Let’s face it: putting a price on creativity is a tough, trepidatious, and, frankly, an often awkward practice. After all, the number you quote represents the value you place on your work — and yourself.

L et面对现实：为创造力付出代价是一种艰难，恐怖的做法，并且坦率地说，这通常是一种尴尬的做法。 毕竟，您引用的数字代表您对工作以及自己的重视。

For most creative types, this can be a tough pill to swallow. But it shouldn’t be. There is no shortage of content out there offering tips on how to negotiate and manage your rights. However, the majority of articles usually leave me feeling as if being a successful designer means living in a fantasy society where mastering the art of pricing is simply a magical recipe of analytical due-diligence, excel wizardry and of course a pinch of legal counsel for good measure.

对于大多数创意类型而言，这可能是一项难以下咽的药丸。 但这不应该。 那里不乏内容，其中提供了有关如何协商和管理您的权利的提示。 但是，大多数文章通常让我觉得自己是一个成功的设计师，意味着生活在一个幻想的社会中，掌握定价艺术只是分析尽职调查，精通巫术的神奇配方，当然还有一些法律顾问好措施。

In the real world — whether you are a freelancing or in-house talent, a junior designer or running an agency — pricing design work comes down to about 30 percent basic finance and 10 percent the ability to draft an airtight contract. The remaining 60 percent is everything else. More specifically, the remainder represents attaching a dollar sign to your Experience, Reputation, and Situation. Handled correctly, figuring out this 60 percent is what will close deals, result in more lucrative gigs, and allow you to become a master of pricing your work and yourself.

在现实世界中，无论您是自由职业者还是内部人才，初级设计师还是经销公司，定价设计工作的成本都降至基本财务的30％和起草气密合同的能力的10％。 剩下的60％就是其他所有东西。 更具体地说，其余部分表示在您的“ 体验”，“声誉”和“情况”上加一个美元符号。 正确处理后，找出这60％即可完成交易，带来更丰厚的演出，并使您成为为自己和自己的作品定价的大师。

Trust — and the Art of the Design Deal

信任-设计交易的艺术

Trust may be the most overlooked ingredient in price negotiations. It’s vital to understand how important mutual trust is in a designer/client relationship.

信任可能是价格谈判中最容易被忽视的因素。 了解相互信任在设计师/客户关系中的重要性至关重要。

Look at it from the client’s perspective: in a nutshell, when meeting with a potential creative partner, most clients have three perfectly reasonable expectations:

从客户的角度来看：简而言之，在与潜在的创意合作伙伴会面时，大多数客户有三个完全合理的期望：

1. Their money will be put to good use

   他们的钱将得到善用

2. The contractor will perform the task efficiently

   承包商将有效地执行任务

3. The final product will satisfy a set of predetermined criteria.

   最终产品将满足一组预定标准。

It is only fair, then, that designers have a couple of expectations of their own, namely:

因此，公平的是设计师对自己有一些期望，即：

1. They intend to complete a task to the best of their abilities

   他们打算尽其所能完成一项任务

2. Their end-work will satisfy the client and, ideally, exceed their expectations.

   他们的最终工作将使客户满意，并且理想情况下会超出他们的期望。

From a client’s perspective, the most trustworthy designers are those with the most experience who can also offer a documented history of delivering projects on time, that exceed expectations while satisfying a number of requirements.

从客户的角度来看，最值得信赖的设计师是那些经验最丰富的设计师，他们还可以提供书面的按时交付项目历史记录，这些历史记录超出了预期，同时又满足了许多要求。

In a client’s eyes, it’s easy to feel reassured when handing off a big project to a UI designer who also happens to have a proven track record of good work that is on time rather than trust a designer who has just dipped their feet in the water. However, even novice designers can build trust and gain experience by simply doing good work at fair prices while hitting deadlines and building a strong client base.

