The answer comes down to 5 points. When you call on a freelance graphic designer, you offer yourself the services of a professional who provides you and your project with:
- Experience and know-how
- Mastery of specific software and graphics techniques
- A network of specialized partners
- Time
- The exploitation rights of your communication tools
1– Experience and know-how
When you use the services of a freelance graphic designer, it is because you want to create a PRINT or DIGITAL communication tool for a company, an association, or for yourself. Whether you have a precise idea of your project or not, the graphic designer, through his experience and training, will be able to implement all the actions necessary to achieve it.
He will be able to advise you on the best graphic design to make and will be able to offer the most effective communication support for your project.
2 – Mastery of specific tools for the creation of communication media
Layout software, website creation, photographic retouching, creation of vector illustrations, and traditional pictorial techniques (paint, pencils, watercolor, pastels, inks, etc.) in order to best adapt to the graphic style desired for your project. Of course, each freelance graphic designer has his own style, but he must nevertheless master as many graphic techniques as possible in order not to be too segmented.
This is his strength!
3 – A Network
The freelance graphic designer knows the graphic chain and all the players in it perfectly (publishers, printers, other service providers, etc.). He has privileged contacts and works with quality partners whom he trusts. It can therefore support you in creating your communication tools from A to Z, for example by taking care of monitoring the printing of PRINT documents or setting up your web pages on your hosting.
The freelance graphic designer can also advise you on the choice of this or that partner: the access provider for your website or the IT service provider you need.
4 – Time
To carry out your project the graphic designer will carry out a large number of actions which each take a certain amount of time: on the one hand, he will meet you and listen to you present your project to him, possibly asking the questions which he considers necessary to fully understand this project. Then he will do work research, and document himself in order to prepare his first sketches and his first ideas. He will then propose one or more models depending on the desired project and therefore carry out tests of colors, shapes, and positioning of elements.
Final completion
After validation on your part, it will tackle the final completion of the project: format the documents you have given him, whether text or images. It can organize visuals (backgrounds, outlines, general or document-specific shapes, pictograms, etc.), retouch photos, graphically prioritize elements such as titles, textual content, or images by assigning them specific colors, sizes, or shading or relief effects and many other elements in order to have a harmonious and coherent document with your expectations. If necessary and after proofreading on your part, he will perhaps correct any typos or modify this or that element to your liking. These client/graphic designer “back and forths” can be numerous and time-consuming, but the end goal is to have a “perfect” finished product.
Final support
Finally, when all this is validated, the graphic designer will prepare the document according to the final support: in DIGITAL he will optimize the display of the files so that they are as light as possible for the web, but also that they are of sufficient quality. If necessary, he will also prepare several documents of different sizes so that they adapt to each medium (tablet, smartphone, computer, etc.). In PRINT, he will make the preparations for colorimetric for OFFSET or Digital printing (CMYK). He will prepare the cutting and setting marks for the machines (bleeds, cutting lines, swallows, etc.). He can also validate the BAT (Good to Print) for the client and monitor the printing… Depending on the support to be produced and the experience of the graphic designer (and therefore his speed of execution), the work of this on a project can last from a few hours to several days!
5 – The Rights of exploitation of the work:
Few people know this but any creator of an “intellectual work” and its materialization (in the form of a logo, a poster, or any other medium graphic) remains the owner of his work FOR LIFE. He cannot therefore “SELL” his work, which will always belong to him whatever happens.
On the other hand, what the creator (in this case the graphic designer) transfers to his client are the economic rights of this work (the exploitation rights). These property rights include representation rights (right to broadcast the work in public), reproduction rights(the right to fix the work on a material support in order to distribute it), and adaptation rights (adapt the work according to the chosen support for example).
The rates for transferring these rights to work vary depending on four parameters: the type of distribution media, their number, their duration of exploitation, and the geographical area chosen for the exploitation of this work. These prices can vary significantly; in fact, buying the exploitation rights for a logo for a local craftsman is not the same as buying the exploitation rights for a national 4 x 3 m poster campaign of a large business. The financial issue is not the same. The transfer of rights is therefore calculated on the basis of the benefits potentially derived by the client from the use of the work, and therefore from the work of the graphic designer who must be remunerated accordingly.
What are the rates for a freelance graphic designer?
The graphic designer can invoice his services in 3 different ways:
- By the hour / Hourly package
- By the day / Daily package
- At the service
Depending on the experience of the graphic designer (Beginner, Experienced, or Senior) and the complexity of the project, hourly rates can vary from $25 to $75 per hour. Daily rates from $200 to $600 per day. The prices for “per service” packages depend on the project itself.
These graphic design prices are given for information purposes only. Indeed, depending on his know-how, his specialization (designer, illustrator, web designer, developer, coder, typographer, etc.), and above all his reputation, the graphic designer will adapt these prices, which can sometimes reach much higher levels.
However, we must not forget that the freelance graphic designer is an “independent worker” and that as such he has professional operating responsibilities; for the purchase of equipment, the rental of premises, or an office for example. He also pays a significant number of social security or insurance contributions for his activity.
Finally, the graphic designer adapts his prices according to the project itself and his client. The commercial and financial issues and the working times are not the same if the graphic designer works for a local craftsman or for a multinational company, even if his involvement remains the same.