Our in shop vinyl cut and printing prices include General Layouts, but not Additional Graphics–or Supplementary Design Services.
To explain this more precisely, Supplementary Design Services encompass redesigning of logos or designing of new logos–as well as in-depth graphical layouts or designs that typically require more than two hours of time.
General Layouts encompass more basic set ups of text and some graphics, particularly when you provide picture or logo files–or if the sign is to be text alone–altogether adding up to no more than 20 to 30 minutes of time.
Additional Graphics is an intermediary step, where some extra details need to be addressed pushing the operator’s time budget beyond the 30 minute General Layout guidelines into a new pricing bracket–but not so much work to justify referral to Supplementary Design Services.
Quite often we can put together an attractive layout for you under the General Layout pricing, which is included in the sign pricing you are presented with in your quote.
But occasionally the proofing process may become drawn out as you change your mind or seek to refine your sign’s look beyond the normal range of time allotted. You will be notified if this becomes the case and what additional costs this might entail.
Commonly what may happen is you have an existing logo brand but somewhere along the way the original logo files got lost.
Very often we have customers send us low res .jpeg files of their logos that are not print-worthy and we must inform them that some work will have to be done to redesign the logo from scratch if they cannot track down the original source files.
Sometimes what happens is that the customer bought the brand incorporated into an original sign, but did not buy the logo files themselves, as often the original sign company or designer may wish to encourage them in this way to return for additional business.
Other times what happens is that the logo files are simply never acquired from the designer, but the designer herself or himself has lost the file–or the designer cannot be tracked down–or found in a timely fashion.
Depending on the complexity of the logo we can either redesign it in-shop at some additional cost–or send it to our sister site www.Design.ATstudio.ca for more sophisticated handling.
If you would like to contact our sister site directly for branding from the bottom up, please contact Adrian@GlobalSigns.ca.
To be clear, some logos are so basic, they can be redesigned and this labor can be included in the 20-30 minute General Layout schedule. In these cases the logo is typically a commonly used font with very basic flourishes, geometric shapes–perhaps a small clipart silhouette of some nature.
We will alert you if we feel we can accomplish the logo within the parameters of the General Layout guidelines and complete the sign under the originally quoted price.
Other logos become more complicated to recreate by varying degrees.
Redesign services of sophisticated logos and brands that need to be processed through our sister site www.Design.ATstudio.ca will be communicated to you.
An operator will alert you to the need for redesign of your brand or logo, then will quote you on the projected cost of rebuilding that logo. If what you require is entirely new designs, then likewise estimated quotes will be forwarded.
Typical price points for the redesign of existing logos, either from a low res .jpeg or paper print-out or photo range from $40, $75 to $200. We will do our very best to keep the cost down to a minimum so as not to inflate the original sign price more than necessary.
The variables which contribute to more complicated redesigns include extensive vector work, gradients, unusual creatives, internet research, photo purchases, extensive proofs and more.
The proofing process is one of the more sophisticated exchanges to understand in terms of arriving at a fair price for the work involved in either General Layouts, Additional Graphics–or Supplementary Design Services.
The reason for this is that the customer and operator come together for the first time in a variety of different stages of understanding and evolution of their sign files, ideas, creatives and visual branding clarity.
Some customers know exactly what they want, arrive with fully fleshed out graphical files in all workable formats needed–and the operator is merely left with ensuring printer color profiles are up to snuff and that the customer’s deadlines and timelines will be met.
Other customers, at the opposite end of the spectrum, arrive with little understanding of what they want, hoping for the operator to guide them through the possibilities in a time sensitive yet economical manner.
Sometimes this is possible, given the flexibility of the customer toward a final vision, but other times, if the customer is very selective but unsure what they want or are unable to immediately communicate what they want, then the proofing process and e-mail exchanges can become drawn out, prompting the operator to begin addressing different areas of concern in how to proceed.
