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Freelance Skills for UI/UX Designer: Calculating Costs, Quotations, and Contracts
Hi, everyone! I'm Simon, currently a product designer working in Tokyo. After spending some time, I've finally completed this article about the skills of freelancing for designers. For those who haven’t read the previous episode, you can click the link below to read it first: Freelance Skills for UI/UX Designer: How to Choose the Right Projects, and Selecting Clients Carefully? Continuing from where we left off discussing the mindset required before being a freelancer, in this article, we will talk about the things that everyone cares more about, which are the practical problems encountered when freelancing: costs, quotations, contracts, and so on. Without further ado, let’s get started! About the Cost Many people believe that freelancing is all about delivering design results, getting paid by the client, and whatever is left after deducting the costs is the actual profit – a clear-cut concept. In reality, being a freelance designer, the costs you have to bear and the way you calculate those costs might be much more complicated than you think. Costs can be divided into visible and invisible costs: Visible Costs Let’s imagine you are a freelancer;then you will need to use your computer (equipment cost), your space (rent), your design software (legitimate versions require payment), and even utilities, administrative and miscellaneous expenses, and labor and health insurance, etc. Simply put, the resources and benefits you get while working in a company are usually absent when freelancing. Consider this: what if your computer suddenly breaks down during a project? What if the software license expires and needs renewal? What if working from home in hot weather results in high electricity bills due to air conditioning? These are all costs that need to be considered when freelancing. Invisible Costs Apart from monetary expenditures, there are many hidden costs that we might not notice. These costs might not affect your actual income, but managing these costs can significantly impact work efficiency and benefit personal development in the future. Here are a few common hidden costs: 1. Communication Costs: The first cost encountered in freelancing is communication. If there is good communication between both parties during cooperation, everything will be fine. However, if there’s often a mismatch in the understanding of objectives or styles, designers would need to spend a considerable amount of time communicating. Once there’s a mutual understanding and rapport, this communication cost would decrease. Of course, designers can also practice some techniques to persuade clients and reduce these communication costs. 2. Favor Costs: This often appears with well-acquainted clients. Being familiar, you might be more susceptible to price haggling, additional random requirements, or demands, and it might be awkward to refuse them. The added workload in such cases constitutes your favor cost – not doing it might hurt feelings, but doing it increases the burden. This cost largely depends on your relationship with the client and whether you deem it worth undertaking. 3. Learning Costs: In UI/UX freelancing, not every project might be right up your alley. Sometimes it could be an entirely new domain or trying new techniques due to project requirements. Often, you might find yourself spending time researching and investigating, so the actual execution might take longer than expected. This should also be considered when freelancing. 4. Project Management Costs: Since it's freelancing, naturally, no one will supervise your progress. Everything is ‘self-managed.’ Clients will expect deliverables within the agreed time. Whether it's a lag in progress or wanting to expedite the project, you must manage appropriately. If you are handling multiple projects, this cost must also be taken into consideration. In conclusion, there are various kinds of freelance costs. However, it’s essential to note that lower costs aren’t always better. While these hidden costs might sometimes feel overwhelming, appropriate pressure can prevent you from repeating the same mistakes, clarify issues, and guide you in quoting and deciding whether to accept a project or not. Quoting: Not Just Knowledge, but More Like an Art Now, let's discuss an essential question, which many people might be curious about, "how to quote a price." Undoubtedly, quoting is an art of its own. I've struggled for a long time on how to quote accurately. Even now, it is often challenging to give an exact number due to various factors such as personal capabilities & experience, project difficulty, time constraints, and client's budget. There are many methods of quoting for freelance projects available online, presenting a variety of approaches. My personal insight is: there is no standard answer for quoting, only what suits you or the specific project at the moment. Simply put, "Do you understand your worth enough, and do you have sufficient judgment towards the project and the client?" Quoting might seem mysterious, but there are ways to help you make basic judgments. A too high quote might scare off clients, while too low of a quote might