Custom fonts: pricing of interpolated weights

Artur Schmal

Hi all,

Those of you doing custom jobs regularly: may I ask how you deal with the pricing of interpolated weights?
Do you charge the same as you do for producing the extreme weights or do you price the in between weights differently?
And if so, does that different pricing of the in between weights also resonate in your exclusivity fee?

Best,
Artur

Nick Shinn

Yes, of course. But by how much, you wonder.

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

I charge between 10% and 20% (depending on how finicky the design is).

James Puckett

I increase the cost of masters based on time I expect to spend proofing the interpolations. For example, I designed a set of Didone display faces with optical sizes. The differences were relatively minor changes to weight and contrast. And there were separate screen fonts. The markup for that was tiny because I only had to proof the interpolations once.

Artur Schmal

Indeed Nick, how much is what I'm wondering about.
Hrant and James, thanks for sharing your pricing strategy!

Best,
Artur

JoyceKetterer

You know me, I'm all about simplicity of message.  As the initial message, we tell the client that there's a fixed price per style but that we can add discounts if they request a lot of styles.  As the process goes on we are essentially pricing by the master and adding a little for the interpolated styles.  But if you start by trying to explain this really complex calculation then I find that you loose most people.  

Hrant Հրանդ Փափազեան Papazian

One reason to have a separate price for interpolated styles is that clients change their minds about how many they want (or can ask for more later) and they're less suspicious if they've already been told how you like to price things.

Artur Schmal

Thanks for sharing Joyce. I like this approach.

It seems to me that with the time * hourly rate approach there's no balance between the value you deliver and what you charge for it.