feels a little under valued

doing my weekly view of the industry employment needs and came across this one… for a “large Boston-based university” this seems a little off
or is this something at a student would love to have an opportunity to do… I personally thought it would be fun then i say the price… perhaps if it was in the area i would do it pro-bono…


Industrial Designers needed for 4-hour workshop, Thursday 3/16
Location: Seattle, WA Posted: Feb 22
Job Description

This is an in-person, 4-hour hands-on workshop at the SURF incubator with masters-level student teams working on innovation projects. You will work with the teams to develop concepts from pre-vetted opportunities. The following are the workshop deliverables:

  • 3-5 rough concept sketches
  • 1 refined sketch
  • A rough mock-up (cardboard, foam, or clay). Materials will be provided.
  • Preliminary InVision (if an app) or Solidworks model of design.

We need 5 designers, the pay is fixed at $150.00.

This is a fun opportunity and great portfolio builder! Lunch is included.

Please send a portfolio upon application. This job is paid via a large Boston-based university.

$150 for 4 hours of work isn’t much, but since it’s working in academia at least they threw in lunch. That hourly rate would work out to ~$75k/yr which is still better then the average starting salary of an ID grad.

When you put it into those terms, yeah i can see that it is pretty good.

Actually, those terms are deceiving. First, getting 2000 billable hours is not a practicable estimate. 1200-1500 is reasonable. Also, the overhead for an independent has a higher tax rate and foots the entire insurance (health and liability) bill. The list of overhead goes on, but those are the big boys.

Plumbers are a minimum of $80/hour. Are you saying you value yourself at less than half of a plumber?

For me no, the cost at my level is no less then $100 per hour, but if they want perhaps students then that may be favorable. The thing i found funny was that they didn’t define what level they are looking for, yet they do want a portfolio… it also seemed like the amount of work they wanted in 4 hours would need to be very very rough… (but that may just be my speed and skill set…)

If I were them I would get 1 or 2 professionals at between $150-300 per hour plus prep time, a couple of recent grads at $50/hr and then a few design students for free lunch.

Re-reading the original post, this seems like they want a design consultant to work on their project but at 1/20 the time and 1/100 the cost. As that graphic designer says, “____ you, pay me”.

  • 3-5 rough concept sketches
  • 1 refined sketch
  • A rough mock-up (cardboard, foam, or clay). Materials will be provided.
  • Preliminary InVision (if an app) or Solidworks model of design.

Whatever the pay, that’s a lot to do in 4 hours. Are they expecting that the designer shows up with appropriate hardware and software?

Agreed, the art is going to be in the prep here. Typically when we would do workshops like this at frog, or in my role now, we would frequently have a pre session where we would brainstorm ideas and come to the actual workshop with a bunch of pre thoughts that could be easily spiced in. I think a mega rough mockup is OK (as long as it is popsicle sticks and bubble gum level), but the In Vision part will not be collaborative. Could easily be done with a paper proto.

You mean Ray Liotta? I can’t figure out how to embed this, but…

I don’t like gangster films, that’s my cultural blind spot. Thanks!