What would be a great way of budgeting for design

This session also spread into some 1-1 conversation outside of the formal session time so I have tried to capture both in this report. 

Producers, designers, makers and a director joined the conversation. The concern from all angles was that it is hard to judge time and material budgets at the planning stage of a project. Especially in devised processes. Designers understand that budgets are tight and do adapt fees to the scale of the company/production if they are also keen on a project for creative or career reasons.  

A couple of designer-makers expressed that they prefer time-bound fees rather than a one off fee as this sets a boundary on what is expected. There is really no end to how long you could spend on a making and tweaking a design if you had all the time in the world. 

Some tactics/ideas people contributed:

1. Offer producers different iterations of the design, for low, medium and high budgets.

2. 2 part devising processes where the end of the first part gives designer time to price everything up. 

3. Track designer time to get a better idea of how long things take for future projects. Also to report back along the life of a project.

4. Making a rough cardboard stand-in of set and props before it has been finally confirmed. 

5. If design has run over due to changes asking for any leftover contingency to be paid to the designer.

6. Equal fees for all creatives in a timebound collaborative process. 

7. Set a higher minimum material budget than your real minimum as budgets will always sink to the minimum. 

8. Designer and producer both set a contingency 

9. Quote form with a menu of what can be provided in the price from a designer. Producers can clearly see what is included and also where they could save money.

10. Look for online designer forums (eg design allotment)

11. If  an unrealistic idea is proposed don’t be afraid to say ‘I have hit capacity’