在客户眼中，将大型项目交给UI设计师时很容易放心，UI设计师恰好具有按时完成的良好工作记录，而不是信任刚刚将自己的脚浸在水中的设计师。 但是，即使是新手设计师也可以通过简单地以公平的价格做好工作，同时按时完成任务并建立强大的客户群，从而建立信任并获得经验。

利用设计经验 (Leveraging Design Experience)

Whether seasoned or new, experience is one of the greatest tools a designer can utilize. When is the time right to leverage your experience as a tool? When mitigating risk and when playing the expert card.

无论是经验丰富的还是新手，经验都是设计师可以使用的最佳工具之一。 是什么时候才可以利用您的工具经验？ 减轻风险和玩专家牌时。

Personally, when taking on a project that appears to be risky from a design perspective (i.e. it’s outside of my comfort zone or skillset, or I have concerns about the trustworthiness of client), I will charge more in the form of a blended in PITA (Pain In The Ass) tax, simply because taking on such a project in turn means taking on additional risk. For instance, if there is a chance I won’t be able to accomplish the task in a satisfactory manner, or it will take longer because it requires some light education on my part to brush up on a certain skill, then I calculate that time into pricing.

就个人而言，在进行从设计角度看似乎有风险的项目时(即超出我的舒适范围或技能范围，或者我担心客户的可信赖性)，我将以混合PITA的形式收取更多费用(在屁股上痛)税，仅仅是因为反过来承担这样一个项目就意味着要承担额外的风险。 例如，如果有机会我无法以令人满意的方式完成任务，或者它需要更长的时间，因为我需要进行一些轻度的教育以掌握某种技能，然后我计算出该时间定价。

In these situations, the PITA tax will take form in either a higher down-payment or an increase of my hourly rate. Doing so allows me to take my time, learn the skills needed to ensure my client gets the best possible solution. On the flip-side, with easy-going clients who’ve I built a rapport with I will do my best to work within their budgets especially since that means more work down the line.

在这种情况下， PITA税将以较高的首付或增加我的小时费率形式出现。 这样做可以让我花费时间，学习确保客户获得最佳解决方案所需的技能。 在另一方面，我与随和的客户建立了融洽的关系，我将尽我所能在预算范围内工作，尤其是因为这意味着需要做更多的工作。

When it comes to leveraging expertise, there are times when clients seek out designers specifically because of their expertise in a specific style. If you’re one of those lucky designers — with a special skill set needed at a specific time — this is no time to be humble. It usually means you can bill your services at a premium rate. Why? When you garner enough experience and have built up a solid reputation, top names fetch top dollars.

当涉及到利用专业知识，有的时候客户寻求设计师特别是因为他们的专业知识在一个特定的风格。 如果您是这些幸运的设计师之一，并且在特定的时间需要特殊的技能，那么这是刻薄的事情。 通常，这意味着您可以以高价为服务付费。 为什么？ 当您获得足够的经验并建立了良好的声誉时，知名人士将赚取最高收益。

您的声誉是您最强大的资产 (Your Reputation Is Your Most Powerful Asset)

A designer’s reputation is simply the product of your talent plus experience multiplied by a viral factor. In many ways, reputation reflects experience, the likeliness others are willing to recommend your services and if others want to work with you. But don’t confuse reputation and experience. The difference between the reputation and experience is reputation dictates how much a client is willing to pay and experience dictates how much you can charge.

