Client wants a "sketch" first before proceeding

[matt_lorenzi]

Time for a new post.

Occasionally I have a client who wishes to see a sketch or mock-up of what I am to illustrate.
It's a reasonable request. Best to make sure everyone is on the same page before spending hours on artwork that may not be what the client had in mind.

That said, how best to do this without spending a lot of time that you've allocated to the final artwork. I can't see myself taking pen to paper to create a traditional sketch, but I may use illustrator to rough out my ideas with the pen tool, give it a bit of a brush stroke to make it look organic, and hope that they like what I've done. Ideally you could then re-purpose some of your vectors, but not being that optimistic.

Anyone else do it this way, or have other methods for providing a "rough draft" of an illustration?

[Don Cheke]

Personally, I charge for the time to do mock ups, especially if it is a design from scratch that hasn't been fully defined. A mock up, or early version, is really where most designs begin, in my opinion, and should be compensated for.

If it were something similar to what I have done in the past I would just supply an image and say it will be along these lines, get started and show progress previews along the way, charging for all hours involved.

If you have discussed what you will be doing with the client and taken all their input into account, they should already have an idea about what they will get in the end. If they don't know what they want they need to pay you to do the thinking, the experimenting and the producing. I think that is reasonable.

If you have already given a quote or been told the budget, you will need to determine how much you want to put into it design-wise. If it doesn't seen reasonable for the amount of work you think it will take you, then tell your client that you need to charge extra for designing time.

Just my thoughts.....

[matt_lorenzi]

Hi Don,

Very good points...thanks. I think I've build enough into my quote to give them something, but nothing fancy. I can probably use components from other work I have done as well.

[JamesProvost]

Don nailed it.

If their idea is so rough that they need to see a sketch from you before committing to it, you're clearly providing some them with some value, and you should be compensated for that. Doing a free sketch sets up a bad precedent that you'll work for free. It also stunts the creative process because you probably aren't going to commit to the idea when they haven't.

Instead, I recommend selling them on your experience, your ability to problem solve, your creative process. Explain that you're a professional, this is what you're good at, and these are your rates. Ask for a deposit that will allow you to fully engage the problem, instead of spending as little time as possible on a speculative sketch.

Play hardball with these tire-kickers

[matt_lorenzi]

To be fair I've done work for this client before and they've always been okay with my quote and happy with the product. I think it's more an issue this time of wanting to make certain I understand what it is they want so I don't waste my time and their money. Planning on meeting with their technical team next week for a demo to make things clear as mud.