It's important to be able to work with simple designs. You should be able to type simple text, draw basic shapes, change colors and present a few options to your customers. Always mention that examples shown on screens don't always accurately reflect production results. Estimating artwork-design time may be the most difficult part of our business. Some shops charge flat fees, while others absorb all design time and cost.Accurately quoting art fees and time can only be determined by analyzing all aspects of your company, abilities and client base. Some shops always charge a design fee regardless of the customer. They have established pricing with an underlying margin for design work.Those shops that don't charge for design absorb the cost in markup and production fees. Because of all these factors, explain to customers that "throwing together a quick graphic" is impossible. Steps must be followed; quality must be maintained; and expectations must be established. the fees and true value of personalized products. If they understand that you're basically building a new logo for necessary processes, they'll be more comfortable with some criticism and art fees. Offering alternatives also can help with low-quality art. Organizing your clip art collections into searchable locations can provide suitable options. Searching online for similar starting points also can save a great deal of time. Remember to ask your client about using "very similar elements" to save you time (and money) in re-creating their art for any given production format. It is imperative for every decorator Nuts & Bolts If you spend time and money redesigning a client's logo, you own that artwork. Keep files saved and backed up for future use, additional jobs and reference for later. I recommend long file names for easy searchability. It's difficult to explain to prospective customers why their graphics are poor without offending them. I have worked with countless company owners and managers who have so much pride in their logos that any critique of quality or lack of reproduction ability is immediately taken with offense. This is another reason why explaining some of the production-process basics is so important. It helps them understand PRINTING United Booth 1411 Use Info*Action #22 at impressionsmag.com/infoaction OCT./NOV. 2019 P.41http://vastex.com/ http://vastex.com/ http://www.impressionsmag.com/infoaction