For instance, if the customer begins by making some suggestions as to color, pictures, fonts and layout–then the operator meets those needs in the 20-30 minute General Layout–but the response is to change the original inputs, then this moves into the Additional Graphics phase.
If, however, the operator has in fact failed to provide a proof that sufficiently incorporates the original inputs offered by the customer, then that is the operator’s responsibility to redo the work-up’s and resend new proofs still under the General Layout schedule and pricing.
So there are two kinds of proofs, those that continue to try to reflect the original concept communicated by the customer, bridging the communication gap between him or her and the operator via further questions and answers–and there are those kinds of proofs that offer new concepts based on new inputs by the customer.
If the customer is receiving adequate reflections of their original inputs, but they are changing those inputs based on different ideas that come to them as the process unfolds, then those are considered new concept proofs, which moves the order into Additional Graphics–and then eventually into Supplementary Design Services. So long as the original inputs remain the same and the operator is simply attempting through extra proofs to achieve a targeted design that properly turns back an image based on the customer’s original ideas, overcoming any general miscommunications or minor aesthetic differences of taste, then this type of order remains a General Layout.
But once the variables are changed by the customer and the operator must effectively revise the entire concept based on new ideas then the order is effectively becoming multiple orders and the design fees begin to accumulate based on the number of proofs involved.
It should also be noted that minor aesthetic differences of taste are different than major. If the operator turns back a proof that adequately reflects the customer’s original ideas and sufficiently meets the needs of minor aesthetic differences of taste in style, then this still falls under the General Layout guidelines.
However, if the customer’s stylistic preferences are broadly different from the operator’s, and even though the original inputs and ideas are being met, the customer requests entirely new layouts based on a completely different set of ideals as to what will look good, add impact, be eye-catching, create buzz–or otherwise reflect their brand the way they would prefer–then this still counts as changing the original inputs, for the operator is not a Graphic Designer but a Layout Technician.
Appeals to Global Signs Retention Department can be made by the customer, whereby the investigator looks into the original chain of e-mails, determines what were the original customer inputs and compares them with the operator’s return proofs, then makes a judgment whether the customer may proceed to request proofs under the General Layouts–be advanced to Additional Graphics–or be referred to professional Design Services through our sister site www.Design.ATstudio.ca.
In between these two extremes, wherein one type of customer arrives with very little required in the way of meeting their production needs–and the other arrives with little or no idea of what they want and requires expert and careful guidance from A-Z–lies a wide grey area where we find all manner of different circumstances arising.
Some customers come to us with good files from previous jobs at other companies, but they require the embedded logos, text and pictures to be entirely rearranged to fit a new size frame or sign.
Some customers come with no good files but have general layouts already mocked up for us.
Some customers are upfront about the fact that they have trouble visualizing the final concepts and desire multiple proofs in order to achieve exactly what they want and they will pay what is fair to achieve that end.
Other customers are very good at visualizing and can describe in detail exactly how they want the sign to look and this helps the process along so smoothly that they remain under General Layout guidelines despite needing a 15 minute brand redesign.
Other customers need to talk to us in person, as they do not have e-mail or cannot communicate sufficiently through the internet medium–and this may either add to or complicate the process of their order.
If they come in once or twice by appointment and stand beside the operator in order to speed the design along, then this usually does not advance the order past General Layout guidelines, however, if they come in unannounced many times and require much time and attention while going around in circles with the layouts and continually remaining unsure about what they want or dissatisfied with what they see despite not being able to explain what changes to make then this turns the order into a complicated process, pushing it into Additional Design–and most likely ultimately Supplementary Design Services.
Some customers are able to operate entirely through e-mail, which greatly reduces time spent on them–and in those circumstances where we ship to their address then we never even see them and they remain under General Layout guidelines.
All manner of different circumstances and customers give rise to the three degrees of design, General Layouts–Additional Graphics–and Supplementary Design–and only by beginning the process of communication and discussion with us can we begin to accurately determine where your order may fall so that we may in turn inform you of estimated pricing and final proofing timelines–and potential production details.