Design Costs Money
Friday, July 13, 2012
Why is the budget discussion so tough? The American Institute of Graphic Artists, the professional association for design weighs in:
As one very seasoned and gifted designer says, "There is always a budget," whether it is revealed to the design team or not. Clients are often hesitant to announce how much they have to spend for fear that if they do, the designer will design to that number when a different solution for less money might otherwise have been reached. This is a reasonable concern and yet, it's as risky to design in a budgetary vacuum as it is to design without a goal. If your utility vehicle budget stops at four cylinders, four gears and a radio, there's no point in looking at Range Rovers.
If you have $100,000 to spend and you'd really like to dedicate $15,000 of it to something else, giving the design team that knowledge helps everyone. Then you won't get something that costs $110,000 that you want but cannot pay for. The trust factor is the 800-pound gorilla in the budgeting phase. Without trust, there isn't a basis for working together.
The ideal approach is to bring in your designer as early as you can. The design team can then help you arrive at realistic cost parameters that relate to your objectives in lieu of an arbitrary budget figure. At this stage it is quite feasible to put together a budget range based upon a broad scope of a project or program.
As one very seasoned and gifted designer says, "There is always a budget," whether it is revealed to the design team or not. Clients are often hesitant to announce how much they have to spend for fear that if they do, the designer will design to that number when a different solution for less money might otherwise have been reached. This is a reasonable concern and yet, it's as risky to design in a budgetary vacuum as it is to design without a goal. If your utility vehicle budget stops at four cylinders, four gears and a radio, there's no point in looking at Range Rovers.
If you have $100,000 to spend and you'd really like to dedicate $15,000 of it to something else, giving the design team that knowledge helps everyone. Then you won't get something that costs $110,000 that you want but cannot pay for. The trust factor is the 800-pound gorilla in the budgeting phase. Without trust, there isn't a basis for working together.
The ideal approach is to bring in your designer as early as you can. The design team can then help you arrive at realistic cost parameters that relate to your objectives in lieu of an arbitrary budget figure. At this stage it is quite feasible to put together a budget range based upon a broad scope of a project or program.
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