Instagram but they don't know how. Likewise they probably don't know how to hire or price this work so they're trying to figure it out. It's still too low a price, but I wouldn't automatically assume that it was suspicious from what you've said about it.
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Feb 18, 2017 03:38
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Also, that type of site doesn't cater to professionals in the first world. They're filled with folks who live South America/eastern Europe/Asia who can work for pennies compared to their American/western European counterparts due to a lower cost of living. I can count the number of times I've heard of someone getting a good project at a reasonable rate through Upwork or similar sites on zero fingers. You may have a hard time competing with them in terms of price. However I agree with Neon Noodle that this particular situation seems to be borne out of ignorance.
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Feb 18, 2017 18:10
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kedo posted:Also, that type of site doesn't cater to professionals in the first world. They're filled with folks who live South America/eastern Europe/Asia who can work for pennies compared to their American/western European counterparts due to a lower cost of living. I can count the number of times I've heard of someone getting a good project at a reasonable rate through Upwork or similar sites on zero fingers. You may have a hard time competing with them in terms of price. I stopped trying to find any work on E-lance, Upwork, Freelancer, and all those other websites because 50% of the jobs were given to people who can afford to work for less than $5/hour, and the other 50% of the jobs all have a description somewhere along the lines of "I need something designed, please design it" with no further details about what it is. My wife continues to use those sits to find work, however she's able to find slightly better clients because she's German and she exclusively seeks out jobs written in German - if you're able to find clients who don't, or don't want to, speak English you can typically find better quality work that way. Not great work, mind you, but better than the average. Those sites were too much work for me to put effort into so I stopped. I haven't missed them.
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Feb 18, 2017 20:40
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The marketing firm I do most of my projects for has a problem: Their sales people write most of the content on the sites for the clients. They don't want to go back and forth with the clients, and of course it takes forever for clients to send content if they do write it themselves. The trouble is, the content that the sales people write isn't always the greatest. Tons of spelling and grammatical errors, writing things like "for over 23 years..." in some places and "for over 24 years..." in others, sometimes even writing the name of the client's company incorrectly. I don't want to fix these things because I'm just being paid to design the site, but I want to propose to the owner that I charge a little extra to fix some blatant errors. How much should I be looking to charge to basically proofread and polish up the text?
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Feb 21, 2017 21:23
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BJPaskoff posted:The marketing firm I do most of my projects for has a problem: Their sales people write most of the content on the sites for the clients. They don't want to go back and forth with the clients, and of course it takes forever for clients to send content if they do write it themselves. The trouble is, the content that the sales people write isn't always the greatest. Tons of spelling and grammatical errors, writing things like "for over 23 years..." in some places and "for over 24 years..." in others, sometimes even writing the name of the client's company incorrectly. I don't want to fix these things because I'm just being paid to design the site, but I want to propose to the owner that I charge a little extra to fix some blatant errors. At least your hourly rate. I personally wouldn't get into it, if I were you. If you are not a professional copywriter you're setting yourself up for potentially terrible interactions with your clients down the road ("Why does this copy say our product is $.99 when it should be $99?! You're costing us money!"). Whether or not copy is correct isn't your expertise and it certainly isn't your responsibility unless you choose to make it so. Those are some dangerous waters imo.
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Feb 21, 2017 22:34
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kedo posted:At least your hourly rate. Yeeahhh... it just bugs me, more than anything. I've got this nice design, and now it's ruined with text that is often impossible to lay out in a visually pleasing manner. I can't use those sites in my portfolio because they look so bad through no fault of my own. Sometimes it works out and I get paid more to fix it later when the client notices and sends a support ticket, and I can charge for that.
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Feb 21, 2017 23:52
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BJPaskoff posted:The marketing firm I do most of my projects for has a problem: Their sales people write most of the content on the sites for the clients. They don't want to go back and forth with the clients, and of course it takes forever for clients to send content if they do write it themselves. The trouble is, the content that the sales people write isn't always the greatest. Tons of spelling and grammatical errors, writing things like "for over 23 years..." in some places and "for over 24 years..." in others, sometimes even writing the name of the client's company incorrectly. I don't want to fix these things because I'm just being paid to design the site, but I want to propose to the owner that I charge a little extra to fix some blatant errors. Freelance editing is a thing, if this is a problem that is actually costing the company money I'd mention to your bosses sending all text through an editor or editing service before it goes live - I work for a client deals with tons of scientific text, and have worked for companies that regularly need translations, and all of them have 2 or 3 rounds of editing before we're even allowed to show the client a rough. If your boss is cheap, or doesn't see why this is a problem, don't expect them to pony up a bunch of extra money to do it. Whatever their decision, I can say from personal experience do not just edit text, and don't offer to do it as part of your job. It'll drive you crazy having to read it but if you take on the responsibility for fixing the text you'll take on responsibility for the inevitable mistakes as well, this goes double for if you make any changes without your boss's or the client's approval. it seems wrong but you're better off letting content be handled in its own pipeline, regardless of how much you like the end product. fake edit: definitely bring to your boss's attention any misspellings in copyrighted and trademarked stuff like company names, slogans, etc., but if you get told to leave it alone, leave it alone. It's a giant headache once you get brought into the editing process in the middle of a project. gmc9987 fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 01:22
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And if they do decide they need copyedits/proofs done, I know a guy that does good work (that guy is me).
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Feb 24, 2017 01:58
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Not sure if this is the right thread for this but I'll ask anyway. I'm putting a website together for my new freelance venture and I'm struggling with the portfolio section. I've been working for a government contract for the last 4 years so the majority of the websites i did before that are offline or changed. The work i did on the contract I cant legally claim since its associated with the company. Would it look like total poo poo to have wayback machine links to previous websites I've done?
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May 17, 2017 18:17
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Jimlit posted:Not sure if this is the right thread for this but I'll ask anyway. Do you not have the source files for your old websites? It would probably look better to host them yourself than have wayback machine links. Did you sign an NDA, or is the contract work you did not for a public-facing website? You're normally able to put things on your portfolio even if you did them in the employ of another company.
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May 18, 2017 08:02
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Jimlit posted:Not sure if this is the right thread for this but I'll ask anyway. 1. Yes, Wayback links will look lovely. Use screenshots or exports of PSD layouts or whatever instead. 2. When you do work in the future, make sure your contract stipulates that you can use things in your portfolio.
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May 18, 2017 18:04
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