graphic designer hourly rate

peteman

New Member
I am trying to hire a freelance graphic designer. What is the reasonable hourly rate in United States?

Thanks for your input.
 

aiman

New Member
I am trying to hire a freelance graphic designer. What is the reasonable hourly rate in United States?

Thanks for your input.

They pay by the hour in US? Here, in Singapore, I believe they pay by number of web pages and the degree of complexity of the pages. One page can cost about SGD$100 - SGD$300.
 

zkiller

Super Moderator
Staff member
it really depends on the scale of work you want done and the skill level of the actual artist. their really isn't a set rate in the world of freelancers. you will find people at all levels with price tags varying enough to hide the pacific ocean between.

if you are just looking to get some graphics done and have a pretty good idea as to what you want with a set budget in mind, i would suggest trying the sitepoint marketplace. http://www.sitepoint.com/marketplace/?
 

wetgravy

New Member
Your question is a little complicated. First off lets go over some of the basics of cost breakdown for a web designer.

In-House Designer: no cost for overhead (because you supply that) no additional taxes (because you cover them) etc. ... basically a normal employee
expect to pay atleast $10-20 an hour

In-House Contract Designer: no cost for overhead BUT they only work on the basis of work needed (via a contract) ... most are also paying more for taxes + travel expenses ... only there when work is needed and paid the contracted hourly amount.
expect to pay atleast $20-30 an hour

Out-of-House Designer: overhead is covered by the designer (which means you pay a pro-rated amount per hour), they pay additional taxes, and can be either covered by a contracted pay fee (ussually less) or covered at a freelance rate (varies per assignment or job and is ussually more)
expect to pay atleast $15-25 an hour for a contracted designer and 20-50 an hour for a freelance designer.

Design Studio/Shop: Massive overhead, more than one employee, taxes galore, etc ... these are rated from job to job and you will be paying ALOT more ... good side: they take less time than a single freelancer, generally have alot better results, and you know that their price won't vary from job to job TOO much. bad side: expensive ... but you get what you pay for.
expect to pay atleast $50 an hour ... one client of mine was paying close to $600 an hour for design work i was doing for $45 an hour.

Also, anyone that seriously undercuts any hourly rate you see ... is either 1) inept at their job and can't afford to NOT get the job. 2) from india (not a bad thing, but alot of times there is a language+time issue so be prepared for that) and/or 3) you are hiring someone completely green to the field who may or may not know how to handle your needs. Overall, the phrase "you get what you pay for" is a good reference to this last part. Don't be afraid to pay a little more for superior results that will give you a better effect in the longrun, whether it be adaptability of design/code or plain old consumer effectiveness.
 

JMCDesigner

Member
Also what you feel comfortable charging. You can charge anything you like, as long as you can justify it to your customer and they can see the value in your price. But don't ever cut yourself short by offering a price just because it's lower than everyone else. At the end of the day a customer is looking for value in their purchase and that isn't always the cheapest option.
 

alancook

New Member
They pay by the hour in US? Here, in Singapore, I believe they pay by number of web pages and the degree of complexity of the pages. One page can cost about SGD$100 - SGD$300.

Thanks for the Singapore rate. I am singaporean and am interested in the local market rates. Thanks.
 
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griffinsdesigns

New Member
Graphic Designer rate

It depends who you are hiring. Finding someone that recently graduated from school in Graphic Design, will most likely be cheaper than hiring someone that has been doing it for years. Also, it varies upon what the project is. Some freelancers charge by flat rate. To answer your question, $13/hr +.
 

zartwork

New Member
You get what you pay for, if you pay a $13/hr designer to do your work, you arent going to get what you want in most cases.
 

podolux

New Member
In Luxembourg for web design I charge 40 Euro (50$) per hour.
But for a whole website with CMS (joomla, drupal, wordpress) I have a different price.
There is a fix base (300 Euro) and for every additional work I charge per hour. Have a look at my price list for more details.
There is a difference between working only a few hours making a banner and 1-2 week website design.
 
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logosdesign

New Member
you can get the lowest rate per hour from any freelancing site like getafreelancer, elance any many more where through biding you can get the lowest rate.. but in my opinion at-least $15-25 per hour should be your budget...
 
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chrisbkrh

New Member
In Luxembourg for web design I charge 40 Euro (50$) per hour.
But for a whole website with CMS (joomla, drupal, wordpress) I have a different price.
There is a fix base (300 Euro) and for every additional work I charge per hour. Have a look at my price list for more details.
There is a difference between working only a few hours making a banner and 1-2 week website design.

agreed. price for a competent and able graphic designer for print on an hourly rate working for a legitamate company would be $40 per hour. for certain web work, on a freelance basis no less than $50 per hour and depending on the complexity, as high as $90 or $110 for certain flash work.
 

jemountfort

New Member
agreed. price for a competent and able graphic designer for print on an hourly rate working for a legitamate company would be $40 per hour. for certain web work, on a freelance basis no less than $50 per hour and depending on the complexity, as high as $90 or $110 for certain flash work.

Agreed above, alot of flash designers i know are on $160+ NZ an hour ($100 USD), which is insane, but then again its some demanding stuff . I would budget between 15 - 30 an hour depending on their portfolio integrity
 

Advanox

New Member
I would do a set pay, per project :) works great for me.

What one designer does in the time he's given dosnt mean that another designer can't do the same job quicker & with better results. So the designer is the value not the hourly wage. Some are beginners, but with pro's you need to be flexible to keep long-term business.
 
it depends on what will be your task is, well its better u hire someone from south asia ....it wil be easy for u afford them
 

studio3

New Member
actually it depends of how big is the project. some people prefer paying at the end of the project working. even so, i think that a good price / hour is 15$-20$.
 

ladesign

New Member
I normally charge by the project but some times companies will charge by the hour if you are contracted by them
 
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