Freebie Design for Family ?
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- scransom
Does it work out?
Here's my story of what is increasingly becoming a nightmare.
I've genuinely enjoyed working with every client since I started freelancing...except for my brother.
A few weeks ago he wants me to work for him for free, make 2 identities, 2 websites pick a photographer and do his album design. Of course he wants to appeal to "everyone" and picks my brain for hours.
Then he tells me what colours he wants and how to make the logo. I say i'm (ahem)... too busy to get to his project.
Suddenly he realizes he can afford to pay a highschool kid $2000 for complete pap.
Lets compare our financial situations:
Me
4 years of art college & renting a room in the area.
-$40,000Him
One year of police college where he also does a a 40 hour work week and still gets straight A's (read: very easy course) Also he lives at home and can afford a car with additional $2000 paint coat.
+$30,000I'm renting a condo in the city, just bought a computer and am trying to save up for an engagment ring.
He's still living at home. Acording to music industry experts- his single will become gold and he will gain $200,000.
What about a speculative percentage? Out of the question.He wants to give the money to kids in Africa. and maybe my 1% will end up being $20,000! That just wouldn't be right. But it wouldn't be a problem if the record was a flop and I wasnt paid.
Nightmare. He doesnt know or are to respect the value of my time, but has no problem paying other people to do the same thing. I'm so pissed off, but I genuinely don't want to see him wreck his image by hiring garbage.
Arg.
I bet you get this all the time.
What are your stories?
- jpea0
tell him straight up what you think. it sucks to be screwed over in the deal.
think of it compared to another profession: if you were a carpenter, would he expect you to work for free and once he realized that he could do it cheaper hiring a bunch of 15 year old kids, he'd fire your ass... his house would fall apart.
- ********0
dude he's your brother, set him straight. and not to mention the fact that your work is ace.
- tripleflux0
you should tell your mom
- Solid0
I've seen many of my friends in the same predicament as you. Their relatives would, for all intents, take advantage of them by using the "familial responsibility/obligation" angle, essentially expecting them to work for free.
In almost every one of these situations the family members not only want the designer to work for free, but they treat them like slaves, calling them at all hours of the day and micro-managing the entire process.
They also expect their project to take precedent over everything else because, well, they're "family".
In the end no one wins; the relationship between the individuals becomes frayed and full of stress, and the end-product is quite often far less than it could have been.
- Solid0
Sometimes the best solution is to turn the work down, but refer them to someone you know/trust to do a good job.
- spongebob0
Sound words.
Or rather, Solid words, Solid.
- Solid0
The regretable part is that [usually] the relative in question isn't conciously trying to take advantage of the situation - it just works out that way.
One of my close friends, his sister is a Montessori teacher. She wanted to start up her own school, and asked my friend to take care of the architectural design and manage the construction.
He and his sister have a great relationship, but in this case it was his sister's husband that ended up being the .. *difficult* .. one.
- rabattski0
don't do business with family and/or friends especially if it's a freebie.
if you choose to do so anyways than make it absolutely clear beforehand that you are in this case a business and not a brother or a son or a friend. seperate business and private issues. really.
i learned it the hard way and in the end a friendship was lost + still a lot of money due. all due to the fact that no one was clear about it , no solid agreements and everything was based on " we know each other, we're friends, everything will be fine".
- Solid0
That's right - don't take anything for granted.
- Ell0
The "I'm too busy to do any unpaid work at the moment" explanation is the best way to go.
I would never advise anyone to offer free work unless the 'Self Promotion factor' is there. Which in some cases can be worth more long term than a fee.
- rabattski0
"... Which in some cases can be worth more long term than a fee." - ell.
which is very true,
unfortunately potential clients or businesses know that as well and they always try to get work for free or cheaper by argueing in that same manner. they also might add: i'll get you a zillion clients / i'll make you rich / if you do my stuff for free.
now i've been a sucker in my early days and felt for it, no one, zero of those promises where ever kept. maybe an exception here and there but it was always extremely minor.
now i don't say don't do free work, it's the type of client you should look at. commercial / business? never. non commercial, like museums etc. always. those are really interesting for free work for long term effects. simply because they have no real business end in their motivations and give you a lot of headroom.
- JamesEngage0
he sounds like a right cock! but hes your brother... put him straight.
- laurus0
Don't do it for free and he shouldn't hire you just because your his brother, either.
If he want to succeed, he will need good design. If you're a good designer he should hire you,regardless of relation, in your conditions be it money or percentage of prospects.
He can donate his money to Africa, if he wants, he can't force anyone else to do so. He will have more money to donate, if he hires a good designer.
In principal I only do free work for causes I believe in, for the rest, be it family or not—pay if you wanna play. This is my work. I don't just do pretty things.
People tend to value less what they get for free, and you tend to invest less in it—at the end everybody is frustrated.
that's one of the reasons large companies sometimes pay ad/web agencies to pitch for them—even before they get the project.
BTW, I just got hired by my brother to design the catalog aand poster for his art show.