“We Love Supporting Local Artists” And Other Lies Businesses Sometimes Tell
I’ve been working as a freelance designer for about 5 years and have loved it. But along with all the amazing experiences that I’ve been able to have come a fair share of horror stories as well. This week I had the opportunity to attend an event for one of my clients, the Evo Hotel in Salt Lake City. I had been hired by them to create some custom artwork to hang in the rooms. Working with them had been a great experience and they had paid a fair amount for the work. I was happy, but when I got to the hotel I was absolutely thrilled to realize that they had hired a different artist to create a custom work of art for EVERY SINGLE ROOM. On top of that they had hired artists to create custom murals all over the hotel along with some really cool 3D works of art. Amazing.
A lot of clients love to talk about “supporting local artists” but unfortunately not everyone is as good as the Evo Hotel for actually walking the walk.
Which got me thinking about a pretty terrible experience I had a couple years back that I would like to share with you today. Grab your snacks, this one is going to be juicy.
A couple years ago I received an email from a potential client about possibly doing some mural work for them. They were a real estate company that was about to open a new complex of shops and a coworking space specifically for female business owners. Because of this, they wanted to have a bunch of murals painted on the back and sides of the building all created by female artists.
On the surface it all sounded pretty good. Surely if these people were opening a female coworking space they would be excited about supporting a female run business like mine.
I emailed them back with a price estimate (at the time I was charging about $40 per square foot for mural work,) and waited for a response. I received an email back saying that the price I had quoted them was outside of their price range but that they would be happy to pay me $100 for a 10x10 foot mural.
One. Hundred. Dollars.
What the heck. To give you an idea, normally for a 10x10 foot mural I’d charge about $4,000 to do the painting alone, that’s not even counting the design and potential licensing fees.
Normally I wouldn’t even respond to a price that low. I would just say no thanks and move on. But for whatever reason I thought I’d give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they’ve never hired a mural artist before? Maybe they just didn’t know what a fair price was?
I then proceed to write the most thoughtful email of my career. In it I very carefully explained to them all the things that went into painting a mural and why the pricing works the way it does. I talked about the time it takes to design and paint a mural, the cost of the supplies, and all the other factors that go into pricing one. I didn’t just send this email right away either, I first sent it to several trusted colleagues for them to read over to make sure that I didn’t sound accusatory or mean. In the email I explained that $100 for a mural that size just wasn’t a fair price and that the best way for them to truly show that they supported female business owners and local artists was to pay them fairly.
As you can imagine, they were not too happy about this. I got a response from them basically telling me that I was crazy and that they do love and appreciate female artists (even though they weren't willing to pay them….?) As you may imagine, I didn’t take the job and that was that.
SIX MONTHS LATER
Fast forward to about six months later and I was attending a networking event in Salt Lake City that was held at a female coworking space. I didn’t even think about it until I parked behind the building and noticed that there were a bunch of murals back there. Then it dawned on me. This was THE coworking space. During the event it was interesting (and also very depressing,) to hear all the comments by guests about the murals. Things like “Wow did you see the beautiful murals out back? They were all painted by women, how great is that!” Little did they know that each and every one of those women who painted the murals were grossly underpaid and that the company was the one reaping the benefits of ripping them off.
Chances are, those artists felt like this was a great opportunity for them. That they would get some exposure by taking the mural job even though the pay was rotten. Maybe they even felt like they were donating their time and talents to support women in some weird roundabout way.
The fact is, a company, business, or group of any kind says they support artists but refuses to pay them, DOESN’T SUPPORT ARTISTS. The end.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Especially when you’re starting out, it can be hard to know what to do in these situations. When you’re eager to get your work out into the real world it can be tempting to fall for these sorts of projects but don’t be fooled! Here are some things you can do to help yourself and the design industry as a whole:
Don’t budge on your pricing. You have worth and if you sell yourself short then not only will you be hurting yourself, you’ll also be hurting the design community. When artists constantly accept lousy payment then that conditions businesses to expect artists to work for cheap. Stick to your pricing.
Learn to negotiate. If a client really only has a small budget but you still want to do the project anyway, work out a deal that will make sure you don’t do more work than what their budget is worth. For instance, you can change the size, the design process or the level of complexity of the project to fit your standards. If the client still isn’t satisfied with the compromise, then politely say no. Never work for less than you’re worth.
Educate your clients and your audience. In the story I shared above, the client was unwilling to learn or to change, but oftentimes that’s not the case. A lot of people genuinely just don’t know what design projects are worth and are not trying to screw you over. It’s been my experience that once you explain why the pricing on a project is what it is, clients are usually understanding and are often willing to pay your rates. Instead of just saying no to a project, explain why your work is priced the way it is. The more we can educate our clients and our community, the better it is for everyone.
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
I know that was a sad story, but remember, there are still amazing clients out there! Clients who truly do respect and support local artists and who are willing to pay you what you're worth. But the only way you’re going to attract those clients is if you stay strong and don't accept work for less than you deserve. You have worth. Act like it.
If you’ve had a crazy experience with a bad client you’d like to share or a question on this topic, or if you just enjoyed hearing this story, please leave a comment below! It’s always awesome to hear from you.