The questions everyone asks when starting out as a designer are; How much should I charge for my designs? Or What will my day / hourly rate be? There are several things you need to think about when coming up with your price so you don’t end up short handed, in the end it’s all business.

Think about your expenses and how much you spend per month, your bills, rent, travel etc and know you need to make at least enough to break even. Once you have added all your costs and expenses together divide it by the number of hours you’re going to be working. Consider holidays, sick days, hours where you’ll have no work to do and those when you’re developing your own business and don’t forget tax.

Are you going to have a profit margin? High, Moderate, Low? Whatever you decide the one thing to remember is never compromise on the quality of your work, always aim to provide the best and highest quality no matter what.

Do your research, as always, find out what others around your area are charging and what your other designer friends charge and go from there, it’s easier to work out what you should value yourself at when you can compare your skills and quality of work to others. Find out what services are in demand and what people are really looking for.

Consider your skill level when deciding how much to charge, being a graduate you’re not going to get as much as a senior freelancer with years of experience so think accordingly. As your skills and experience grow so will your fee but it all comes with time and patience. Experience is what will let you determine whether a client’s brief is more complicated than it initially seems, and what problems you may encounter along the way.

Always value the time, effort and amount of work for a project! You’ll have a great variety of clients, some which require incredible amounts of attention, others that will be more specific about what they require but expect numerous changes, returning clients and new ones. Your service will always be to the highest quality but the amount of time and work required will have an impact on the price you give.

Price yourself accordingly to your skills, experience and marketing strategy. How you want to be seen, how you see yourself and where in the market your find yourself working, be it with the highest most luxurious brands, simple everyday tasks or in between.