Just curious.. tshirt design

[dudeman]

I love randomly finding myself posting back here at Kirupa after what seems the longest time!

I have a question, designers: how much is the norm for t-shirt design? Work is nothing more than 2 hours of illustrator tops (2 color let's say). What should I be expecting to pay for something like this? Thanks HAHA smiley :pleased:

[ajcates]

Well I think 500$ per T-shirt design sounds fair, don't expect anything super amazing, if you want that you will probably half to pay around 1500$

[Pasquale]

:lol:

That's pretty steep.

[Christov]

Around 2 hours in Illustrator for a TShirt Design? I'd say £10-£25 ($20-$50).
If its really simple obviously it's going to be less time so would be around the £10/$20 mark, but if its a bit complicated he might drag it out and you'll end up spending the £25/$50 benchmark. Also, if your guy thinks you might sell on the design on a tshirt he might want even more for it...

[iLikePie]

as with most things, it really depends on the context... if it's a design that's going to be fairly widely printed/sold, $500 isn't really that much. Think about any major label, they're gonna be selling thousands of a shirt.

I'm guessing it's not a huge design you're doing,but nevertheless, consider the potential of the design, and also the client. Some of those boutique places sell a shirt for $50+...

[Pasquale]

as with most things, it really depends on the context... if it's a design that's going to be fairly widely printed/sold, $500 isn't really that much. Think about any major label, they're gonna be selling thousands of a shirt.

I'm guessing it's not a huge design you're doing,but nevertheless, consider the potential of the design, and also the client. Some of those boutique places sell a shirt for $50+...
Totally agreed with the mass distribution.

Seeing as it was posted HERE, It'd be safe to assume it wouldn't be, because a person designing for gigantic print numbers would generally have enough experience to make a valid guess.


Something like this around the 50-70 mark if it's small (per shirt). Just don't work for peanuts.

[dr_vroeg]

Does it really matter whether it's largely mass produced? If that were the case charge what you normally would per hour (50-75) then ask for a small percentage royalty. (if they keep track of it) yeah...500-1500? hope that's yen.

[zao]

Yea, it does really matter. Would you design a logo for a company that is in return starting up a new campaign and introduces the logo as the soul image of the company, and only charge $50?

[ajcates]

well the question leaves out is it you creating the design(more expensive) or them telling you what to draw in illustrator(way cheaper). Also something like that could take more then 2 hours, you have to do it by the job, you spend 2 hours in illustrator, only to get 1/3 done, and then print the t-shirt??

[Pasquale]

My assumptions are based upon :

the norm for t-shirt designALl the big guys have their own designers who they salary to, and not allowing them to clain roylaties.

If it's creating THE company image and then putting it on a shirt sure you'd charge a bunch more, but if it's just designing something pretty to slap on a shirt - that's mega expensive.

[=guinness=]

as said before, it depends on the subject matter. if its a proposition like "hey man can you take this here and put it into illustrator so i can get shirts printed" then it wont be much, i would consider that an hourly rate because you are just digitizing a premade design.

however, if its more like "hey bro we need a kick *** looking t-shirt design can you sketch some ideas and then make the one we pick" (assuming sketch means draw and create rather than just do some simple type) then you should go by commission or contract like a freelance design. bid it as a job if you are illustrating.

if you have to put creative effort into an project it is more valuable than just the time involved. you are selling your service as a production member but more importantly (and expensively) you are selling your ability to solve their problem with your intelect.