So, what is it worth to you? Knowing just what to charge is a dilemma that plagues designers and illustrators. Those who work as freelancers or for small, relatively isolated firms can especially be at a loss. Although the Graphic Artists Guild’s Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines goes a long way towards setting a standard for fair market prices, nothing beats a dialogue between peers.

The Electronic Pricing Game, an event put on at the end of October by the Graphic Design Exchange (a committee of the New York Chapter of the Guild), addressed the pricing dilemma. Prior to the event, 12 illustrators and designers submitted a variety of projects for presentation: a cartoon illustration, gift wrap design, a corporate holiday card, a book jacket collage illustration, a museum brochure, a publicity kit, a newsletter, an annual report, an identity project, a website, an interactive CD-ROM, and a direct mail postcard series. The participants also filled out a lengthy form detailing factors which contributed to the price of the job.

The event itself followed a fairly straightforward format:

1. Each project in turn was projected onto a large screen for the audience to view. Hard copies of some of the projects were also on display at the front of the auditorium.
   
   
2. Audience members received a copy of the forms filled out by each designer or illustrator, with the final estimate and invoiced amount blacked out. The audience was also encouraged to ask questions about each project.
   
   
3. The audience bid on each project, each calling out the amount that they would charge for the work themselves. The range of bids was noted.
   
   
4. The actual estimate and invoiced amounts were revealed. At this point, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions about the decision-making process, and to discuss what factors they weighted most heavily in making their bids.
   
   

The range of bids for each project was broad. For example, "guesstimates" on the book jacket collage ranged from $500 to about $8,000; the actual invoiced amount was approximately $4,000. Another illuminating revelation was that a broad range of approaches were used to creating an estimated and invoiced price. Each participant seemed to have her or his "magic formula": some based their fee on a flat fee derived through experience and comparison to market rates, others based their fee on an hourly rate applied to an estimated total hours of work. Some participants charged up to 20% markup on outsourced materials and services, others no markup at all.

As can be expected with an audience containing a high proportion of students and new professionals, much of the information presented was fresh and new. Sadly, though, the concept of sale of rights for original design and illustration seemed to be unfamiliar, even to some of the seasoned veterans. One individual who claimed to have several years of experience expressed delighted amazement that the book jacket collage illustrator negotiated additional fees for when the book is eventually published in paperback. That audience member asserted erroneously that sale of rights between book publishers and illustrators is not an industry standard. Hopefully, this event will help educate designers and illustrators to not undersell their talent and abilities.