A Little Thing Called GFC
When looking at and thinking about either doing, or having done, some type of creative work, and for that matter any type of work really, one should always be thinking of the rule of GFC. What is GFC you might be asking. GFC is basically what everyone uses when going about the process of doing work for compensation. Those letters stand for: Good, Fast, and Cheap.
Below is how most people use those to provide a consistent and reasonable way to manage how much a project, product, or service costs.
When using the GFC method, you are able to pick out two of those three things for your project, product, or service that you wish to have completed. The reasoning behind this is that you simply cannot have more than two out of three. Here are the layouts of how the possible combinations come together and what the type of service each of the combinations results in. From there you, as the client, are able to arrive at your own conclusions based on needs and wants, to pick out the combination that best suits your needs and budget.
Picking two of the three options can give you one of three results:
- Good + Fast = Higher Cost
For this type of project, the price is high because it requires a great deal of attention and dedicated time, which can make it much harder to work on multiple projects if more than one happens to be asked for.
- Good + Cheap = Lower Cost But Slower Return
If you want a quality project, but are on a very strict budget, this might be your option. The only drawback for you the client, is that if you are also in a time crunch things might not work out. Because asking for a cheaper price also places you on a slightly lower priority rank than that of one that is a higher priority project that is needed sooner and pays higher.
- Fast + Cheap = Lower Quality
Now that isn’t to say that the product you requested will be given to you as a small blurry file that wouldn’t even look good printed on a postage stamp. You will still receive a high quality product that can be used for anything, for any purpose. Lower quality, in this sense, means that for a quick result at a lower price, the time being spent is less and less of a chance to get extremely creative with the work.
All three have their advantages and disadvantages, it’s up to you as the client to decide what your current situation is and what route to go from there.
I happen to use this method personally and have found that it almost always works out for people. It is understood that there will have to be a compromise of some sort for every situation. In the end, the client gets what they want, and they have the choice of how it gets done.
As either another creative individual, or as a client, what do you think when you see how the list is laid out? Do you feel as though it is a fair representation of how things are? Do you think that it is a fair way to do business? Do you have any other methods that you prefer or are employing? Feel free to leave it in the comments.