F.A.Q
The following below are some of the typical questions that most people would ask regarding our services.
• What is “character branding”?
• How is it different from logo design?
• Who can benefit from using character branding?
• Pricing: How do you calculate your design fee?
• Is there a market rate for design fees?
• How do you handle printing and the fees?
• How many awards have you won?
• Can you do lots of special effects that will "Wow!" customers?
• How does a typical engagement begin?
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What is "character branding"?
It refers to the creation of a unique line of characters, or even just one character, and is used by companies, organizations, or even individual as a symbol or mascot to bring good luck and success.
Brand characters appeal to us because they don't connote the materialism that we often associate with their corporate owners. it’s important to know that when we talk of characters for branding we are not simply speaking of cartoon characters.
How is it different from logo design?
Character branding utilizes the personality that comes naturally when a character is designed well. When a traditional logo serves a voice for a brand, a character acts as a window to the brand's personality.
Instead of reaching out, brand character brings the company to human level, allowing it to interact in the same level with the customers and invite them to get to know more. People can't relate to corporation, but they can relate to their brand character.
Who can benefit from using character branding?
You have to create a relationship with your audience. Any kind of company can gain benefits from using characters.
An established company can use characters to expand awareness into new audiences, create more personal communication with existing customers and bring to life non-corporate aspects of their business that they are not yet aware of. A new company that is just establishing itself can most precisely communicate and connect with the customers in a more caring way.
Pricing: How do you calculate your design fee?
We have two types of billing depending on the type of work, complexity of the details, deadlines, and budget.
a) Fixed Price. Pre-determined at the start of the project
or
b) Hourly Rate. Billed accordingly. Our current rate is S$30.00 per hour. It works best for budget and time-constrained projects like simple flyer or pamphlet.
Is there a market rate for design fees?
There is no such thing as a market rate for design services. Designer's fees vary depending on the quality, experience, time, perhaps even urgencies. Each designer offers creative solution, uniquely to each own, to solve the communication problem presented. Therefore it's up to prospective client to determine if that particular designer is the right one to do the job.
Cheaper price does not mean better. The quality of work you receive will be reflected from the price you pay.
How do you handle printing and the fees?
As a design studio, we don't run printing through our business. But we do include a free consultation during production if we work with your existing vendors. If you would like us to handle the production part with outside vendors, we can certainly do that by having the fee billed directly from the printer to you as the client. We usually mark up 10%-20% to the printing costs of a job as consultation fee, depending on the size of the project.
We will be up-front about this with the client and include this into the quote.
How many awards have you won?
We believe that such self-congratulating award like that can cause designers and agencies to misplace their priorities on the opinion of their peers rather than the needs of the clients.
The only awards that we are seeking are based on our merit: our clients' satisfaction with the work that we do and their returning business with us.
Can you do lots of special effects that will "Wow!" customers?
There are plenty of other design studios that can do a better job of toying with the latest gimmicks, eye-candy graphics, and flashy plug-ins. We're all about being thoughtful in providing the simplest, best possible solution for our clients.
We believe in simple and well-executed design by using well-thought idea, inspired by things in nature. Our unique strength is the capacity to discover beauty not so much through conceptual approaches but in refined object of the senses.
If the communication problem is already complicated enough as it is to require a professional to solve it, why would you want to make the solution to be even more complicated?
How does a typical engagement begin?
Just contact us via e-mail or phone. We begin a project by listening and learning about you and your business - not by showing you a bunch templates or pictures to choose from.
You can also start by downloading the creative brief form by clicking here and e-mail or send it via post back to us for easier communication.