The Cost of Graphic Design in 2019 | Agencies, Freelancers & New Hires

Hiring a freelance graphic designer allows flexibility and there are options for all wallets.

While the average hourly rate of a freelance designer is $45 on Upwork, you can hire someone cheaper, for as a low as $20/hour. The lower your budget, the higher the pressure to find a quality hire.

On the other side of the spectrum, skilled designers charge on average 23% more than standard and all the way up to $150 per hour. Facing these rates, it’s tough for small businesses and solopreneurs to foot the bill.

Note these numbers don’t include bonuses, overtime, or the revision process that some designers may charge separately. It’s also common for the client to be billed in increments (25% or 50% upfront and the remaining at the completion of the project).

flat fees

Then, there’s flat fee pricing. According to Upwork, freelance designers can charge a fixed, per project fee for a visual.

The price to create one infographic on Fiverr, for instance, varies from $5 to $367. The more research you need in the pre-design phase, the more expensive it gets.

Flat fee pricing should include a predetermined number of revisions. If you are the type of client to require a lot of revisions, the designer may then bill you for the additional hours worked, which can range anywhere from $20 to $150 per hour.

A design agency is a team of professionals, each specialized in doing a specific type of job. Some agencies are focused in branding efforts, others in social media marketing while others offer a full package of services.

Agencies are usually qualified to deliver a high-quality graphic design project, but are also the most expensive option as they usually work with large budgets (see below).

Some agencies can charge separate fees for the revision process. This is where the hourly rate will likely enter in, which can cost anywhere from $74 to $350.

The key to keep costs at a minimum is to manage expectations and agree what an ideal revision process looks like from the start.

3500

PRICE SOME AGENCIES
CHARGE FOR AN INFOGRAPHIC (USD)

50000

PRICE SOME AGENCIES CHARGE
FOR A COMPLEX PRESENTATION (USD)

Presentations

Experienced agencies can charge all the way up to thousands of dollars per project. For instance, a Singapore-based design agency focused on presentations and that has worked with clients such as Nike and Visa charges up to a whopping $50,000 for each presentation.

Others agencies charge per slide, usually starting at $10 per slide.

Pitch decks

Pitch decks is a sub-niche with several agencies specialized in them. This type of content is a key fundraising tool and can make or break a startup in its early stages of a business.

Some companies charge $29 per slide but a series-A presentation up to 30 slides and with custom illustrations and graphs can cost a whopping $4000.

Infographics

Infographics can be even more costly. In a renowned US-based content marketing agency that has worked with clients like Lacoste or Macy’s, $2,000 is the standard cost of an infographic, from start to finish.

Another award-winning graphic design agency charges $3,500 for a single interactive PDF infographic!

Hiring a full-time graphic designer is the other option to have your design projects done.
In this case, salary costs will vary a lot depending on where you're located in the world.

- Annual Salary of a graphic designer in USD (January 2019) -

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country	average annual base salary (USD)
Switzerland	80,246
Japan	63,560
United States	62,920
Australia	59,644
Germany	56,937
Netherlands	54,840
United Arab Emirates	52,107
New Zealand	51,682
Canada	51,062
Singapore	50,524
Ireland	48,058
United Kingdom	47,180
Italy	47,015
France	46,929
Sweden	41,007
Spain	30,843
South Korea	26,768
China	23,265
Brazil	19,953
South Africa	18,672
Poland	18,195
Indonesia	17,278
Mexico	13,032
India	7,747

Apart from location, a graphic designer’s salary will significantly depend on the level of experience.

In the United States, a senior graphic designer with 8+ years of experience earns about 70% more ($77K) on average than an entry-level one ($45K).

Don’t overlook other design costs. A so-called “hidden fee” that will come with hiring a full-time graphic designer, is that they’ll want a subscription to software like Adobe’s Creative Cloud. The suite includes Photoshop and Illustrator, which will cost you about $34 a month of business subscription fees alone.

The other precious resource graphic design consumes:

Let’s face it: design consumes a huge chunk of time and productivity in any company or business.

On average, Piktochart users need to create 8.6 visual projects every month. Can you imagine the total time involved in these?