not even match a part-time student's hourly wage, and it might adversely affect the market conditions. Quoting by Hourly Rate Currently, I recommend using an "hourly rate" to set your quote. Establish your desired hourly wage and add the estimated project working hours to get a basic quote. To set your "project hourly wage," the simplest way is to consider your current monthly salary and convert it to an hourly wage, then make slight adjustments based on various conditions. For example: if your current salary is NT$ 40,000, working 22 days a month, 8 hours a day, then your hourly wage would be approximately NT$ 40,000/22/8=227. But, remember the costs we mentioned earlier? You can adjust this number upwards. Usually, I would multiply it by 1.5 or 2 times for my project hourly wage, or increase the quote based on the project's difficulty. For urgent projects, I generally increase the quote. Remember, quoting is an art. Sometimes the client is very keen on collaborating with you, but they may be on a tight budget. In such cases, you might evaluate whether a lower price might lead to more potential opportunities and benefits in the future. If you know the client has a considerable budget, you might try quoting a higher price, but remember, a higher quote requires more precise design quality. Let’s Look at a Practical Case Consider a medium-sized App project from a startup company with a limited budget. It has about 5-6 core functions, roughly estimating 70-80 UI pages, including planning the UI flow and wireframe, and finally delivering a complete design draft and exported images for use. In this case, you can think about how much time you need for each stage, adding some flexibility for initial research, communication costs, project management, etc., and then calculate the total hours needed. The calculation method would probably look like this: 227 (current hourly rate) x 2 (cost weighting) ≈ 450 (expected hourly rate) 450 dollars x 120 (estimated working hours) + 450 x 20 (other flexible hours) =NT$ 63,000 (final quote) "The more you understand the client’s specifications and needs, the more accurate the quote you can provide." Using such a simple method, you can roughly estimate a price and then make minor adjustments based on different project conditions. Although, many times, it depends on your experience and whether you know how much time you need to complete the work. After more project experience, you will know what quoting method suits you, and it actually varies from person to person. Therefore, based on the above viewpoint, I often doubt whenever I see someone recruiting for Logo design on PTT with only a 1,500 dollar budget, and there are still many people replying that they want to take the project. In a 1,500 dollar budget, it includes communication, proposal, design, revision, file delivery, and other tasks. If you need at least 10 hours to complete it, the calculated hourly wage is less than NT$150. Is taking this project really good for you? Design is a profession. Accepting projects at a low price is not healthy for the entire market and will also cultivate more clients who do not understand the real market value. So, think thrice before accepting a project and quoting a price. Signing a Contract: Protecting Both Parties' rights In the beginning, when I first started taking graphic design projects, I had a bad habit of not signing contracts. Firstly, it felt like the amount wasn’t substantial, and signing a contract seemed too formal. Secondly, it felt like a verbal agreement should suffice. The result, however, proved otherwise. Either constant revisions were requested, leading to a significant overrun of working hours, or the final payment was delayed for a long time. These are the consequences of not having a contract to bind each other. A "verbal contract" is even less viable in digital design areas such as UI/UX and product design. Compared to graphic design, the process of product creation involves much more communication and modification of requirements. Consequently, the corresponding fees tend to be higher as well. Thus, all aspects such as deliverables, project timeline, development progress, and payment schedule need to be clearly communicated. Therefore, I would suggest that when taking on UI/UX design projects, whether or not you are familiar with the client, it is best to write down a contract, recording all the details. This not only protects yourself but also gives the client a clearer outline of the execution of your project. From my experience, if the cooperation process is smooth, the signed contract is usually just set aside and not really referred to. The contractual constraint, in my opinion, tends to be more "psychological" since cooperative relationships are generally built on "trust," and it’s rare that anyone would intentionally delay or randomly change requirements. However, when actual issues arise, a contract allows both parties to have a unified consensus and reference. How should the contract be structured? Firstly, if possible, it’s better to draft the contract yourself rather than letting the client provide it. Even if the client provides a generic version from their company, the designer still needs to review the details carefully. Ultimately, the contract content should be "jointly drafted" and agreed upon by both parties. There are many contract templates available online that can be downloaded and adjusted based on individual needs. However, there are several key points to pay special attention to: 1. Deliverables: This is crucial. What exactly needs to be delivered at the end of the project? Is it just the visual drafts? Or also the wireframes, flowcharts, or even the original files? Everything that needs to be delivered should be clearly stated in the contract. 