How much does professional graphic design cost

A graphic designer may charge by the hour or by the job. Typically, expect to pay $50 to $100 per hour for design services. This hourly rate may be more if you hire a large company with several designers assigned to your project. Flat rate charges for a specific job vary quite a bit as well, but here’s a rough idea:

• Logos $150 and up
• Brochures $300 and up
  
• Small ads $125 and up
• Single-side flyers $175 and up
  
• Newsletter, magazine layout $500 and up
  

Note that these are approximate figures and assume custom graphic design work. The ‘and up’ depends on your specific requirements such as the size of your project, number of pages, or if you need photos or copywriting services. 

With so many desktop publishing applications available, it’s tempting to do the work yourself and eliminate the expense of hiring a graphic designer. The only thing to say in favor of this approach is that it’s cheap. If you don’t have industry standard software available (and know how to use it), I highly recommend that you let a professional graphic designer create your business identity. I don’t mean to belittle the efficiency of low cost software, but Word and Publisher are not considered industry standard graphic design software. In general, most printing companies won’t accept the file formats these programs produce. Those who do, complain that these low cost alternatives create files with poor resolution and inaccurate color unsuitable for high quality printing.

Printed advertising needs to look polished and professional for a business to succeed. Ask the following questions and see if your advertising collateral measures up:

• Sharp text and graphics?
• Accurately reproduced colors?
  
• Clean, uncluttered design layout?
• Would you buy from a company with similar quality advertising?
  

If the answer is ‘no’ to any of these questions, allocate part of your budget to hire a professional graphic designer. 

Coming up  . . . Questions to ask a graphic designer.