Getting Paid for Graphic Design Work

In a perfect world, graphic design clients would all be delighted with their projects and happily write checks to their designers within minutes of receiving the completed work.

And the Tooth Fairy would be real, and ice cream would have no calories.

However, we do not live in a perfect world. There are plenty of clients out there who do not want to pay their designers, who want to get something for nothing, or who simply don't understand how much time and effort goes into freelance design work.

Qualifying Prospects

As a freelance graphic design pro, you're not just a designer -- you're a business owner. You're in charge of obtaining new work, managing your time, budgeting your money and prioritizing the projects most likely to bring you profits.

One of the important skills a freelance graphic artist can develop is the ability to determine which potential clients can afford your services. Sales professionals call this "qualifying prospects."

Money shouldn't be the first thing you talk about, of course. Just as in a job interview, your focus should first be on the value you can add to the organization with your work. At the same time, you don't want to waste a lot of time selling someone who can't buy.

In your initial conversations, ask good questions to develop a sense of what the client needs. Once you understand the project that's on the table, you can ask about budget and indicate a range into which you think the cost will fall.

Most clients will of course try to get something for less. This is normal human behavior. Respond by offering to do a lesser amount of work for that price.

Track Your Hours

To be taken seriously as a freelance graphic artist, you need to charge for the time you spend working on client projects. Whether you charge by the project or by the hour, your rate should reflect the cost of your time, including the equipment you need to do your work.

The Graphic Artists Guild publishes a handbook on pricing and ethical issues which may be of use in setting up your rates. You probably will also want to be aware of what your competitors are charging. You probably won't succeed by competing on price alone -- that will only attract bottom-feeder clients. Instead, develop your sales skills to position yourself as uniquely suited to solve the client's problems through great design.

At the same time, you'll want to develop a clear notion of how long it takes you to complete a given project or part of a project. You'll also want to develop a reliable system for tracking your work hours, so you can do a better job of estimating projects in the future.

Contracting With Suppliers

As your freelance graphic design practice grows, you may find yourself with more work than you can manage. Instead of turning down jobs, one option may be to contract parts of your workload out to another designer, or to a specialist in a field you don't know as well, such as Web coding or copywriting.

In these situations, you are the employer, and you need a contract between you and your supplier (the other creative person) that specifies work to be done, deadlines, and payments.

Because you are in the middle, you are in a position of responsibility in two directions. You owe your supplier his or her fee even if the client doesn't pay. And you owe the work to the client even if your supplier flakes out on you.

You also shouldn't lie to the client. Let them know that you have a skilled person who "works with" you on projects of this kind, and that you won't be doing all the work yourself but will take responsibility for its being of the highest quality.

Elements of a Freelance Design Contract

Here are some other issues that should be covered in a contract for freelance design work:

• How many rounds of changes is the client allowed?
• Who owns the work?
• If you can't meet deadline because the client was late signing off on the prototype, what happens?
• Will there be a "kill fee" if the project is canceled?
• What expenses (software? printing of prototypes? Travel? Postage?) will the client cover outside of the design fee?

Graphic Design Partnerships

Maybe you're great at print design, and your friend rocks Web site design. Perhaps you like to focus on producing creative work, and you know someone who excels at running a business and prospecting for clients. Or you enjoy drawing comic books and you fall madly in love with someone who happens to be great at lettering. Any way it happens, such coincidences may look like the beginning of a beautiful business partnership.

Experienced freelance graphic design professionals urge moving slowly. A business partnership, especially in a creative field, can be remarkably like a marriage -- for good or ill -- and it's worth taking a lot of time to make sure you have the right partner.

Try doing two or three small projects with the other person to see what happens. Pay attention to whether your skills really complement one another; how trustworthy and reliable the other person is; and how you both deal with deadlines and other stressful situations.

In no situation should you turn over the management of the money side of your business completely to another person. Even if it bores you to tears, this is your livelihood. Insist on remaining involved and informed.

Should You Work on Spec?

Working "on spec" is work done for free to try to gain a contract or job. It's a common technique for young or inexperienced freelance graphic artists, yet professionals in growing numbers are arguing that no work should ever be done on spec.

Their argument is this: If you work for free, you are devaluing not only your own work, but that of all creative professionals. Good creative work requires custom solutions that meet the client's unique needs -- and those solutions are worth money.

If a customer cannot afford to pay competitive rates for freelance design work, then that is a customer you do not need. Focus your sales pitches on customers who already have budgets for design.

