Pricing Guide

The Complete Graphic Design Pricing Guide (2024 Update)

The cost of graphic design depends on many factors: the type of provider, design project, designers’ experience, and more. We’ll help you understand how much to pay for design and why.

Let’s explore how much you can expect to pay for graphic design work, with each of these providers.

Subscription-based design services

What is subscription-based design?

Think of it as Netflix for graphic design: you get all the designs and projects you want, for a fixed monthly rate.

There are many different unlimited design companies on the market with rates between $400 and $2,000 a month:

  • Advanced – $549 per month
  • Business – $999 per month
  • Dedicated Designer – $1,299 per month

You can scale up or down in plans each month, depending on your needs. The flat rate will remain the same no matter how many requests you put in.
So, unlimited design is definitely one of the best ways to keep your budget predictable.

Graphic design pricing: type of project

It’s much more common for clients to pay on a per-project basis. 

There are several reasons for this.

  • It’s easier to calculate value. The business value of a logo or website is much greater than the hours it takes to produce them.
  • It’s more predictable. Agreeing on a number of revisions can avoid overhead costs for the clients, and excessive hours of work for the designer.
  • Offering competitive rates.
    Paying per-project works better for both clients and designers. Since there are many other factors that can affect hourly rates, with per-project pricing designers are able to offer more competitive rates.

So, let’s look at a graphic design price list for common design projects.

*Please note that these are estimates, and you may find rates beyond or below these ranges.

Logo: $200-$800

A good logo takes about 8-10 hours to create. So, if your freelancer charges $35 per hour, it works out at around $350.

However, a good logo requires a lot more work than design alone. Designers need to do extensive market research and dive deep into your brand strategy.
This way they’ll be able to come up with visual solutions that Moreover, a logo is the brand’s most recognizable part. So, designers usually charge upwards of $500 for a logo, to reflect the huge value it has for a company.

Visual identity design: $100-$3,000

Creating a logo is merely the beginning of branding design. Since companies require design regularly, a brand style guide helps to keep visual communication and marketing consistent.

This document contains the color scheme, fonts, images, shapes, messaging and more to ensure a brand’s design always looks consistent. Depending on how many elements of the visual identity are needed, this can cost between $100 and $3,000.

Social media design: $50-$650

This is one of the cheapest forms of graphic design. Still, since most people need social media graphics on a rolling basis, the costs can pile up fast.

That’s why many freelance designers and services will offer social media design packages that include reusable templates for posts, stories, ads, and more. These usually cost between $50 and $650.

Web design: $5,000-$30,000

Web design is one of the most complex and most expensive graphic design projects. Design agencies usually charge well over ten thousand dollars for a website, while freelancers usually charge a couple of thousands.

The cost of the website depends heavily on the number of pages and additional features, such as ecommerce, mobile responsiveness, motion design, etc.

Landing pages: $600-$3,000

Although it requires the same skill set as creating websites, landing pages are much faster to produce, and therefore cheaper.

However, since a good landing page has immense business value, the cost of this design project can often be a lot bigger than you might expect. The average cost of landing pages is between $350 and $1,500.

Illustrations: $500-$1,600

Illustrations are generally affordable, and there are even lots of free illustration galleries online. Still, since illustrations have a vast range of applications. So, when you request them, chances are you’ll need a whole illustration or icons pack to use across the board, which usually means several hundreds of dollars.

If you need a very specific type of illustration, such as digital painting, comics, or portraits, you can expect the price to be higher, and reach several hundreds of dollars for a single illustration.

Print design: $50-$3,000

This type of design includes everything from business cards, brochures and packaging, to books and billboards. Therefore estimating the exact graphic design price can be difficult.

Print design is generally affordable, but there are a few exceptions (e.g. when specific materials or formats are required).

How much should you pay for graphic design?

We hope this helps you understand the answer to the question “how much do graphic designers charge” a bit better.

As you can tell, it’s a pretty vast playing field out there, and figuring out the best easy to get your graphic design can save you a lot of money and a lot of stress. Paying for high-quality graphics always pays off – whether it’s a memorable brand design, user-friendly website, or clickable ads.

If you’re still unsure about the exact figure of your design budget, here are a few steps to guide you.

  1. Calculate your income and profit. – When you take away expenses such as salaries, rent, utilities, and tax, how much have you got left for design and marketing?
  2. List your fixed design expenses
    – Think about your weekly newsletter and social media posts. Use our graphic design pricing list to help you calculate the figure.
  3. List your variable design expenses
    – For example, how often do you run special campaigns (seasonal, Black Friday, promotions, etc.) and what kind of graphics do you need?
  4. Anticipate your one-off design expenses
    – You’ll only need a new website, logo design, or app once or twice.
    However, it’s worth noting that these major projects incur big costs.
  5. Divide your budget – With the cost ranges and hourly rates you now know, start dividing your budget into fixed, variable, and one-off designs.

When you have a specific number, it will be easier to decide what’s the best design provider for you. It might be better to get all your graphics in one place, or request them one at a time.

Why is paying for professional design always worth it?

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about different graphic design prices. And yes, the cost of design fits into a pretty vast range – from $20 to tens of thousands.

But remember that good design is always an investment, and not just an expense. Here are a few reasons why.

  • Design is the foundation of branding. Whether you have physical products that require attractive packaging or promote your services on a website, graphic design stands between you and your customers. It transforms your product or service into a brand.
  • Visual communication is more effective. People’s attention span online keeps decreasing. Clear, succinct messages in visual form are easier to digest and ensure you’ll reach a greeted number of people.
  • Good design increases profit. People often buy products because of attractive packaging, and good UI design significantly impacts app downloads. Landing page and ad design can increase conversions.
  • It sets you apart from the competition. Whatever industry you’re in, there’s a solid chance someone else is selling the same product. So, your only chance to set yourself apart is to create appealing visual design that suggests professionalism and creativity.

  The most affordable way to get graphic design

We hope this comprehensive graphic design pricing guide helps you understand the different options and project prices. Whether you’re a huge corporation or a small business with a limited budget, securing the best graphic design prices will depend on the type of project and your needs.

However, if you need design regularly, the simplest and by far most affordable option are unlimited graphic design services.

Article by: Danica Popovic

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