Take presentations for instance, a key cog in a company’s internal and external communications. A study with 1,000 European office workers from several industries (banking, IT, energy, automotive, etc) found these eye-striking numbers:

time

Average number of presentations each employee created per year

of the average employee’s time spent creating presentations

Let that sink in.

11% of the time you spend at work is doing presentations. And it gets worse: roughly a third of the time employees spend on PowerPoint can be fully automated (formatting, layouts, templates, etc). So much for efficiency!

But how much time are we talking about exactly?

How long does a professional graphic designer take to create...

Presentations

A professional-looking presentation can take at least 3-4 working days to create.

Infographics

Launching a successful infographic involves a lot of time in strategizing, ideation, planning. The design phase takes around 4-5 working days.

Reports

The design phase of a complex annual report can take up to 8 working days - including creative strategy, layout, and typesetting.

EBOOKS

Once the copy is done (which can take weeks!), expect anywhere between 7-12 working days to properly design and format an eBook - including cover design and overall layout.

To make all this easier to understand, we've created this summary table with pros vs cons in the world graphic design:

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pros

cons

pros

cons

freelance designer	design agency	in-house designer
Cost: Pay per project only, and costs are lower than hiring an agency.	Experience: A team of specialists to consult with.	Reliability: They can be available for last minute changes.	Timesaving: Can just select a template, add your brand colors and plug-in content.
Communication: You only have to work with one person, which can eliminate feedback loops.	Add-on services: They can also come up with a distribution strategy for your visual, if required.	Brand familiarity: In-house designers will understand, and perhaps be passionate about your brand.	Cost: Monthly subscription fees start at $12.50 a month.
Reliability: Could be unresponsive, so it’s best to read up on reviews before hiring.	Cost: Can be expensive, charging for more fees beyond just visual creation.	Cost: Will require a full-time salary, hard to justify without a lot of design work available.	Learning curve: Picking up any new software, no matter how easy to use, can take time.
Brand unfamiliarity: May not be familiar with your brand, which could result in more revision time.	Communication: Restricted to business hours, and can be tethered to specific time zones, so there may be response delays.	Experience: Investment in onboarding and training hours.	No design expertise: Using software means you don’t have on-call design expertise to lean on.

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pros

cons

freelance designer

Cost:

Pay per project only, and costs are lower than hiring an agency.

Communication:

You only have to work with one person, which can eliminate feedback loops.

design agency

Experience:

A team of specialists to consult with.

Add-on services:

They can also come up with a distribution strategy for your visual, if required.

in-house designer

Reliability:

They can be available for last minute changes.

Brand familiarity:

In-house designers will understand, and perhaps be passionate about your brand.

Timesaving:

Can just select a template, add your brand colors and plug-in content.

Cost:

Monthly subscription fees start at $12.50 a month.

freelance designer

Reliability:

Could be unresponsive, so it’s best to read up on reviews before hiring.

Brand unfamiliarity:

May not be familiar with your brand, which could result in more revision time.

design agency

Cost:

Can be expensive, charging for more fees beyond just visual creation.

Communication:

Restricted to business hours, and can be tethered to specific time zones, so there may be response delays.

in-house designer

Cost:

Will require a full-time salary, hard to justify without a lot of design work available.

Experience:

Investment in onboarding and training hours.

Learning curve:

Picking up any new software, no matter how easy to use, can take time.

No design expertise:

Using software means you don’t have on-call design expertise to lean on.

HOW TO SAVE TIME AND MONEY IN DESIGN

So, in all this resource-draining madness, how does one not get tired of heavy graphic design fees? Or of pointless meetings and feedback loops?

There’s a faster way to achieve visual impact on your documents.

of people who use Piktochart feel it saves time in creating their visual content

Average working days
needed to design...

of people who use Piktochart feel it saves time in creating their visual content

A presentation

2.3

4.8

An infographic

2.0

3.6

Professional Designer

Piktochart

Oh, and it's cheaper too.

431

On average, Piktochart's most prolific users say they are able to save

on a monthly basis

Average working days needed to design...

Professional Designer

Piktochart

Oh, and it's cheaper too.

On average, Piktochart's most prolific users say they are able to save

431

on a monthly basis