Saturday, January 24

Poll: Freelance Designers


With the new year and with new company budgets in place for 2009 I have been asked to do a lot of estimates for new clients. This raised an important question for me: Should I estimate incoming projects hourly basis or a project basis?

It is important for me to be sensitive to a client's budget, especially with the volatile nature of the current economy. On the contrary, it is also very important to me to deliver quality work that is unique with an efficient turnaround, so my estimates are based fairly on those standards.

An article on The Freelance Switch, a feed that I follow regularly, outlines the advantages and disadvantages. As one person commented, "It seems that most clients don't really care how much time it takes to complete a given project, the bottom line is the total cost and the quality of the finished project."

I was also interested in finding out what the average hourly rate designers were charging for their time. So I created a poll via Poll Daddy. See the results here. And please include your vote if you have not yet already.

Please share your experience with me. I am interested in hearing what designers or clients have to say.