how we price

What you really want to know is: "Can we afford to use Swish Design?"

Maybe what you should be asking yourself is: "Can we afford NOT to use Swish Design?!"

As with most professional services (getting your car fixed, having your tax done, getting a dishwasher installed) you are paying for someone to do a job, and do it right the first time. It's a job you could probably do yourself, but what would take you hours and hours of your own precious time will take a professional an hour or two.

We feel so strongly about the role good design plays in your clients forming those crucial first impressions that we advise our clients that it is better to NOT do something at all than to do it poorly. You only get ONE chance to make a first impression and a flyer that took you 6 hours to create in Microsoft Publisher is simply not going to do the same job as a professionally designed flyer that takes our team 2-3 hours. And if you're paying good money to get your flyer professionally printed, it becomes even more crucial to do it right the first time.

Swish Design charges $110/hr for all graphic design (yes that includes GST).

We charge this rate to everyone - big, small, not-for-profit, established and just starting out. We don't charge big business more "because they can afford it" and we don't charge small business less "because they can't afford it." The industry standard for design is $130-150/hr. We believe our hourly rate is "affordable" but it also lets us pay our bills!

We're not "cheap". You don't want "cheap". "Cheap" means that the people working on your job don't have years of industry experience. "Cheap" means that the people working on your job are not working as efficiently as they can be because they don't know how.

Paying us for design means getting it done right the first time. It means getting the job done in the most efficient way possible. It means that when you present your professionally designed piece - be it a business card, or flyer or glossy brochure - you are making a fantastic first impression on your clients. Which means you have one less thing to worry about. Priceless!

but I've got a friend ...

Yep. We know all about your friend!

That's the friend who only charges $30/hr and knows their way around Photoshop.

We've spent hours and hours fixing up or finishing off stuff that friends have started, but never finished because they were doing it in their spare time and were hard to pin down. Or stuff that friends sent through to the printer, but not in the right format.

Your friend might have been cheap - but you've wasted hours and hours of your own time chasing them down and trying to get them to finish the job and do it properly. And NOW, you're desperate and you're going to have to find a professional designer to finish the job off for you. It's enough to do your head in!