2. Project Acceptance Schedule: For UI/UX design, it’s not advisable to complete everything at once and then review. Regular communication (around 1-2 times per week) is ideal, and it’s best if the project content can be accepted in stages. This can align well with the payment schedule and facilitate project progress. 3. Payment Schedule: There are various payment methods, and you can choose based on your own preferences. However, for projects exceeding 100,000 in total, I suggest splitting the payment into at least three parts: initial payment (after signing the contract, before starting work), midterm payment (after the first phase of design is accepted), and the final payment (after all are accepted and files are delivered). 4 .Revision Times: The issue of "unlimited revisions" is quite common and can easily occur if not clearly communicated before the project starts. Conditions for revisions must be clearly stated to avoid this problem. 5. Intellectual Property Rights and Confidentiality Clauses: During the project, content generally can’t be made public. After the project ends, details such as who holds the copyright and whether it can be publicly displayed need to be clearly communicated. How to Conclude a Project At the end of a contract, it is essential to adhere to its stipulations and mutually verify and tally the files to be delivered. If you intend to use a commercial project as part of your personal portfolio, be mindful of whether confidentiality clauses have been signed or if intellectual property rights are mentioned in the contract to belong to the client. Generally, as long as the material is not used for commercial profit, the author should retain exhibition rights to the work. However, it’s prudent to communicate with the client for consent before adding commercial projects to your portfolio, ensuring these are ideally publicized after the project is live. Post-project, remember to maintain good relations with the client. Periodic casual check-ins or expressing interest in the company’s ongoing projects or overall well-being are good practices. Establishing good rapport ensures that you are foremost in the client’s mind when there is a new project or if a friend needs design recommendations. I believe that most clients prefer long-term collaborations, helping to avoid unnecessary preliminary adjustments. Bonus Section: How to Source Projects Finding projects is perhaps a pervasive challenge. However, I personally believe in serendipity. If your capabilities and experiences are well-prepared, you are more assured when opportunity knocks. Here are several sources of projects: 1. Project Platforms: Numerous platforms and channels exist for project outsourcing (such as digital outsourcing websites and ptt_soho, etc.). However, they often come with downsides such as heavy competition, information asymmetry, and varying project qualities. There might also be a membership fee. I personally wouldn’t highly recommend these platforms due to prevalent price undercutting. Clients usually opt for the most affordable designers. Unless you are keen on a bulk of projects, regardless of their nature, finding a worthwhile project here is not highly likely. 2. Networking Referrals: This is a more common and recommended method I use, although it is initially challenging and requires sustained effort over time. Start by getting to know more people in the industry; more acquaintances generally mean more opportunities. Always maintain a good relationship with clients during every project, as satisfactory collaborations could lead to more referrals. 3. Personal Exposure: This is a relatively passive method, but long-term personal branding is recommended, as being 'visible' isn’t so easy in this information-saturated era. Strategies such as social media presence, article writing, sharing works, having a personal website, participating in gatherings, or public speaking can help establish a personal brand. When someone requires design services, your name is likely to pop up in their mind. Conclusion Whether you aim to freelance or become a self-employed worker, behind the apparent flexibility lies responsibility and effort that might not necessarily be less than a regular job. Freelancing is an excellent way to hone one's skills, enhancing time management and productivity within limited timeframes. Hence, it is highly recommended for those who get a chance. Responsible freelancing for both oneself and the client is undoubtedly a rewarding experience. – This article is reprinted from：Simon Lin (article) (This article is translated by the Digital Nomad editor group.)
December 6, 2023
Freelance Skills for UI/UX Designer: How to Choose the Right Projects, and Selecting Clients Carefully?
