[Aibrean]

I had one person complain like that one time and all I said was "you fired your other designer because their stuff looked like crap".

This is my 2 cents (from my blog)

Make sure your designer is proficient on the spot and keep with that same designer (why ditch someone that works well with you and produces results that work?). The designer should be someone you feel comfortable working with and can trust. The designer should be good at what they do. So many times I get a client that had a previous designer work on the project and they were unfamiliar with proper design techniques in that medium. A logo created in Photoshop is going to looked pixelated and blurry on a billboard. Make sure your designer knows what they are doing. Look into their clients, references, educational background, etc. Your design is an investment, and you want to make sure the most able person is working on it. You don't want to invest into a designer that can't do the job and then have to pay someone else to recreate it.

For less than £50 it's either a student that doesn't know what the hell they are doing (even if it does look pretty its probably not SEO or standardized) or a template that everyone and their brother has too.

[Heka1]

I have ran into many many many either taking my time for granted or get freaked out with what I charge. I have to explain to them that hey, how about we sit down and talk about your site and I can give you a quote for your site and if you like what you hear and see from me that we can do business together, and if what you are seeing doesn't fit your needs then we can part ways and you have only wasted your time, and not spent a dime yet.

This has won over a few clients once they find out all that I offer on my website design/development.

[Cooper]

Originally Posted by Heka1

I have ran into many many many either taking my time for granted or get freaked out with what I charge. I have to explain to them that hey, how about we sit down and talk about your site and I can give you a quote for your site and if you like what you hear and see from me that we can do business together, and if what you are seeing doesn't fit your needs then we can part ways and you have only wasted your time, and not spent a dime yet.

This has won over a few clients once they find out all that I offer on my website design/development.

Yeah, even just putting it in terms of raw hours - in the case of the OP, £300 isn't a drop in the ocean. Even at lower end freelance rates that's maybe six hours worth of work. As a design buyer I'd be concerned that the price quoted wasn't going to allow enough time to get the job done right, I'd expect a might more than half a day's work to go into a website design and build and would consider a £300 quote to not be nearly enough.

[Tim Nooteboom]

The funny thing about people that use that kind of "discount" prices is that they mostly don't have any overhead and are usually students that don't have anything else to do. You can abuse situations like this and let someone build a completely complicated Flash for just a fraction of the price.

You probably wouldn't get that much quality though but it's a great lesson for them

[dreamtenstudios]

if you spend $20 per page, expect it to look like you spent $20 per page...

[appleeatsorange]

The 2012 Olympics logo cost £400k - and it is a pile of crap.

[d*d]

Originally Posted by appleeatsorange

The 2012 Olympics logo cost £400k

don't be silly, the logo itself didn't cost 400k

[Soup Of The Day]

Originally Posted by d*d

don't be silly, the logo itself didn't cost 400k

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1553545/Olympic-chiefs-under-fire-for-'puerile'-logo.html

Excerpt: "But the logo, which cost £400,000 and took the best part of a year to be devised by brand consultants Wolff Olins, came up against widespread disapproval yesterday, with one Jewish person even ringing the BBC to complain that it was reminiscent of the infamous Nazi SS symbol."

Sad.

[seen.to]

Well we know how they came up with the 2008 Olympics logo:



How did they manage to come up with the 2012? I prefer this one myself:

[milani]

For 50 dollars I'm sure you get what you pay for. Making a flash site that actually works well with web browsers and search engines would certainly warrant charging more than 50 dollars.

And that Olympic logo is probably the worst thing I've ever seen... even if it were free.

[Justinskie]

I see the frustration, the normal client wont.

They want it done, and not necessarily done well at the cheapest cost, and they never take into account changes and edits after the job is done, whos gonna do them, and when.

They also don't give a rats fiddler about the net, web2.0, theory, design and navigation, css, databases, etc etc. UNLESS its directly affecting there cash flow, lead generation or income or such. Revert to original point, they still want it done at 50 bucks as all it involves it making a few buttons change colour... right?

[SpooF]

I know this topic is rather spread out but it seems people are stilling coming back to it every once in a while. When those common people say they can get a site done for less than $50 or euros they are talking about places like Web Templates, Flash Templates, Website Templates Design - Template Monster Its true you can get a site for that price, but it wont be customized and in a week you might run into 10 more sites with the same design, exactly the same one. That's the part they don't realize.

[Sgt Badass]

Newbie business man time to step in again...

First off, the London Logo looks crap but in fact it is an absolutely fantastic use of design. Notice how every single company that uses it is able to use it to their own advantage, use their corporate colours and embed it within their own branding?

This is good because it means they can promote themselves along with the Olympics which will be the event of the decade for the UK. It's also got amazing publicity because everyone hates the logo.

This brings us to the next thing: the cost of work. It seems the design and web industry is stuck in a rut of costing work based on the work that's done. The value of your work is not based on your experience, qualifications or how good an artist you are. The value of your work is linked to what value it brings to the customer.

If I had a small plastic disk that cost 5p to manufacture yet it directly made my client £500,000 that year, then I would be valuing it at around £100,000, maybe more. I might even license it.

If I create a website that will mean my client can sell his products and make a million, then I expect to be paid based on that.

What's more, the key to getting the job is to explain this simple scenario to the client. I guess we've all had some dunderhead turn up saying "My new idea will be the next Amazon". Yeah, sure, in that case you've surely got a couple of hundred thousand to spare then, huh?

Usually not. If the guy or gal is serious about their business then they will expect to pay a serious amount for their website. If they want to make a mint but only have a few hundred quid, then tell them knackers.

[urban1977]

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