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The project was the first time the client had worked with a designer since joining her current firm. It had been a very positive experience, with project achieving its objectives and demonstrating the value of well-targeted visual communication to an office that had not really paid much attention to design before.

There was one gripe, though. Well, not so much of a gripe as a wish.

During the project, the client had to make a number of spec changes, as well as the usual timetable crunching (as clients do). The spec changes and extra work had, of course, upped the designers' fees. Additionally, there had been a change of print specs and the use of licensed photography, which not only appeared as a "surprise" in terms of the charges but also in terms of the ongoing costs associated with using licensed photography.

In the end, the fees were substantially more than originally quoted and several items which were not previewed by the designer also needed to be paid for. Needless to say, the client was "surprised." Unhappy? A little, but not because of the total fee. The client could have dealt with the total fee, no problem - if she had known in advance.

"What I want is to know how much it will cost each time I want to make a change, or need to! Why can't they just set up a spreadsheet that allows them to come back to me with the latest project estimate so that I can make sensible decisions about whether or not to make the change? Is it that hard?"

Quote, unquote - from the chequebook that feeds you. Not an unreasonable request, I think. A lot of work, yes, to set things up right in the first place, but not a lot of work to keep going once you've made the change to the way you quote and update project costs.

There are a number of ways to do this - a simple spreadsheet (in MS Excel), a FileMaker Pro database (quite a number of studios seem to be going this route), or even a simple notebook.

So what's the "so what?"

• clients want to know TOTAL project cost, not just the designer's bit
• clients want to know whenever that cost is going to change, especially as a result of any decisions they make

How would you feel if, on your first purchase of a professional service, you weren't told of the full cost to see the whole thing done? Even the Australian govt insists that mobile phone companies print the "full cost" of those sweet mobile deals on every advertisement so that the buying public isn't suckered by an attractive handset price.

"Im a wannabe designer, i manage a small studio and work mostly for not for profit organisations, im looking for a mentor i dont want to be like the 6 million other designers out there and i believe that i have foundations of a great designer could you recommend a plan of action im completely serious i want this as my proffession thanking you in advance Luis"

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andrew@lam-po-tangcom