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Graphic design project prices

In the world of graphic design, pricing a project is one of the hardest things for a designer to do. As creatives, our brains are simply not wired in that way. We love the creative process, but putting a value on it can be overwhelming.

The first step is to set an hourly rate for yourself or your business. These fees can vary by employee or service, or you can just have a flat rate across the board. This will help determine the cost of a client project.

Many factors can affect how you set your hourly rate: your level of skills and experience (fresh out of school students versus an experienced designer, for example), the market you work in, and the client’s budget.

However, even with these benchmarks, prices are often a guess. To help establish an accurate price, you will need all the information you can get about the project. Meet with the client and take the time to get as much detail as possible. Take into account the budget and especially the deadlines. Projects that need a quick response can often be billed at a higher rate.

If you’ve been at this for a while and have done projects of similar scope, these can be used as benchmarks to help price the project. It’s important to keep track of your time for everything you do, even phone calls to customers and suppliers to get a clear idea of ​​what it takes to get it done. Use this data as a guide for the next project that comes along.

Once you have the information you need to write a proposal, determine the parameters or scope of the project, in writing. This should be something that you and your client agree on beforehand. Remember, you are entering a customer relationship and there will be expectations on both sides. Put them in writing. Anything that is outside the scope of the project is something that can be negotiated. Don’t be afraid to broach this with the client, otherwise ‘project creep’ will set in and you’ll soon find yourself well above your time budget with no additional money.

Ranging your proposal is another way you can help cover those unexpected surprises on projects. This is especially true for website design. When it comes to web work, there are often unforeseen obstacles unique to each project. Ranges help “buffer” those.

Finally, compare your proposal to what you think is fair market value. You may think that your services are valuable, however, the customer’s perception is very different from yours. Request an estimate in advance. Determine if you can do the project on that budget. If not, it is not the project for you. Next, what can the market support? Be aware of what the price of your services is worth in your market area. But be careful not to auction the costs of a job. This will only give you anxiety and frustration, and it’s not worth the headache.

Finally, pricing is based on balance … what you determine your services are worth, what the customer is willing to spend, and what the market dictates as a fair price.