<– BACK TO CONTACT 1. I’ve looked through your website and your portfolio, but am unsure if Three Bears will be able to meet my specific design needs. I see you’ve done lots of stuff for bands, but what kind of other stuff do you do? We Bears are most certainly afficionados of music and the arts. Essentially, we’re all about imagination fruition, and delight in whatever stimulates that in our noggins and in the minds and hearts of others. As a result, many of our clients have been folks within the entertainment industry. We’ve undertaken a myriad of work for musicians, record labels, authors, publishers, and more, and pride ourselves on collaborative creativity with all of them. However, we Bears additionally have extensive background in brand & identity design, pre-production packaging design, and ongoing awareness of the creative trends & needs within a wide variety of industries and methods of practice. We’ve worked to creatively represent professionals in fields ranging from mental health and wellness to the clothing, food, and drug industries (and beyond). Whether it’s merchandise design, album layout, product packaging, web design, photography, illustration, creative consultation, wall murals, or tattoo flash, we’ve got you covered. Essentially, what it comes down to is this: if you have a creative need, we can work with you to meet it. Let’s talk. 2. I’d like to work with you Bears to put together brand & identity design for my cattle-herding company, a website for my band, and a few t-shirt designs for my second cousin’s little sister’s best bud’s post-wedding shower after-party. What kind of pricing do you have for these and other projects? Our pricing is quoted on a project by project basis, and is defined through consideration of our client’s needs (i.e. complexity of project, timeframe & deadline) and financial capabilities. We’re in this because we sincerely love to create work that enables other people to further their own creative ventures, and so desire to price our projects with empathy as to dreams and budget limitations. Tell us what you’re looking for, and we’ll let you know typical ranges of pricing that we’ve offered for comparable projects in the past. We’re all about fairness, and prefer that monetary discussion be forthright and honest. Also, keep in mind that we’re not bound strictly to the dollar for purposes of compensation and mutual agreement. Should you be into the idea of bartering goods or services (high-quality pipe tobacco, fine fermented beverages, back massages, engine work, etc.) in exchange for our services, we’d certainly be open to discussion. 3. Our band leaves to tour Mongolia (or anywhere else) in a week (or less). I’m writing to ask you if you’d be able to design two t-shirts for us. What do you think? Ain’t gonna happen. Don’t get us wrong – we Bears would love to work with you to bring you sweet radness in the form of designs that blow your mind. Realistically, however, letting us know about your need a week or two before your deadline probably won’t lend itself to our being able to work with you. High quality work takes time, both to formulate in collaboration with you and to complete/send it to the printer/get that stuff printed & mailed to you. We’re willing to consider projects that have a highly pressing deadline, but be aware that a) we prefer having some time to work with you in order to bring you something you love, and b) an additional rush fee may be likely. 4. I have a CD release show lined up in a month (or less)- I’d love to have you Bears do the design for my album. So, wanna? Huh, huh?!? Wanna? Again, we love you, but we want you to meet our dear friend, Reality. He and you probably need to know each other well. We want to create artwork for you that pleases you to no end, but doing so takes time. That time doesn’t even factor in the fact that most printers prefer approximately 3 or more weeks to print, package, and send you your snazzy record. We’re certainly into the idea of collaborating with you, and tend to be pretty flexible, but everyone involved does need to be realistic concerning expectations. If you’ve got a need for album layout & design, come talk with us – communication is a lovely thing. 5. Our CD release show is scheduled. Can you guarantee the CD’s in our hand by then? It depends on when the show is, but we really can’t guarantee anything. This will depend on the turnaround time of the manufactuers. We HIGHLY recommend not scheduling your CD release until the physical copies are in your hands. 6. OMG. I totally heart what you did for (insert random band’s name here)! I got that part of the album artwork tattooed on my butt last week, and it’s so awesome! Do you design Myspaces/Virbs/Bebos/imeems/Livejournals/Blogspots, and wud U do mine?!?!?!?! Please know that your use of the plural forms of varying social networking sites (and the fact that you actually maintain so many of them) is just plain disconcerting. Factor in additional grammitical and spelling issues, and we just know that our 10th grade English teachers are weeping with us. That aside, we have tackled Myspace re-design in the past, and are willing to consider doing it again in the future. However, keep a few things in mind. These include, but are not limited to: a) We tend to prefer to include Myspace re-designs for bands in one of our package design options, rather than creating a Myspace layout independently – this allows us to create consistency visually across the board, ensuring that your band’s visual identity is cohesive. b) Our agreeing to undertake design for a personal Myspace/blog/etc. is dependent upon whether or not our schedules allow it, and upon whether or not your bank account can afford it. We’re not trying to be crass here – rather, just bluntly honest. 7. If I had you design my band’s t-shirts or album, would you print it yourselves, or do you go through someone else to do that sort of thing? Again, due to an ongoing desire to pursue equal parts of quality and affordability in the work we offer, we tend to outsource production and printing of our designs to other companies. We work closely with a number of fine printers (whose output we adore), and have an extensive list of options & suggestions for you in this arena. Please contact us directly for further information. We’ve been known to do screen-printing, but on an uncommon basis. We can recommend some great printers, though! 8. Can you do work for free? We promise it will be good exposure for you. Please consult this chart. Almost 99%, we will not perform work for free. We put a lot of time into our work. We have lives too, and need to put food on our tables. Unless if you are a non-profit, and we can use the work as Charity to write off of our taxes, please don’t ask us. 9. I am on a tight budget, can you work with me to work inside that budget? This depends on the budget, but we have been known to help out those in need. We often give package deals, or organize payment plans. 10. Why Three Bears Design? There are simply so many reasons, but here are a few: a) We have a propensity to root extensively for tubers and berries prior to winter. |