设计师的声誉只是您的才华加上经验乘以病毒因素的乘积。 声誉在许多方面反映了经验，他人愿意推荐您服务的可能性以及他人是否愿意与您合作。 但是不要混淆声誉和经验。 声誉和经验之间的区别在于声誉决定了客户愿意支付的费用，经验决定了可以收取的费用。

声誉通货膨胀的定价 (Pricing For Reputation Inflation)

The problem with managing your reputation is that usually only you notice when it rises or sinks, making it tricky to accurately pinpoint your current value. Over the years I came up with a simple strategy to gauge my pricing according to my current reputation. First, I find a baseline price for any given service ( eg; Logo Design at $60 per hour ). Next, I calculated the average price I’ve charged in the past year for that same service ( eg; $65/hr avg. )

管理声誉的问题在于，通常只有您注意到它的上升或下降，这很难准确地确定您的当前价值。 多年来，我想出了一个简单的策略来根据我当前的声誉来评估价格。 首先，我找到任何给定服务的基准价格(例如，徽标设计，每小时60美元)。 接下来，我计算了过去一年该服务所收取的平ASP格(例如，平均每小时$ 65)

That average represents a baseline price I can comfortably charge based on my current reputation. Once I’ve done that, I can start raising the price by a fixed percentage ( eg; 5 to 12.5% ) based on an arbitrary number of jobs completed going forward (every x jobs).

该平均值代表我可以根据当前的声誉轻松收取的基准价格。 一旦完成此操作，我就可以根据以后完成的任意数量的工作(每x个工作)将价格提高固定百分比(例如5至12.5％)。

There is always the chance a client may bitterly reject the higher number. If that happens, it’s best to slowly work back towards your baseline. The agreed-upon compromise should be treated as your new baseline. This strategy will keep your hourly rate inline with your reputation inflation or deflation. Beware: it is an art unto itself to successfully pull off pricing negotiations since it is quite dynamic and heavily situational.

客户总是有机会痛苦地拒绝更高的数目。 如果发生这种情况，最好慢慢恢复到基线。 商定的折中方案应作为新的基准。 此策略将使您的小时费率与声誉膨胀或通缩保持一致。 要当心：成功进行定价谈判本身就是一门艺术，因为它是动态的并且情势严峻。

情况很重要-没有一个适合所有人的价格 (The Situation Matters — There Is No One Price Fits All)

When talking about the art of pricing — mastering situational awareness is by far the most nuanced aspect. There are so many variables that you can ponder to arrive at a certain number; for instance, is the company big? What’s their budget? What’s the industry? What’s your relationship with that company? The list goes.

在谈论定价艺术时，掌握态势感知是迄今为止最细微的方面。 有太多变数，您可以考虑得出某个数字。 例如，公司很大吗？ 他们的预算是多少？ 什么行业？ 您与那家公司有什么关系？ 清单去了。

Answers to these questions form the crux of any negotiation and should ultimately be used to shape the final bid. You wouldn’t want to charge a mom-and-pop shop the same price you would for a large enterprise corporation — and visa-versa.

对这些问题的回答构成任何谈判的关键，最终应被用来制定最终的投标书。 您不希望向一家杂货店收取与大型企业公司相同的价格，反之亦然。

For designers of all experience types this is where most bids often go awry, and the nagging “What if’s” start seeping in.

对于所有经验类型的设计师而言，这是大多数出价常常会出错的地方，而烦人的“如果...则如何”开始出现。

Despite seeming like an endless list of checkboxes, determining your pricing situation is really pretty easy. Simply consider the following questions:

尽管似乎有无数的复选框列表，但确定定价情况确实非常容易。 只需考虑以下问题：

5 questions you should ask yourself and the client before any discussion about price

在讨论价格之前，您应该问自己和客户5个问题

1. What is Your Relationship With Client? — In most cases, this determines the relative “friendliness”, formality, and ease of the project and negotiations.

   您与客户的关系如何？ —在大多数情况下，这决定了项目和谈判的相对“友好性”，形式性和难易程度。

2. How Large is the Organization? — Understanding the size of the company will allow you to gauge their budget and resources while also giving you an idea of the scope of the project.