Hi everyone! I'm Simon, currently working as a designer in Tokyo. It took me quite some time to start writing this article. Since May 2016, I began engaging in UI/UX design related work. In over a year, I was fortunate to have continuously received quite a number of projects, including web design, App UI design, and even dynamic imaging related work. During this period, due to some gaps between job transitions, I became a full-time freelancer for about half a year. Although life without colleagues was somewhat dull, I indeed learned a lot through the process of being a freelancer, including task management, time management, communication skills, and so on. Being a freelancer might be "indescribable" for some people, including how to find cases, how to quote reasonably, and the actual working conditions, etc. There seems to be less discussion about this on the internet. And perhaps many people might envy the seemingly beautiful life of freelancers, who can sleep in every day and freely choose their work location, but in fact, there are also many unknown hardships behind it. After making quite a few mistakes and facing many challenges, I can finally talk and share my experiences and insights into the life of a freelancer over the past year. This article will share with everyone: 1. What you should know before being a freelancer 1. The cost of taking on a project 3. How to quote properly 4. When it comes to contracts, what should you be aware of 5. How to successfully close a case Bonus 1: Where to find case sources Bonus 2: The way of self-management for freelancers Since this article might be a bit lengthy, I will divide it into two episodes, to share with everyone. Let’s get started! Mental Preparation Before Being a Freelancer Most people became a freelancer primarily for two reasons: "earning income" or "gaining experience". Of course, it would be great to achieve both, but often, in the early stages of working as a freelancer, things don’t always go as smoothly as expected. If your initial experience is not very good, you might start blaming others and feel that there are no good clients out there, believing that all clients are difficult to deal with. However, the reality might be due to the lack of mental preparation and insufficient freelance experience, making the collaboration not as expected. I also understood this later on and gradually began to establish the correct mindset for being a freelancer . Unless you are a partner in a studio, an individual freelancer usually requires one person to do the work of multiple people. So, how do you determine whether you are "suitable for being a freelancer"? You should first ask yourself a few questions: Do you have a thorough understanding of your professional capabilities? Do you have the ability to work independently and deliver the complete results required by the client? Are you confident in managing your time well and delivering results as scheduled? Do you have enough confidence to persuade clients to adopt your designs? Can you still produce quality work under time pressure? Do you have the ability to work with the client and the team members of the client's company and communicate effectively? There are actually many more questions like these. Freelance is not like completing tasks assigned by supervisors in a company and then receiving a salary every month. Most of the time, you have to communicate, understand requirements, execute designs, calculate costs, etc., on your own. Freelance is a very flexible work method, but it also requires a high level of self-discipline. Therefore, asking yourself these questions before taking a project can help clarify whether you are suitable for it. Of course, if you have the opportunity to be a freelancer, I still encourage everyone to be brave and try it. It will definitely make you advance by leaps and bounds! Should I Accept This Project or Not? Is It Worth Accepting? I believe that if you are just starting to be a freelancer, you will want to seize the opportunity of every project. But please be cautious before accepting a project; once you have accepted it, you have the responsibility to do it well (at least in accordance with the conditions agreed upon by both parties). I’ve experienced taking on projects and then realizing that the communication with the client was poor and cooperation couldn’t continue, or my time management was not good and communication took longer than expected, seriously delaying progress, ending up in a lose-lose situation. After several experiences, I began to realize: getting ''right'' projects is much more important than getting numerous projects. Therefore, choosing the right client is crucial. A good client not only makes cooperation much more effective but also has a high chance of bringing you other clients of similar quality. Generally speaking, common clients may fall into several types: 1. Acquaintances but Not Very Familiar Clients 2. Completely Unfamiliar Clients 3. Close Friends Firstly, we need to understand the mindset of both the client and the designer, and what each party is thinking. Different from items with clear pricing, where you pay money for direct consumption, taking on a project often resembles a back-and-forth process of each party probing each other’s bottom line, with both sides hoping to maximize