Hello,
I am not a professional type designer by any means, and just an amateur. I want to get better, however, and I think the only way to do so is practice. However, while I am practicing, I see no danger in getting my name out there. What I mean is that I can find a local business that I like, and then spend some time on making a custom font for them (based on the type of business, atmosphere, etc (or &c)) and give it to them. I don't really need them to use the font (typeface), but having my work out there instead of just files in my computer would certainly feel good (and maybe even be good).
Is this a good idea? I ask because I was talking to someone, and he told me never to start cheap, because it is impossible to climb back up, so I wonder if practicing for free is still a good business decision.
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Comments
If such a client doesn’t like that idea, remind them what a great deal they’re getting. Full, exclusive ownership of a typeface should cost a lot.
Also, creatives who do work pro bono tend to get a little too creative. I’ve made that mistake.
In thinking about pricing for rights—whether usage rights or ownershp rights—I try to think through both how the client will benefit from those rights, and hence their value to the client, and how I would benefit from them if I retained them, their value to me. I have made some fonts for clients that really only were of value to that particular client, because of the highly specialised nature of the typeface: I was unlikely to be able to sell licenses to anyone else, so all the value was considered in terms of who that client was and how they intended to use the fonts. I have made fonts for other clients that I reckoned had significant commercial potential, which I was giving up in selling the ownership rights to the client. At the same time, I knew that the client was only interested in exclusivity, and not in exploiting that commercial potential themselves, so that is value that was essentially disappearing in the transaction, for which I wanted to be compensated while recognising that the client wasn’t effectively gaining the value for themselves. And then there is the case of ‘liberating’ fonts under an open license, in which the designer retains nominal ownership—and, in my case, at least a sense of responsibility—while giving up most of the rights in a way that affords incalculable value not to an individual client but to everyone and anyone who wants to use, distribute, or modify the fonts. How do you put a price on that?
All of which is to say that pricing rights is complicated and almost always involves negotiation, often some haggling—over payment schedules if not over the price itself—, and can’t be readily standardised.
Indeed, it seems very subjective to me
A while ago, I was talking with a specialist in valuing companies, and he made two points that have stuck with me: the valuation amount will differ depending on the purpose of the valuation, and the important thing is to be able to demonstrate a reasonable method. So there are purposes or conditions for which a valuation will tend towards a higher number, and other purposes or conditions for which a valuation will tend toward lower numbers, but in both cases it is possible to apply reason and to justify the valuation in terms of those purposes or conditions.