   该组织有多大？ —了解公司的规模将使您能够评估其预算和资源，同时也使您对项目的范围有所了解。

3. How Will My Skills be Engaged? — Understanding how your services will be deployed will allow you to price more effectively from the get-go and while being able to frame the conversation better. This includes, fee-structure, duration, deliverables, and whether you are working in-house or freelancing

   我的技能将如何参与？ —了解如何部署服务将使您从一开始就可以更有效地定价，同时能够更好地构建对话。 这包括费用结构，期限，可交付成果，以及您是内部工作还是自由职业

4. How Many Stakeholders? — The more cooks in the kitchen, the longer it takes to bake a pie. Projects with numerous (and/or undefined) stakeholders usually means more work for you. This work typically manifests itself in the form of project management and negotiating conflicting opinions.

   有多少利益相关者？ —厨房里做饭的人越多，烤馅饼的时间就越长。 具有众多(和/或未定义)利益相关者的项目通常对您意味着更多的工作。 这项工作通常以项目管理和协商意见的形式表现出来。

5. What is the Budget? — Probably the most important question. Always get a rough estimate of the client’s budget before giving them a quote. This way you’ll know whether they are either outside your price range. (It will give you better insight into how to price your services within their budget.)

   预算是多少？ —可能是最重要的问题。 在给客户报价之前 ，请务必对客户的预算进行粗略估算。 这样，您将知道它们是否超出您的价格范围。 (它将使您更好地了解如何在预算范围内为服务定价。)

Knowing the answers to these questions are important because they set the expectations between you and the client early on. More importantly, the answers give you the designer foresight into how the client will react to your bid.

知道这些问题的答案很重要，因为它们可以尽早设定您和客户之间的期望。 更重要的是，答案使设计师能够对客户如何对您的出价做出预见。

For example; John is a brand designer and is approached by a Small Startup …

例如; 约翰(John)是品牌设计师，并与一家小型创业公司接触...

1. Who was referred to him by a close friend.

   一位亲密朋友转介给他的人。

2. Looking for Full Branding Package and a redesign of their event collateral.

   寻找完整的品牌包装和活动抵押品的重新设计 。

3. Wants a freelancer who can work in-house alongside their creative director and CMO.

   想要一个可以与创意总监和CMO一起在公司内部工作的自由职业者。

4. Need the project wrapped up in 3 months for around $12,000.

   需要该项目在3个月内完成，费用约为$ 12,000。

Because John asked the five key questions, he knows they are familiar with his work and reputation. He also knows the scope, budget, and vaguely what the deliverables will be.

因为约翰问了五个关键问题，所以他知道他们熟悉他的工作和声誉。 他还知道范围，预算，以及可交付成果的含义。

In the end, whether you are an experienced art director or fresh out of design school — understanding the fundamental principles of pricing (experience, reputation, situation) gives you three powerful tools to include in your arsenal. Knowing how and when to unleash those tools will eliminate much of the mysticism and uncertainty that surrounds pricing creativity.

最后，无论您是经验丰富的艺术总监还是刚从设计学院毕业的新手，了解定价的基本原理(经验，声誉，处境)都会为您提供三种强大的工具，供您参考。 知道如何以及何时释放这些工具将消除围绕定价创造力的许多神秘感和不确定性。

Cody Robertson is the creative director for Polyient Labs, where he oversees design and brand strategy for Polyient and its portfolio clients. Prior to Polyient, he spent more than a decade serving in senior creative roles at agencies and firms in NYC, LA and Phoenix working on behalf of numerous world-class brands. He recently earned a certificate in Blockchain Business Innovation and Application from MIT and has contributed articles to CEOWORLD, Authority, Modus and other publications.

Cody Robertson是 Polyient Labs 的创意总监 ，负责监督Polyient及其投资组合客户的设计和品牌策略。 在加入Polyient之前，他在纽约，洛杉矶和凤凰城的代理机构和公司工作了超过十年，担任高级创意职务，代表众多世界一流品牌工作。 他最近获得了麻省理工学院的区块链业务创新和应用证书，并为 CEOWORLD ，Authority，Modus和其他出版物撰写了文章。