Internet friend Chris Heezy helped me with some pricing conversations a few years back, when he was still working freelance. Had to dig into the archives for this valuable info and was also kind enough to break it down for me. A note that the numbers reflect a different time in the industry and might not be reflective of how things are at the time of reading this. I figured it was helpful to read through it as basic guidelines, then plug and play where needed.
Min
Taking into account your average monthly cost of living, how much minimum do you need to make each day (assuming a 8 hour work day 5 days a week) for you to reach your bare minimum. This is not what you will be charging anyone who’s doing for-profit work. It’s just to build a baseline.
Base
That number x2 to give you a buffer since you will most likely not be working every day of the month doing freelance. This is the lowest rate you’ll allow any for-profit work to go, but its for very small jobs.
Market
Check out how much people in your field get paid in the city you live, this one takes some research. Take into account your skills and whether it is lower, same or above your peer designers. This rate is what you give when a small company reaches out to you.
Main
If someone asks what is your rate? (for something you are confident in doing, can demonstrate prior work, and its for at least a medium size company) this is your go-to rate. All you gotta do is add some cushion to the market rate.
Fish
(short for big fish or big catch) this is if someone like facebook, Nike, Google reach out to you for work and you need that bigger rate tag. there wont be many of these but if it does come up you’ll at least have a number
“With this approach and a short conversation in the beginning I can usually determine where the client will be on my spectrum. If they prefer a flat rate, I can estimate how many hours I’d put into it at the appropriate rate and give them a quote from there. Either way, I have this on my wall in my office and it makes life much easier.”
After doing my own sort of research with pricing, and coming back to this with more informed eyes, this bit isn’t too far off. Having read Shopify’s Grow Vol 2 (I somehow had it hiding in my stash of books from when I borrowed it from the company book bar), it touches on understanding your minimum and base — ie, what is your cost of living, and what kind of margins do you want to be charging clients. I have yet to check what a designer like me is making in the market; it seems from experience that I was severely underpaid at Shopify for doing product design work l o l.
What happens to your rate if the work you do is a little more than product design, I wonder. Maybe it’s a per project thing — if it’s illustration, it’s X; if it’s branding, it’s Y, etc.