Time=Money
Every once in a while I run into a client who truly doesn’t seem to grasp this concept. It’s a pretty simple one.
Time=money.
Cheap things are cheap because they aren’t made well or didn’t take too long to make. Expensive things are expensive because they are higher quality and/or take considerable time to create.
Design is no different.
I’m sure you heard it all before. Whatever the industry, you can have it good, fast, or cheap. But you can only pick two. This is especially true in the world of graphic design, and here’s why.
Option 1) Good+Fast=Expensive
Translation: You can have it good and fast, but it’s going to cost you.
Imagine a big New York advertising firm. A new account lands on their desk, and this client needs a state-of-the-art advertising campaign, in a very short time. This firm takes on the challenge, but in order to meet the stringent deadline they throw all of their best people at it; schedules get rearranged, other projects get put on the back burner, long hours are worked, and the midnight oil is burned.
The resulting campaign is amazing and on time. But the client will be receiving quite the hefty bill for their troubles.
This only makes sense, since an obscene amount of extra manpower was spent making this project’s deadlines doable. And to make it good, probably even more time was spent on quality control. Time=money.
Option 2: Cheap+Fast=Fugly
Translation: You can have it cheap and fast, but it will look like crap.
I always think of online design contests, or do-it-yourself logo “design” software. Yes, it’s cheap, and yes it’s fast. But the thing is, it’s going to look cheap and fast.
Think about it. For someone to work that cheaply and that fast, they must be churning out whatever it is like an assembly line.
Things are going to fall through the cracks.
Whether it’s quality, or the strength of concept, you really can’t have it all. Something’s going to have to be traded. So since so little time was spent on it, it’s cheap. But also since so little time was spent on it, quality suffers. But, it was fast because there is no time investment. Time=money.
Option 3: Cheap+Good=Slow
Translation: You can have it cheap and good, but it will take a while.
This is a good option for those who have a tight budget, but who are willing to be patient. I recently took on a logo design project for a friend, who was starting up his own music production company.
Like most start-ups, he didn’t have much money to burn. But he knew the kind of work I produced, and was wiling to wait if I could accommodate his budget. I was happy to, since his project was a low priority and I could get to it when I had the time. The results will be good, and cheap; they just won’t happen overnight.
His logo will be good because the project was drawn out and there was time to catch mistakes and fix them. There is also no hurry to come up with a strong concept, so I can sleep on some ideas. But it will be cheap because a huge amount of woman hours will not be spent making it happen quickly. Time, once again, equals money.
Give and take
In this world there are always trade-offs. Whoever tells you can have everything you want, the way you want it, 100% of the time is lying to you. If you want something fast, good, and cheap, it’s time to wake up. You can only pick two, so start deciding which two it’s going to be.
What about you? Do you follow this philosophy when pricing your services or goods? Do you ever get push back from customers? What do you think is fair?
Sheila Patterson is the owner and Creative Director behind Apex Creative. GCU professor by day, brand identity expert by night, she loves all things related to design. When she's not creating amazing logos and websites, you can find Sheila tormenting her husband and two feline furbabies, catching the latest Game of Thrones episode, or reading a good book.
Naps are nice too.
12 Comments. Leave new
Thanks Sheila. Good stuff here. Must have paid a high price for such wisdom. Also paid long hours of development. You’re a better than good teacher.
Hi John, thanks for reading, and for your compliments! You are too kind.
I would agree. I have not thought about it this way before.
I do think that option 3 may be closer to –
Cheap + Ok/decent = Slow.
It is still hard to make a living if you only have cheap + drawn out clients so they need to be few and far between if possible.
Hi Jon, hope you enjoyed. I agree, the last option is not at all ideal, I’m just trying to show that, with anything, there’s always give and take.
I think it is possible to have good/decent with cheap, as long as clients are willing to be *very* patient. This doesn’t happen very often 😉
I did enjoy and agree 🙂 Thanks for the incite!
Awesome, you’re very welcome! 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Sheila. This is one of my all-time favorites. We used to have a poster of this hanging in our studio. It’s such a simple concept, but it’s surprising how few people seem to really get it. Everyone wants it all and can’t seem to understand why something has to give.
It’s definitely a complex topic, and there are no black and white answers. I have two favorite quotes that I always bring up at work, and I think apply well to this topic:
1. It’s really hard work to make something look this simple.
2. Anything worth doing is worth doing right.
People always like to stress to me how important a project is as a justification to why we should cram it into the schedule and knock something out as quickly as possible without a lot of thought. My rebuttal is always that if it really is that important and that game changing, shouldn’t we give ourselves time to be thoughtful and strategic about it? That doesn’t mean, of course, take our sweet time and let it just drag out forever. But it does mean taking a step back and making sure we are putting our best foot forward.
Hi Stephanie,
thanks for reading! Totally agree, there are no black and white areas with this. LOL you bring up a great point; why would a business want a fast ‘n dirty ___ done, if it’s so important? People always want something for nothing, it seems.
One problem i’ve always had with this equation is Good & Cheap. In 20+ years as a designer, I don’t think that option applies. Perhaps Acceptable & Cheap. But, good? I dunno. Good takes time.
Or, when time is of the essence, good takes an extra layer or two of active, thinking, responsive and responsible minds to solve the problem — which get’s us to good, and takes care of fast. But, obviously eliminates cheap.
I suppose cheap and good could mean that we do things on very slow time frames or with no pressing deadlines. But, … is that a successful way to run a business? We want revenue and cash flow, and we want to assure our clients that we are solving problems for them in an efficient manner.
Hi Scott, totally agree, the whole “good and cheap” option is far from ideal, I simply included it as just that, one option.
Most people I work with *do* want their design work done in a timely fashion, hence the prices they pay. But once in a while, as a favor to a friend or something, it’s nice to have a low priority project that I can take my sweet time on. It’s the exception, not the rule.
Over the years I have come to learn what clients are willing to invest for quality work. Usually that starts with them showing interest in filling out my questionnaire completely and that includes their contact info. If they skip on that then it is a sign that they are not serious about their project or business. I only choose to work with people who take their business seriously and are willing to invest in their brand.
Also If they call and ask about a price, I again guide them to my questionnaire but I also ask what their budget is and explain that I can custom design a solution to meet their budget. I will not accept any budget either. If they are hesitant to tell me their budget then I still give them what I think my work costs.
Hey Sean, thanks for your comments! Those are really some great tactics, I’ll have to try them sometime. 🙂