Working on spec is not the same as working "pro bono," that is, providing free services to a charity or other nonprofit organization, usually in exchange for promotional value. This can be a valuable way to build your portfolio and market your services.

Another way to build up a freelance design portfolio is to barter your design services. You might do $400 worth of design work for a clothing store, and receive $400 worth of clothing in return. Such arrangements are often hard to negotiate, but can result in win-win situations.

Mockups and Prototypes

Mockups are standard communication tools for graphic designers, used to convey visual ideas to clients who may not be accustomed to thinking in visual terms.

There are things mockups can't do well -- for instance, conveying all aspects of a Web site's interaction with a customer. Designer Luke Wroblewski warns against giving clients too many options at the mockup stage. Instead, pare your ideas down to one or two, but base them solidly in a thorough understanding of the problems the client is trying to solve.

Be sure to mark any drafts, mockups or prototypes with a stamp or other clear label that identifies them as not being final products, and prevents the client from accidentally or purposefully using them as final products.

Client Communication

A great many issues between graphic designers and clients might be prevented by establishing better communication at the beginning of the process.

After choosing someone to do freelance design work, a client should expect to spend some time communicating the purpose and image of the organization, the market for its products, and the specific mission of the project being assigned.

The designer should ask questions, take all this information in and incorporate it into whatever final work is produced. If the client asks, "Why did you do it that way?" the answer should refer back to the data gathered during the initial discussions.

While some designers prefer to create their work on their own, the most successful designs are often those that are created with ongoing communication between client and designer. For this reason, some Web developers create two development servers, one for creating products and the other as a demonstration site to show the client the current stage of the work.

Tricks of the Graphic Art Trade

A popular saying in the writing profession is, "Good writers borrow; great writers steal." A freelance graphic artist can surely benefit from this mantra as well. Now, to be clear, this does not condone plagiarism. Rather, it reminds us to study the work of others and incorporate it into your own style. Being an avid reader of other material sparks countless ideas of your own.

Graphic artists should keep a file of designs that have "worked" for them or influenced them in some way – even if it is an example of how not to do a task. A personal library of influential images and art will help a good artist develop his skills.

How to Stay in Business as a Freelance Graphic Artist

Keep the freelance graphic artist jobs rolling in by taking time to write a brief newsletter. Let your clients know what you have been working on!

Another suggestion is to post press releases. These can be particularly helpful when anything new has occurred in your career. Perhaps you've won an award or a site you worked on has just launched. Keep your clients in the loop. Remember that when you write about clients, they are thrilled to get good press from you.

Portfolios For Graphic Artists

In order to get work, you'll need to show work. It's that simple. Nowhere is this more important than in the world of graphic arts. Your designs are your calling cards. So how much work should you put inside a portfolio?

Graphic arts professionals sometimes opt to show the quantity of work they have done. This is a mistake. It's better to choose 10 strong designs than twice as many mediocre ones. Sadly, the prospective client may remember the average designs the most. If this happens, your chances of being hired diminish.

Does Your Graphic Artist Have Computer And Print Skills?

When hiring a freelance graphic artist, evaluate his or her computer skills along with print knowledge. Talent in digital production is important. The ability to translate an editor's notes into art is important as well.

Knowledge of software such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and QuarkXPress are basics. However, the person you hire should be up on the printing process as well. Today, a number of graphic designers have not bothered to gather an understanding of it. This could reflect badly on your business.

Graphic Design Jobs

Successful graphic designers are flexible in the work they take on. Graphic designers create brochures, annual reports, publications, packaging, ads and many other pieces of print communication. Whenever you see print materials attempting to sell a product or promote a view, you are viewing a graphic designer's work.

The work of graphic designers is increasingly evident on many Web sites and multimedia projects today. Therefore, a freelance graphic design job can come from any number of sources. That's good news for your career!

Banner Ads: An Easy Way to Promote Your Business

Hiring a freelance graphic designer to develop a few simple banner ads may be the simplest (and sometimes most cost-effective) way to promote your business online. Banner ads are the blocks of advertising copy and graphics you encounter on certain websites throughout the Internet. Unlike pop-up ads, banner ads can be effective without being intrusive. A graphic designer will have the skills to develop an eye-catching ad for your company using graphics and text treatment that will adequately promote your business. Because the jobs are smaller, many freelancers will be able to provide the service at a lesser cost than large design jobs.