The Advantage of Per Hour Pricing

The cost for graphic design or prepress services can vary greatly from company to company. As some charge per project and others per hour, it can be difficult to decide which pricing structure works out best for your project and budget. Many people tend to go with per project rates feeling more comfortable knowing the total costs ahead of time. However, it is often not in their best interest to go this route as much more can be accomplished in an hour than many people typically realize.

The reason that people tend to shy away from hourly pricing is that they do not have a good idea of just how much can get done in one hour. Without a frame of reference, it can be difficult to get an idea of how much your project will end up costing. However, although the cost for graphic design or prepress services can vary depending on the complexity of an assignment, for the most part, it is easy to get a good idea of how long your project will take and the ultimate cost.

When trying to figure out the cost for graphic design or prepress services, unless the project is uncharacteristically complex, one can generally count on a book layout of 100 pages to be completed in one hour. Other things that can be done within one hour, in regards to design, are the concept of your brochure or booklet, the primary layout and images for the project, the choice of fonts and styles within a layout, or the full design of business cards, letterhead, or envelopes. This shows that quite a bit can get done within as little time as one hour. At prices as low as $50 an hour, it is easy to see how this sort of cost structure can be to your benefit.

In regards to prepress services there are also fairly reliable guidelines as to what can be done within an hour as well. Files and designs have to be formatted in a specific way in order to print properly. The process of cleaning up a file in order to make sure it prints accurately can oftentimes be completed in one hour. Additionally, up to 20 new names can be typeset onto business cards that have already been designed. As so much can be accomplished in such a short time, prices of $50 per hour makes the cost for graphic design or prepress services affordable for everyone.

And, if it took us half an hour to do, then just $25 will be charged. That is straightforward...