By using graphic design salary tools, such as salary calculators and rate surveys, you can determine what you should charge for your freelance design services. Understanding the many components that must be considered in your graphic designer salary is important when setting your fees.

Many designers who take the freelance plunge mistakenly undercharge for their services, neglecting to take all the factors into account when determining freelance graphic designer pay. It's important to include such things as benefits and overhead costs along with several other considerations when establishing fees.

1. Graphic designer wages should always be based on the amount of experience and expertise you possess.

2. Refer to graphic design salary tools for information on rates in your local area, as well as recent graphic designer wage trends, to price accordingly.

3. You'll also want to adjust your rates based on the type, difficulty, and length of the client's project.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Determine graphic designer salaries with an online rate calculator

If you are a new freelancer, a rate calculator is a graphic design salary tool you can't be without. There are many websites available that provide formulas to help you determine how much you should charge, as well as some that have forms you can fill out to arrive at a rate. Many are not specific to salaries for graphic designers, but the calculations can apply to any field.

I recommend: A thorough and easy-to-use hourly rate calculator is available at the FreelanceSwitch website. Best of all, it's free and provides both an ideal hourly rate and a break-even rate. Another fill-in-the-blank rate calculator, specific to the design industry, is offered by Freelance Tipster.

Check annual surveys for freelance graphic design salaries in your geographic area

Many of the well-known annual surveys covering graphic design salary information also have results on average freelancer salaries. Knowing what the typical freelance graphic designer makes in your geographic location can provide a gauge as to what you can successfully charge.

I recommend: Coroflot offers filtered survey results, allowing you to select an area of design concentration and "Freelance" as the job title. The search will display low, average, and high salaries throughout the United States, as well as internationally. AIGA's annual survey PDF has a section titled "Solo Designers," which provides a detailed report of the average salary for a graphic designer working freelance for every major metro area in the U.S.

Read industry website articles with hints and tips on determining your graphic designer pay

It's not difficult to find advice on how to determine what you should charge. A simple search for graphic designer salaries will undoubtedly turn up a multitude of articles. To stay on the right track, though, stick with website articles from well-known and respected organizations in the industry.

I recommend: HOW magazine is an excellent source of up-to-date design information and features a Pricing section containing helpful articles on its website. Also, visit CreativePro.com for an article on setting your rates, along with useful newsletters and blog entries.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Join a business network, preferably specializing in graphic design, to gain valuable advice from seasoned professionals on graphic designer wages. Online communities also offer forums where you can ask for advice from its members.

Graphic design salaries are as tricky to set, offer and negotiate as any employee salaries. You want to be able to offer a competitive salary but you also want to be fair to your bottom line.

Like other creative fields, graphic design is known to be highly competitive. While the field itself attracts many talented individuals, it's important as a business owner to understand how important a role salary and benefits play in a candidate's decision to accept employment.

Salary not only helps land an employee but also helps retain existing employees. Several graphic design salary tools are available to help you determine a reasonable salary. When looking at setting pay, consider this graphic design salary information:

1. Many graphic designers prefer to work on a contract or freelance basis instead of on a continuous graphic designer wage.

2. Location and the size of your company factor into graphic design salaries.

3. A job candidate's years of experience and the particular job position will also account for differences in graphic designer salary.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Research the going rates for graphic designer salaries

Graphic designer salaries, or at least a base rate to start from, can be found online. Much salary research, usually in the form of surveys, is available on different industries, including graphic design.

I recommend: Salary.com offers an appropriately graphic look at average salary for a graphic designer. Use this site to look at bonus compensation and benefits packages as well. View pay according to years of experience, type of employer and location at PayScale.

Consider adding software to your graphic design salary tools

Add software technology to your list of graphic design salary tools to utilize when it comes to setting up graphic designer wages. Most of the software packages available allow the user to test them out before purchase to ensure they will be applicable.

I recommend: Download a demo version of the Economic Research Institute's salary survey software. It features competitive salary, incentive and total compensation range reports. Read up on the features offered by Mercer PayMonitor software. Toward the end of the information page, you can view a demonstration.

Contract or salary, learn how to negotiate graphic designer pay

You may find that effectively negotiating graphic designer pay can be a slippery slope. Arm yourself with the latest research and techniques so that you can find the candidate's limitations without breaking the deal.

I recommend: Read the tips offered by RetailManagerCareers.com. You can apply this information to any salary negotiations and use it as a checklist. Salary.com details specific goals to keep in mind when negotiating salary. Following this advice may help you land an incredible graphic design job candidate.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Among design industry workers, graphic designer wages will continue to be the most competitive, as graphic designers can expect to see the largest increase in design jobs through 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

If you search on the Internet for graphic design salary tools, you'll find a wealth of salary information ranging from brief industry overviews to complex, segmented charts. Regardless of the detail, they all provide valuable information on salaries for graphic designers.

