Rant And the fun continues.....

[rossmosh]

I make it a point to never say "eps" or "pdf" to a client. If I say "eps vector," they don't even hear the word "vector." Invariably, the clueless client will take their pixel image and save it out as a pdf or eps and send it to you.

I say only "vector." We need a vector. I write it down. If they ask, "What about a pdf?", I say, "No matter how you send it to me, it must be vector. Is it vector?"

Interestingly, on the subject of vectorizing, graphic artists in my area will typically charge 300 dollars to vectorize a logo. But not sign goobers. My boss might charge 60. In a conversation with an owner of one of the ad agencies here in town, I mentioned this disparity in pricing. She said, "Now you know why design companies have a low opinion of sign shops." I said, "Why?" She said, "Because they are stupid."

We may be offended by that, but it is good to remember that we aspire to be professionals, experts in our field, just as a medical doctor is in his or her field. The only real difference is that the stakes are higher in medicine. Like doctors, we are paid, not so much for our time, but for what we know.

Brad in Kansas City

It's not about being stupid/smart or paying for your time vs not paying for your time. It's about proportions. If you're buying a $300 banner, you're not spending $300 to convert your logo. If you're spending $15,000 on an ad campaign, it's pretty easy to hide a $300 charge.

As for comparing ourselves to doctors, that's not a good comparison. Wages/pay are based on how easy you are to replace. A doctor is hard to replace because it takes 10 years of school/residency + hundreds of thousands of dollars in education. That's why they're paid a bunch. Meanwhile someone at McDonalds can be trained in 2-3 weeks and they'll be at 90% of the level of someone working there 1 year. Obviously, working in a sign shop is somewhere in between the two and that's why the pay falls between the two.

 

[signage]

Doctors aren't professionals all they do is practice

 

[Zendavor Signs]

The Vector Doctor will trace logos for typically $10-$15, you can easily mark that up some and be reasonable and still come out ahead. Of course, more complex graphics will cost more. Most customers are pretty understanding that there will be a small fee to get their logo to look nice. For larger jobs, I don't even bother with the charge as I have some design costs built in already.