About
One person, two projects, published prices
Most of this page is the information that usually takes four emails to get out of a designer.
Me
Mira Volt, graphic and type designer
Nine years on my own, four before that in a studio where I drew other people's logos and learned how much of a budget goes on meetings. I work from one room with a proofing press I am not qualified to own. I draw letters most mornings and answer email in the afternoon, which is why replies take a day. I am good at identities for businesses that make or sell physical things, at packaging where the print method is a real constraint, and at drawing type. I am not good at pitching, at strategy decks, or at pretending a decision is data when it is taste.
Mira
How it goes
Four stages, and you can stop after any of them
A call, thirty minutes, free
You describe the thing. I say whether I am the right person and roughly what it will cost. About a third of these end with me sending you somebody else's name.
A proposal, two pages
Scope, stages, fee, dates and who signs off. Half the fee starts the work. If the two pages need to be twenty, the project is wrong.
Two rounds, then it is done
One direction, drawn properly, not three drawn badly. Two rounds of changes are included. A third round is charged by the day and I will tell you before it starts.
Files you own
Open formats, print-ready artwork, fonts licensed in your name, and an hour on a call to hand it over. No retainer, no hosting, no hostage files.
Money
What things cost
Identity
From 00
Mark, type system, colour, and a short book that shows how to use them. Six to nine weeks.
Packaging, one range
From 00
Structure, artwork and print files, with the printer in the room. Four to eight weeks.
A typeface
From 00
Two to five weights, Latin, spaced and kerned, licensed in your name. Four months at the fastest.
A day of drawing
00
For small jobs, artwork fixes and the third round of changes.
Real numbers, not a range that starts at nothing. Every project is quoted after the call; these are where the last two years have landed. Half up front, the rest on handover. Late payment stops the work rather than starting an argument.
The queue
Where the calendar stands
Updated whenever it changes, which is not often.
- 11 weeks
- Next startfor a project booked today
- 2
- At a timenever three, whatever the fee
- 2 days
- To an answeryes or no, on every enquiry
Plainly
What I will not do
Will you pitch against other studios?
No. I will show you the work I have already done and you can decide from that. Drawing on spec is work, and work is paid.
Can we see three directions?
No. You get one, argued for. Three directions means two were drawn to lose, and you paid for those too.
Do you build websites?
I design them. Building goes to somebody who does it every day, and I will introduce you rather than mark up their invoice.
Will you work through an agency?
Only if the client is in the conversation and the agency is not editing my emails. It has worked twice and failed twice.
Can you start next week?
Almost certainly not. The queue above is real. If your deadline is inside it, say so and I will tell you who is free.
Is there a discount for exposure?
There is a reduced rate for charities and for people who are genuinely starting out, and it has nothing to do with credits.
Before now
The dated version
2017 to now
Graphic and type designer
Independent
Identities, packaging and typefaces for shops, makers and small publishers. Around sixty projects, two at a time.
2022 to now
Founder
Volt Type
A small foundry for the families that outgrew the projects they were drawn for. Four releases so far.
2019 to 2023
Visiting tutor, typography
Northfield School of Art
One day a week on the second year. Stopped when the drawing at home started losing to the marking.
2013 to 2017
Designer
Marlowe Studio
Identity and print for larger clients. Learned production, estimating, and how much of a fee a meeting eats.
2010 to 2013
BA Graphic Design
Northfield School of Art
Spent most of it in the letterpress room, which turned out to be the useful part.
Still the right person?
Then the next step is a short email with the deadline and the budget in it.