[Sigia-l] Pricing the Design Process (was "Testing your own sites")

[Christopher Fahey]

Jared wrote:
> I've not worked in a design shop, but it seems to me you 
> shouldn't have to sell it to do it. 

Ah, you've opened a can of sausages here!

> After all, there are 
> probably many aspects of your work you don't have to sell, 
> like doing sketches, thinking creatively, learning about the 
> customer's problem and existing systems, holding meetings, 
> and using computers. Conducting user research to learn about 
> the needs of the customer should just be a given in the process.

Design shops charge for *everything*, including everything listed above.

Even "thinking creatively": Does that mean that we will conduct multiple
day-long brainstorming sessions with the client and my three best designers,
who then produce a variety of 'mood boards' to help synthesize a creative
approach, produce 'scrap books' of inspirational assets from other sites and
other media, and go through several rounds of reviewing concept sketches
with the client before actually making page designs? Or does "thinking
creatively" mean that, before designing pages, I drink a cup of coffee, skim
through k10k.org, blast The Velvet Underground on iTunes, and doodle in my
sketchbook alone for a few hours? 

Big cost difference there, but some clients might think the latter approach
is fine for their needs, others will want something more robust.

Most of these "givens" are even itemized outright in contracts as things
that will be charged for, and then the client expects to see that work done
and reflected in deliverables and presentations. 

Basically, if it takes time, it is charged for. (Of course, regardless of
the client's budget we will work our asses off within the timeframe to make
things great!)


> But it's not my world and I won't claim that 
> I understand how the sausages are made.

I really appreciate your candor, Jared. But I am a little surprised that you
don't know more about how a design shop works, considering that a great deal
of your customers probably work in design shops. Every little "best
practice" in the user experience design process (stuff you write about all
the time) costs money, money that a client doesn't always want to pay. IMHO
budgetary issues are 90% of the reason why some sites are better than
others, not a lack of education or understanding of the value of the
practices themselves.

For example, *all* of my clients agree that usability testing is a fabulous
idea, but only some them have the budget to pay for it. They can pay for a
day of paper testing or a month of lab testing, but the basic rule of thumb
is that if they don't pay for it, we won't do it. We price projects down to
the day, and even down to the hour, and sometimes stuff one might think is a
"given" falls off the table as we work with clients to fit costs into their
tight budgets.

This doesn't just apply to design shops. Within a large enterprise, much of
this is also true.

Cheers,
-Cf

Christopher Fahey
____________________________
Behavior
biz: http://www.behaviordesign.com
me: http://www.graphpaper.com