Pricing a job, regardless of your experience, is always a tricky thing – loaded with expectation, doubt and a fear of losing work. It’s a fearful question indeed, “what should I charge?”, especially in creative fields like type and graphic design, where pricing isn’t always clear-cut.
It’s not product based and there is plenty of competition (imposter syndrome is always lurking in the shadows too). As people, generally speaking, we’re also just quite bad at talking about money. It feels awkward, difficult and often conversations lead to one putting themselves down.
We hope to help with this, however, and have put together a handy guide to costing freelance work – broken down into some practical steps to help you find your price and feel good about it.
This is an idealistic how-to. And don’t worry yourself too much if you can’t do everything, especially at the start. Just try your best, and make sure not to undersell yourself. You’re a creative person doing work that wouldn’t be done if you weren’t doing it. You deserve to be paid, and paid fairly.
📐 Scope ✏️
Always start with the scope. Before you think about numbers, you need to understand what the client actually wants. That means asking:
What’s the full deliverable? (e.g. logo, full brand identity, poster series, typeface, social media templates etc.)
How many concepts or rounds of revision are expected?
What’s the timeline?
Will your work be used locally, globally, forever?
This is the groundwork for pricing – the more detailed the scope, the more informed (and fair) your quote will be for both sides. It also means that clients can truly understand where their money (and your time) is going. Speaking of time…
🕒 Pricing Models 📦
There are two common pricing models. In understanding both you can determine which best suits you and your practice.
🕒 Hourly/day rates 🕒
An hourly or day rate is how many freelancers start. You decide on a fair rate for your time (e.g. £300/day or £50/hour), and then estimate how long the project will take.
Pros
Good for open-ended, long-term or collaborative projects.
Easy to explain and justify.
Cons
Ties your value to time, not outcome.
If you work faster than expected, you can end up earning less.
Have a think to work out which works best for you and your practice. For example, a design project might be broken down into days due to the style of work, whilst a social media management project might be charged hourly due to the irregular hours.
📦 Project-Based Pricing 📦
In this pricing model, you quote a flat fee for the entire project, based on its scope and value.
Pros
More flexibility.
Rewards experience.
Can be more time efficient.
Cons
If the project balloons in scope, you risk undercharging (unless your contract includes boundaries!).
A good rule of thumb is to start by calculating your time and then add a buffer for admin, emails, time to think rather than just do, and unexpected delays. That number becomes your baseline for a project quote.
❤️ Understanding your worth and minimums 🧠
You need to know how much you have to make to live and work sustainably.
This means
Calculating monthly expenses (rent, food, software, gear, etc.)
Dividing by how many days/hours you can realistically work each month
Adding a buffer for holidays, taxes, savings, and slower months
This is your minimum sustainable rate. If you charge below this, you’re effectively paying to work.
But remember, you’re not just selling hours, you’re selling expertise, taste, ideas, visual thinking, and creativity. All of that has value. Don’t underestimate your worth or undersell your practice.
Getting confidence in your rate
Whilst your minimum rate is essential, it’s also useful to understand what other people with your level of experience might be charging. There are lots of surveys out there that map out various countries' average rates for anyone from junior to senior roles. For example, Major Players did a survey in 2024 that could be a useful indicator for designers based in the UK. You can also look at advertised full time salaries that feel equivalent to your role and calculate from there, with all the relevant buffers we mentioned above added on.
📌 Bonus📌
Get into the habit of using a contract.
Ask to borrow someone’s as a template or draw up a rough one yourself. Even if it’s a super simple project, if it’s got a scope, timeline, deliverables, payment schedule, and licensing, get it in writing. It protects everyone, and it makes you look professional (because you are!). It doesn’t have to be long or complicated, it just needs to cover the basics: what you’re doing, for how much, in what time.
Also, don’t rely on ChatGPT to do a contract for you, especially if it’s long. Make sure that you’ve actually read it and know what you’re putting together. Again, it’s super beneficial in the long term.
🌍 Consider usage ☕
Especially for type designers, illustrators, or brand designers, how your work is used matters.
For example, a logo used for a local café is different from one used by an international tech company. Similarly, a typeface for internal use might have a different value than one used across packaging that’s super visible.
You can (and should!) price differently depending on usage. More eyes, more money!
🌍📅 Breathing room ✍️
Make room for revisions and admin. Even if you’re pricing per project, build in time for kick-off calls, follow up calls, feedback rounds, artworking, file prep, invoicing etc.
Treat your admin time as part of the work, because it is. If you don’t include it, you’re not charging for the full picture.
⛔ Say no and ask questions ❓
If a client can’t or won’t define the scope, or pressures you to charge less than you’re worth, it’s okay to walk away. In fact, you probably should. You don’t have to take every job — especially the ones that don’t value your time or boundaries. You have to learn to trust your gut, it’ll only ever benefit you in the long run.
If clients come back with tricky asks or amends, stay professional rather than panicked. At the end of the day, as serious as clients make their work out to be, there is no such thing as a design emergency. Time, compromises and budget can be found.
Plus, you can also ask for more time to think about your quote. Just say: “Thank you so much – let me review this and I’ll send you a quote tomorrow.”
Ask around
If you’re still not sure what to charge, that’s okay – ask around! Reach out to your peers and other designers. See what they think about the quote you’re about to share.
📝 Trust the process 💻
It does get easier over time. The more projects you do, the more experience you’ll have and the more practical data to work from to best judge your time. You’ll start to see how long things actually take. You’ll raise your rates as your confidence (and skillset) grow. You’ll get better at spotting red flags and more comfortable asking for what you need. It’s difficult at the start to maintain self confidence on a professional stage, but you owe it to yourself to try your best.
