What price for design?

KBDi Director Simon Hodgson on design fees and contracts

Kitchen and bathroom designers who pursue freelance opportunities need to understand the value of their work as do those among us who work in the field of design but within a business. In December 2009, Helen Walters, writing in the Business Week Magazine in the US, published a somewhat bad-tempered blog post.

Titled “Come on Designers. Step Up”, the piece was prompted by an article in The Times of London, in which designers and the design industry were hauled over the coals for, essentially, being a waste of taxpayers’ money. In this instance, designers had created a new logo for the British National Health Service that non-designers quoted in the piece (including British MP Greg Hands) deemed both unnecessary and expensive.

As Helen wrote at the time, the thesis of the Times piece was unoriginal and superficial, yet all too familiar. Her irritation stemmed from the fact that the value of design is clearly still not understood in the marketplace at large. And, as she argued, the responsibility for this disconnect, and fixing it, lies with designers: “Designers need to step up and fight back and prove their craft is not a 20th century anachronism.”

The response was swift, spirited and fell mainly into two camps. Some thought she was being deliberately incendiary and borderline irresponsible; others agreed that perhaps the design industry has an issue. Many quite rightly pointed out that “design” is a much larger proposition than the graphic design of that particular rebranding exercise, while there were numerous lively and articulate defences of design as a process, not a style or an artefact. Companies such as Apple, Proctor and Gamble, and BMW were cited as corporate leaders that clearly understand the worth of excellence in design.

And so should you; after all, your influence, your skill, your ability in design is paramount. But not only is “influential” difficult to measure, but “design” is also nigh on impossible to define neatly. When we talk about design, the world sometimes stops listening and starts wondering what colour you, as the designer, are going to suggest for the benchtop.

Unfortunately, good design has come to stand for something associated with “style”, a judgment of aesthetics and a determination on practicalities. The word “design” is a noun, but if we start thinking and acting on it as a verb, the ability for you to charge for that will be enhanced. Start treating design as a process, a way for you to approach the challenges of your consumer, a process that allows you to be rewarded for your services.

Following requests from designers across the country, KBDi created the ideal tool for you to use; it’s easy, it’s clean and, most importantly, it provides a strong third party endorsement of your skill and worth as a designer.

The “Kitchen and Bathroom Design Consultancy Agreement” is a two-page self-carbon document that offers the following benefits for you and your client:

• Clearly details who you are and who your client is.
• Defines the work space in this engagement.
• Provides an option for you to offer a rebate to the client should they decide to proceed with the designed project.
• Defines the term of your engagement with the client.
• Shows when invoices are to be submitted and what the payment terms are.
• Allows you to split the different stages of your services (design, development, documentation and planning) in both percentage and monitory terms.
• Allows you to specify what future design fees will apply should further engagement of your services be required.

As a prominent designer in Melbourne said to me last week: “At last someone has finally done something for me that makes me money, instead of it costing me!”

Books of 25 contracts are available through the KBDi office in Brisbane for $77.00 for members and $154 for non members, including GST. Call 1300 253 223 or email enquiries@kbdi.org.au and for members to review and use the KBDi Recommended Scale of Design Fees, members need to login to their own profile at www.kbdi.org.au go to the members page and download the recommended fees.

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