beng51•2mo ago

My first logo job turned into a total mess over the weekend

I quoted a friend $150 for a simple logo, thinking it would take maybe 4 hours. After 3 rounds of changes, they wanted a full brand guide with colors and fonts, which I never agreed to. I spent like 12 hours on it and felt totally stuck. Has anyone else had a small quote blow up because the work got bigger?

4 comments

4 Comments

lisas782mo ago

Yeah, that "full brand guide" creep is the worst... I started using a super clear list of what's included in my quotes now. It helps a lot when they ask for extra stuff.

price.linda2mo ago

Oh man, my friend got totally burned by that last year. A client asked for "just a few extra logo options" which turned into, like, ten full page ad mock-ups (for free, of course). She had to redo her whole contract after that mess.

tessap973d ago

I read about this concept called "scope creep" in a design blog a few months back and it really opened my eyes. That article said the average freelancer loses like 20% of their income just from doing extra stuff they didn't plan for. It's wild how a simple "hey can you just..." can turn into hours of unpaid work. I've started keeping a little notebook of all those extra requests now, just so I can figure out what to put in my next contract. Feels like a smarter way to handle it than getting stuck like your friend did.

corap612mo ago

Honestly, used to think a handshake deal with friends was fine... until a very similar thing happened to me. That "one more tweak" phase just never ended and I lost a whole Saturday. Now everything gets written down, even for pals.

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