A freelance web designer or a freelance graphic designer is a design trained and skilled person who works for themselves and can be hired on their own to work directly for you as opposed to hiring an agency. In that respect they are like a small one man business, or sole trader. Some freelancers may collaborate with a team of freelancers making sure they cover a far reaching set of skills.
The money side
Freelance designers work in the following way:
Fixed Price – quoting a set project price based on the brief you provide
Ad hoc – charging their hourly rate for smaller jobs or ongoing updates
Contract – hired for a set amount of days to solely work on and fulfil that project
Maintained – a freelance worker may also be available to work on a routine set amount of days each week or month, akin to an inhouse employee.
Hourly rates vary considerably based on a wide range of factors such as location, experience, skill and type of work. As an estimate a freelance hourly rate or salary is in the realm of £40-£75/hour. Contract, director or consultancy level work up to approx £100/hour
What to look for in a freelance designer
There comes a time when we all need outside design work as a small business. And the most cost effective way is to use a freelancer.
To find a freelance designer we would recommend word of mouth or our curated and vetted Supplier Directory as a first option but it is also worth searching online for freelancers in your area or via a portal:
Freelancers we spoke to said if you want to have an ongoing relationship with your designer it is easier to find one locally who you can go and see, or who are happy to have Video (Zoom/Teams/etc) meetings, face to face resolves issues before they arise.
Freelancers via portals from abroad is a cost effective solution, and they are highly skilled, however requirements can easily get lost in translation resulting in a bad experience.
First think about what it is you need
Write a job description
Are you looking for a logo or full brand, do you just need some business cards and a flyer, may this move into a website or packaging for your product?
Designers may be branding specialists, graphic designers or artworkers or their strengths may be in packaging or digital design such as website design and build. Taking the long view of what you may need will make sure that you find someone who fills the space correctly. Do you want a specialist who can focus on a fantastic exhibition stand – or someone who can turn their hand to all aspects of your design. Do you already have an in house developer so you need user experience and visual interface design layouts or are you looking for a designer that can build your whole website. Perhaps you have an in house Marketeer who needs graphics and artworking for their social campaigns, small quick turn around jobs. As you can see it is worth planning your design strategy when thinking about who to hire.
How do you go about this
Start a conversation online asking the questions you need to know. What is their hourly rate, could they give a quote and some links to work that may be of relevance to you. If you like their previous work and the hourly rate fits, arrange a meeting or Video call as soon as possible to see if the chemistry is right – as this (after ability and budget) is possibly the most important aspect.
Meet & Greet
When in that first meeting just see how the conversation flows:
Are you on the same wavelength?
Does the freelance designer grasp your vision, and do they buy into it?
Is it something they would like to work on?
What contingency do they have in place while they are away on holiday?
Who manages your website hosting?
Ask the freelancer to talk through case studies of other clients – which went well, which they are particularly proud of and why and even any that didn't go well and what they did to resolve it.
Ask the freelance graphic or web designer to describe their working process to make sure it fits with yours.
Talk about your working practice:
Do you like to receive everything via email or would you rather an online presentation tool?
Are you better face to face?
Are you very hands on and will need lots of revisions?
Or will you sit back and let the designer lead?
Are you the sole decision maker or will the designer be dealing with a committee?
What type of projects do you need undertaken?
Is there a certain style of skill you require?
Some resources to get you started
Transparency
This freelancer may well become like one of your team, during a project or ongoing updates so you will need to feel ‘comfortable’ working with them. It may sound obvious but this means you like them and feel you can work with them, respect their views and trust them to do a great job at a fair rate each time.
Relationships can go sour if this ‘comfort’ disintegrates. There are always two sides to a relationship and if you hire a designer for their ‘experience and skill’, or ‘off the wall creativity’, or ‘attention to detail and diligence’ or whatever it is that made you choose them – trust and support them to do their job. This is not saying don’t give feedback or ask for amends – definitely do! But they know their business as well as you know yours so listening, collaborating and taking guidance, on both sides, will give you a better outcome.
A designer worth their salt will understand the holistic approach to brand or user experience giving you a solution that has been carefully thought through to appeal to your customers externally as well as your team internally.
Those other destroyers of comfort…
Disputes
Disputes usually crop up from surprises, being clear how many rounds of amends you receive, what is and isn't included and what the final deliverable is, will help negate this. In return, ask your designer to agree the cost with you prior to commencing the work, or for where you request hourly work ask them to provide timesheets.
Budget
If your budget is finite, or small, as lets face it it probably is if you are a small business and the reason you are looking for the services of a freelancer as opposed to a larger agency. That’s ok, don't hide this fact, be transparent and make sure you are completely comfortable with how you are being billed – an upfront cost, or hourly rate.
The biggest busters of budget are generally:
Repeated revisions to content once a final layout has been provided for proofing – simple to avoid
New features of change of direction during a project – it pays to plan
Communication
Make sure that your freelancer keeps you informed. Briefs change, requirements change, but as long as they keep communicating you can see where the changes are and why this might incur further cost and then have the facts to make the decision to go off on that tangent or not.
On the whole designers are nice caring creatures who just want to do a great job that you and they are proud of. They are not in it to rip you off, design takes time – in fact they are much more likely to not charge you for some hours than overcharge you.
Relationship
If the chemistry is gone, and it feels like mini battles each time you communicate. Check first that your designer is not digging their heels in for a very valid reason, and if not then perhaps it's time to go your separate ways.
Moving on
It happens! For good and bad reasons, but there are very few times I have come across when freelancers have been unwilling to give you all your artwork to allow another designer to carry on from where they left off. However it is always reassuring to know that you can get access to these. Some freelancers add this to their contract for peace of mind for their clients, others share a client Dropbox where all the files live, always worth asking.
The Pros & Cons of hiring a freelance designer
Pros of hiring a freelance graphic or website designer
The main pro about hiring a freelance designer is cost. They are on the whole cheaper than a web design, graphic design or branding agency
Freelancers are more flexible as to where they work so if you need someone in your office this would work well
Freelance designers or developers usually have a quicker turnaround time as to when they can start and finish your project
You can hire freelance designers on a Maintained or Contract basis ie; 1 day each week or full time for 6 weeks. During this time they are working solely on your project, often in your office
Cons of hiring a freelance graphic or website designer
The main con about using a freelancer is that they are just one person. They do not have the backing of a team of skilled workers, a project manager or systems administrator
Even people who freelance need a holiday once in a while. And that means there is no one to hold the fort – or more importantly deal with your support.
This article was written for the Digital Springboard