In Part I of Let’s Talk Lettering, we talked about keyboard
lettering, when we use it and some of its limitations. In part II we’re
discussing how we charge and talking about text with your customers.
Charging for Lettering
Jobs:
Many shops charge per name when doing a list of
personalizations such as right chest names or even name drops into stock
designs or under company logos. Some may
even charge per letter. The major softwares have a “team name” function built
in to make the long lists of names and the application of doing these one at a
time, go smoother and faster. This is when you’ll use your keyboard text most.
However you decide to charge for your services, take into
consideration the time it takes to hoop each shirt individually for the names
in addition to the application of any design on the opposite side, since this
is a separate hooping. Even if you’re
using the “team name” function under a logo, you will have to stop the machine
once the design is finished to load the individual names. If you have a long
list of names, it can be time consuming so make sure you’re charging for your
time.
If I am adding lettering or a tagline to a customer’s
existing logo, usually I will just charge an edit fee, even if I’m digitizing
the letters manually. If I can use keyboard lettering and it matches what the
customer is asking for, I will use that and “clean” up the letters, adjusting
them for fabric pull and usually tweaking the corners and joints. Once you get into more than just a tagline or
the whole logo is basically lettering or a design or icon is included, then I’m
charging for a full logo by stitch count and almost always digitizing the
lettering by hand.
As you get better at digitizing your lettering, you’ll find
you use the keyboard text less because it’s easier and more time efficient to
digitize the letters correctly from the start rather than edit keyboard text
more.
For the customer’s
benefit:
Convenience and organization dictates that you have a
printed list of sample text in the fonts you offer customers in your shop. Be familiar with your regular fonts and
insure that they are the ones that sew well in every day practice. There will be many fonts in your software and
not all of them will be winners. Also be aware that the more fonts you offer,
the longer it will take the customer to make a decision, so handing them a 3”
thick binder of fonts, may not be what you want to do. Displaying a list including 4-5 scripts, 4-5
blocks and 4-5 serifed font styles should be your basics. When a customer asks
about other styles, you have a chance to talk to them and provide a more custom
experience and more fonts to look at.
Be sure to also know approximately how many characters per
inch you can sew in each font. The customer will appreciate your expertise and
you’ll be able to quickly help them find a lettering style that will work for
their job. An easy way to display your basic fonts is to sew them and frame
them for the wall or counter. This way the customer can actually see the
letters in thread.
For full logos, the lettering is usually a part of a
customer’s company design and the lettering should look exactly like their
logo. They’re paying for a custom job so if the keyboard font doesn’t look
exactly like their art, and many times it won’t, don’t use it.
I get jobs sometimes that have very tiny lettering under
them for a tagline (way under minimum standard) and the customer wants me to
recreate the design at the same size. They’ll tell me they want the same
lettering but make it look better. This is when educating the customer comes
into play. You have to discuss the design with the customer and tell them why
the lettering looks bad on their original. If the text is too small to sew well
on their fabric, give them options like enlarging and stacking or moving the
text to a better location.
Lettering is probably one of the biggest challenges to
master that embroiderers’ face. There’s no match for practice and experience. Keep
notes of what works, sizes and settings. It’s never a waste of time. Almost all
company logos have lettering, unless you’re the owner of the “swish” or “the
little man playing polo on a horse”. J
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