Whether you're a college student deciding on graphics career options, a graphic designer starting your own freelance business, or a human resource manager tasked with finding top-notch talent, you'll want to research graphic designer salaries to guide your business decisions. Using a graphic design salary tool can help you in many ways.

1. College students may want to research graphic design salaries to help decide what field to go into, as occupations within the industry can vary greatly in pay.

2. Established graphic designers will find graphic design salary tools useful in negotiating wages with employers or setting freelance rates.

3. Hiring managers need to be aware of the current graphic design salary range to attract and hire the industry's top talent.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Start researching graphic design salary tools basics at a graphic design industry website

The best places to get the most accurate, up-to-date information on graphic designer wages is at a respected graphic design industry website. Many have listings of related websites featuring detailed graphic design salary info.

I recommend: AllFreelance's AllGraphicDesign.com website is the go-to place for, as its name suggests, everything having to do with graphic design, including a comprehensive library of graphic designer salary links from salary outlooks to freelance fee calculators. Valuation Resources, a business valuation resource online guide, provides a list of compensation data websites for further research.

Know which cities have the highest graphic designer pay

You may be surprised that the average salary for a graphic designer in Rochester, Minnesota is nearly as much as in New York, New York. Factor in cost of living, and Rochester wins out on the salary scale. Find out how your city, or the one you're thinking of moving to, measures up on the salary scale at one of several websites that provide a breakdown of graphic designer wages by state.

I recommend: Go to CityTownInfo.com and click on the Top Cities tab for metro cities popular for graphic design jobs and their average design salaries. OdinJobs.com's Graphic Design Job Market Overview features an interactive map providing median graphic design salary information by state.

Get comprehensive information on graphic design salaries with an annual salary report

Some of the most well-respected organizations in the industry put out an annual design salary report, usually comprised of survey results from across the country and a spectrum of graphic design-related occupations. These are ideal resources for hiring managers and job seekers alike to find detailed salary information within their geographic location and industry.

I recommend: AIGA boasts "The Definitive Source for 2008 Salaries" – a 60-page guide to graphic design salaries – on its designsalaries.org website. The design and creativity-focused HOW Magazine produces its own annual salary report, available on the magazine's website. Finally, designers regard Coroflot's annual salary survey to be a leading salary tool in the industry.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When referring to graphic design salary tools on the Internet, always make certain to check the copyright date. Salary information changes often and you don't want to use outdated data.

Graphic design salary tools are vital for small graphic design businesses setting their rates, for freelance graphic designers establishing their fees and for employers wishing to hire graphic designers. Graphic design salary tools allow you to set fair salaries for your employees, and enable professional designers to evaluate salary options. Understanding graphic design salary tools key terms helps you understand what salary tools are available and what these tools can do for you. Learn graphic design salary tools key terms now.

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Graphic designer

A graphic designer is someone who creates and designs the aesthetic or artistic look of a product. Graphic designers create marketing materials, websites and packaging, as well as many other products.

I recommend: Excite has a description of a graphic designer's job, including different types of graphic design jobs and salary ranges. Graphic Design Schools has an explanation of the graphic designer's job and salary.

Web graphic designer

A web graphic designer, also known as a web designer, creates and designs web sites and online pages.

I recommend: State University has a good description of what the web designer does and what salary expectations are for this job. MyPursuit has a handy description of the web designer position, complete with salary information.

Freelance design professional salary calculator

A freelance design salary calculator helps freelance graphic designers set a salary by considering things such as overhead and office costs.

I recommend: FreelanceSwitch is a website aimed at graphic designers and other creative professionals. Their freelance salary calculator is a good example of the freelance design salary calculator and shows exactly how freelance wages should be calculated.

Graphic design salary survey

The graphic design salary survey shows graphic design professionals and their employers average salaries by position across the industry. Unlike salary reports, graphic design salary surveys include market information, as well as salary information. This means that they can include data about inflation, salary budgets, costs of living and other factors that can affect salaries. A survey can be a useful way to evaluate what median and typical salaries are for different graphic design positions.

I recommend: AIGA publishes one of the more respected graphic design salary surveys. Their website explains exactly how the surveys are assembled and what information they show.

Freelance salary

A graphic design professional working freelance is essentially working for himself. This means that he sets his own salary. While most freelancers earn less than professionals working at agencies or corporations, some freelancers do very well.

I recommend: design : talkboard has an explanation of what it means to be a graphic design freelancer, and how that equates to salary expectations.

Graphic design salary reports

Salary reports are annual analyses of salaries in the graphic design profession. These reports give a quick overview, as well as detailed information, about salaries among graphic designers. Graphic design salary reports consider only salary information for different graphic design positions and for different types of workers (based on experience and education, for example). Although they don't include the market information that salary surveys include, these reports are useful in evaluating how much designers make when working in house, freelance or agency jobs.

I recommend: Howdesign has a detailed explanation of a graphic design salary report.