How do you determine a freelance design fee?

What are the rates of other freelance designers in your area? How does your work compared to theirs? That’s where I’d start.

$35–$50 per hour, depending on the market in your location. Be honest about the time a job will take you, provide a quote up front. Charge for author’s changes. Don’t sell yourself short — It will hurt you and other designers around you.

Your main commodity is time. Lawyers understand this concept implicitly which is why they tend to bill hourly. As an artist, you have to ultimately decide what your time is worth.

These people might be able to help you:

http://www.freelancersunion.org/

Personally, I would tell you to price by project, not by hour. Pricing by hour turns you into a comparable commodity: “Hey, you know this other graphic designer is $10 cheaper than you”, when what clients should be looking at is not the numbers (price) but qualitative aspects of your work. Are you attentive? Do you ask the right questions? Do you have the skills for the project? Do they like your style and what you’ve done before?

I seem to remember Chris Pearson saying that $1,500 is the starting point for a blog design. So you could research and see how much similar projects are priced, or how other designers are charging, but then you also have to consider the following:

1. What is your client’s budget, and how much are they willing to pay? What value do they put on design?

2. How much do you need to cover your overhead, provide yourself with a living, and live in reasonable comfort?

3. What are people in your field, in your area, with approximately your expertise charging? Obviously, if you’ve worked for high-profile clients, you can up your prices a bit; if you’re just getting started, your prices would be in the lower range.

4. Do you need to buy licenses for software or type? Should that be included in the price?

Finally, don’t undervalue yourself. Design is not a commodity. They should be hiring you for your talents and understanding, not because you are the absolute cheapest person they can find.

basically, it boils down to a few factors.

how good are you?

how much do you think you are worth?

how much do you want?

will they buy that?

These are great responses, thanks! Keep ‘em coming.

Also, I live in NY, if that makes a difference.

I used to do freelance web design work. Since I was new to the work, my rates were cheap, as I knew I would be slow in getting the work done. Even though I didn’t tell the client in specific detail how I calculated my rates, I tried to estimate how much work I would be doing for each aspect of the project and what I thought would be a fair amount of compensation. For example, for Photoshop work like designing logos and retail boxes, I charged between $20 and $50, depending on how hard it was. For a simple page, I would charge $150. If it was more complicated, I’d charge more. Once I had each part figured out, I thought about how many hours I was spending on the entire project, and what minimum compensation I wanted for my time (for example, $15/hour). So, if I knew a project would take me 40 hours and my estimate was $750, then I knew I was charging enough to match how I wanted to be compensated. If I estimated a project too low, I would let the client know that I needed more time and would charge a little more.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find enough steady work (I’m in NYC, too). I hope you have better luck than I did.