Once upon a time, designers could focus entirely on creating the look of a publication, handing over sketches with lists of fonts and dimensions. But the work that they do expanded radically when desktop publishing was introduced. Now they are frequently expected to implement computer scripts - sometimes quite complex - for flowing copy into templates. This means that designers must have multiple versions of expensive software to hand, and computers that will run these. So, apart from market considerations, designers need higher rates than, say, freelance editors - simply to survive.

Until 2004 QuarkXpress was by far the dominant program for design and page make-up. Freelance designers might have to have two (or more) versions available - the high cost of licenses means that few publications upgrade immediately. Now InDesign is making massive inroads - which means designers face the added expense of installing, updating and learning this as well. Since InDesign works moderately well on Windows computers - and this is part of its appeal to publishers who cannot find enough Mac geeks - an unlucky designer may need to maintain one of these alongside the trusty Mac.

Designers will also need to maintain Windows machines if they are asked to implement "style sheets" in (regrettably often) Microsoft Word™ and scripts to convert these into Quark or InDesign style tags.

This in turn means that designers increasingly have to acquire training skills, not least so that they can explain to the Obits editor why it's no longer good enough to mark headings in bold, and why they have to use a named style instead.

And if this training is to be as painless as possible for all, the designer needs the skills that computer analysts call "requirements analysis" - for example interviewing editors and sub-editors at the very start of the job to find out how they work and what those style tags should be called - using the user-focused Obit hed and Obit hed Lead rather than the design-focused Grot 32pt could save half a day of grief with that desk alone.

Book designers obviously have fewer people to consult - unless they're setting up a series with multiple editors. If they bid to produce ready-for-press files, they may have to consult only themselves.

All this means that it is increasingly important that in negotiating rates for any design job both sides agree on a list of precisely what is expected and what the rate will be for unexpected work. And it means that design for paper and for digital media are converging.

These are some things to remember when negotiating rates for design work. And please send us your accounts of successful negotiations.

• Designs are copyright works, though the rules are slightly different to those for words and pictures. The suggested rates are for use of a design in one publication.
• The rates are suggested as minima from which freelances will negotiate upward according to their experience and specialist knowledge and the value of the work.
• It is vital that both sides agree on a list of precisely what is expected and what the rate will be for unexpected work. Elements that may appear in this list include:
  • preparation of sketches and mock-ups;
  • meetings to discuss, amend and decide among these;
  • interviewing editors, sub-editors and production editors to determine copy-flow and what they call each design element;
  • creating word-processor style-sheets using this information;
  • creating DTP program templates;
  • creating scripts to import styled copy into these templates;
  • testing and debugging all the above;
  • training for editors, sub-editors and production editors;
  • revisions to cope with the inevitable differences between what they say they do and what they do do;
  • revisions to the appearance of the publication (oh, that!) now the publisher has seen it; and
  • re-testing and re-debugging the above.
• Clients who use exotic software should either give the designer the use of a workstation in the office that runs it, or pay for the designer to acquire their own licence to use it.
• The rates for shifts do not include paid time off.
• Freelances who are registered for VAT will add it to every invoice.

Book designers obviously have fewer people to consult - unless they're setting up a series with multiple editors. If they bid to produce ready-for-press files, they may have to consult only themselves.

Definitions

Here we define the categories used in the suggested rates sections.