I got slightly involved in a conversation about whether designers should give their source files to clients.
I say slightly because I gave my answer, but never went back to see what other responses there were to the person’s question.
The reason I didn’t go back was two-fold. First, my position (give clients your source files for free) rubs a lot of designers the wrong way. Second, I’ve seen all the reasons designers give for not giving up source files (or for charging extra for them), so I’m not likely to read something I haven’t seen before.
I’ve thought a lot about my position and asked people I respect about their positions. And I suspect people with a differing view have thought a lot about their stance. No point in arguing about it then.
But there is an angle that comes up that I want to toss out for your consideration.
Whenever you take a position in the design world that runs counter to popular opinion, inevitably someone will say, “Doing things that way hurts the design community.”
I see this a lot when people start slamming sites that offer cut-rate logos or even sites like eLance where the bidding process brings down the price of a project to almost free. You also see this with people who oppose spec work.
They feel it’s a threat to their livelihood. Fair enough… just don’t ask me to buy into that.
As I examined my thoughts on this a bit deeper, I realized something: I don’t really see myself as only a designer which is one reason I don’t get hung up on a lot of these “designer” issues or what might be happening in the “design community.”
Yes, I design. In fact, it’s mainly what I do. But I also write copy, write articles, provide general marketing advice for clients and prospects, teach… and there’s probably more that I’m forgetting.
I guess if I only saw myself as a designer then, yeah, perhaps I’d be scared by anything that I felt threatened my livelihood. But I’d be more concerned that I let myself get into that situation. It’s not much better than being an employee at a company doing a single task and hoping I don’t get laid off.
As a freelancer, you’re free to develop your business into something that is more than just the main task that you started out with. That makes you far more valuable.
I say this so that as you’re building your design business, you don’t stop with being a designer only. Expose yourself to related fields, like copy and marketing, so that you have more to offer your clients.
When you do that, you’re less stressed about what others in your industry are doing or what they’re worried about. And believe me… they generally don’t care about you unless you’re doing something they don’t like. That’s when you hear from them.
There are a lot of people who can design like I can. But, it’s all those extra things that keep clients coming back year after year. If I were only a designer, I could be replaced by someone cheaper… who would also eventually be replaced by someone cheaper.
Plenty of business only want “cheap.” That’s fine… don’t worry about them. Experience has shown me there are plenty of clients who value, and will pay a fair price, to designers who not only design well, but offer extra value.
Oh… back to source files for a moment. Be sure and e-mail me if you ever run across a business that fired a freelancer because the freelancer handed over the source files without making a stink about it. (Whether free or for an agreed-upon fee.) My guess is I’ll never hear of that happening.
But I can tell you with certainty that freelancers have been scratched off the call-back list because they did raise a stink about handing over source files.
In a way, it’s kind of funny. Freelancers in general can fall into this trap of “You’re hurting the community!” thinking. It doesn’t happen anywhere near as much in the corporate world where you do what’s best for you and your clients, not what others in your industry or niche think you should do.
If you do it their way and it doesn’t work, are they going to be there to bail you out? Probably not, and that tells you all you need to know.
I don’t want this to come across like I’m giving the middle finger to other designers. But the fact is other designers aren’t the ones having to pay your bills. They may think that their opinion is best for the design community, but that’s very, very questionable. And it sure doesn’t mean it’s best for you.
For me, I always keep in mind that I work for clients, not other designers. I do what’s best for me and my clients. If that bothers some other designers, sorry.
Just something to think about.
