As a graphic design and printing company located in the Quad Cities, we often have prospective customers ask how much graphic design costs. The simple answer: $80 – $100 an hour. However, it is honestly difficult to answer this question as it can be hard to know how long a certain piece will take to design. Customers usually want to know up front how long that will be. Let’s talk about some of the factors of cost when it comes to design.

It Takes Time

First up, graphic design takes time, but time is very relative in this situation. It is possible that a client comes to us with a perfectly designed piece. We just need to have it on our computers, in our design software, and then five minutes later, we can start printing.

That is often not the case. A client may come to us with a concept for a logo, and based on the information the client gives us, we create said logo and send it back to them as a proof. Once the client sees it, they may decide that changes need to be made: they didn’t like the overall look once it was put together, or even simpler things such as placement of words, font choices, color options, etc. All small changes take time though. The more often we need to send proofs to the client because of small changes, the longer it takes our designers to finish the artwork.

It is more cost-effective to come to a designer with more details. For example, if a customer comes to us with ‘I want a logo for my tree business,’ it gives us a good start. Yet if a customer comes to us with ‘I want a logo for my tree business. I want the logo to feature an evergreen tree and a serif font. If the logo can be inside a circle and only use green and black as colors, that would be great. Could I have a complex and simple version of the logo as well?’ – we are more quickly able to create the logo they have in mind.

We are happy to work with any clients – those who have print-ready artwork, those who have a concept, and those somewhere in-between, but quality graphic design work takes time, which also costs money, and is a factor in the overall cost.

Ability to Change

Working with a graphic designer – and print company – also gives the client the ability to change almost any aspect of their artwork. This can add cost of course, but it saves money in the long run if the client may need to make changes in the future. Hopefully your business plans to stay around for many years to come, so if you decide to change the logo or even fonts later on, the process can be quick and simple instead of recreating the material from scratch.

It Needs to be Print Ready

Another factor that many people may not understand is that digital artwork that comes to us needs to be transformed into print-ready pieces before we can actually print them, and the time on this ranges greatly. For instance, you may have a business card that is designed perfectly, but we still need to set up the card to print on 13”x19” paper, so instead of printing out one business card on a sheet, we can print 20. These all need to be spaced correctly and lined up from front and back if they are 2-sided. If pieces are more complicated, such as booklets, folders, or workbooks, the process can take a longer amount of time. And time, as we all know, is money.

Knowledge in Graphic Design

Not only do files need to become print-ready, but our graphic designers need to have the knowledge of how to set up files for print, routing, and a few other machines to make sure that printed pieces come out correctly.

Our designers did, in fact, go to school for this. One of our designers graduated from St. Ambrose University with a Bachelor of Graphic Design and a minor of art history. Our lead designer went to the School of Art at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois for 4 years. Between the two of them, they have over 20 years of graphic design experience. They have been trained and now have plenty of experience in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Acrobat, FontBook, and the Microsoft Office Suite. Additionally, they have access to thousands of stock photos that many others do not.

It’s not just knowledge on design software and printing, but our designers have knowledge of design concepts, what is aesthetically pleasing to both people and our brains, as well as what people do not enjoy seeing. They stay up-to-date on design trends and follow many designers and design pages to stay in the know on changes throughout the years. We all know that even the largest companies to exist have changed their logos, designs, and signage throughout the decades. And guess what? One of our designers is an artist herself – check out a few of her pieces below!

We Aren’t Price Gouging

It may seem like an easy question to answer, but the cost of graphic design work will continue to vary widely because every client who walks through our doors – digitally or physically – has different needs, wants, and budgets. We want to satisfy our clients with the best possible design while also keeping their budgets in mind. We track the time we spend on different tasks, and we do not automatically charge our hourly rate for graphic design if the work only takes us twenty minutes.

We work with small businesses, individuals, non-profit organizations, and corporations – and we have no intention to price gouge any of our clients. Our designers work hard to have artwork that is print-ready for whatever your needs may be.

If you have questions, we are happy to answer them whether you are local to the Quad Cities or we would need to ship the products to you. We can always give an estimate when it comes to graphic design time and cost, but it is only an estimate as the changes that could come up during a project – however large or small – can change the final cost.