their own benefits. Whether it's the client or the designer, both want to benefit from the process. This is a supply and demand relationship, cooperating to meet each other's needs. Clients want to solve their problems in the most cost-effective way, while the designer's mentality is to exchange time and professional skills for reasonable (or even higher than regular employment) compensation. Taking on cases is actually like working in a company. The client entrusts the projects to you because they have enough trust in you. I believe that no businessman would hire someone unprofessional to produce subpar results. However, there is currently a phenomenon in Taiwan : there are more and more people becoming freelancers, including experienced professionals and those who switched careers, leading to mixed quality and price-cutting competition. Coupled with some clients not having enough judgment or sense, they often choose the cheapest person to do the job, resulting in outcomes that do not meet expectations, or paying a lot for completely unsatisfactory results, leading to related disputes. Returning to the main topic, let’s discuss these common types of clients: 1. Acquaintances but Not Very Familiar Clients Such clients are usually introduced by other friends or previous collaborators, hence they might have a basic understanding of your information or abilities. Communication can be mostly rational with a touch of personal understanding. However, proper contracts and confirmation of requirements are still essential. Since there’s a level of familiarity, there usually is a flexibility in cooperation modes, but be mindful. ‘Trust’ and ‘commitment’ are still crucial in collaboration. Don’t act hastily just because of familiarity. 2. Completely Unfamiliar Clients These clients usually find you through freelance platforms or personal channels. They might be aware of your work, but there is almost always a need for re-adjustment in terms of working styles and workflows. I’d suggest meeting for coffee and having a chat 1-2 times before understanding the requirements better, observing the client’s way of speaking, thoughts on their products/services, and respect towards designers. The most crucial part is whether they know what results they want and what a designer can accomplish for them. The ‘feeling’ is essential. If casual conversations don’t leave a good impression, working together might be even more challenging. 3. Close Friends Since they are close friends, communication should ideally be smooth and without barriers, right? However, I must say that such collaborations often face the most problems. You might have Talking about Money hurt feelings. Unless you’re close enough to settle budgets and objectives from the start, and since close friends often avoid signing contracts, there usually isn’t a basis for negotiation when disputes arise. I’ve heard many instances where original friends ended up in broken relationships due to collaboration, so it’s better to be cautious. Be careful, the free stuff is often the most expensive. I believe many designers might have heard the following dialogues: "Just do something simple for me~ It shouldn’t take much of your time, right?" "This doesn’t seem hard, right? Can it be done in the simplest way possible?" "Why do you charge me for something so simple?" "Can you try making a few more styles for me?" If my eyes weren’t too small, I’d roll them 360 degrees (just kidding). I believe that everything comes with a price, even what is considered the ‘simplest’ task. It still has its time cost. Time isn’t free. If a friend doesn’t intend to pay you money, then friendship is the cost, but even friendship can be overdrawn. Here’s a common example, would you ask a doctor friend to treat you for free? Would you ask a lawyer friend to fight a lawsuit for free? I guess not. Often, the ‘design’ profession is undervalued. They might not realize the time and effort it takes to become a designer. If you encounter friends who want free services next time, consider it an opportunity to educate them! The Client Says This Project Is Very Urgent, Should I Accept It? My suggestion: Please think carefully and judge before accepting, but if it's really urgent, it's best to charge extra fees. Based on my own experience , usually more than 5 out of 10 clients will say that the project is somewhat urgent, and whether it is really urgent or not, one really needs to inquire indirectly. Generally speaking, ideal clients should plan the schedule well during project planning, and even reserve some buffer time for communication, execution, and delivery. Projects becoming very urgent, causing the pressure of project timing to be pushed onto outsourced designers, are likely due to poor time management of the client's team or some internal collaboration problems unless there really was a significant unexpected issue in the project. So, it is recommended to clarify the status of the other party's project and consider seriously whether to undertake it. Don’t force yourself. If you really accept it, it’s also recommended to inform the client that due to urgency, it will compress more time, and to maintain a certain quality, the price will reflect your time cost. The Client Has Paid, Should I Do Everything They Say? Of course not. Often I hear that some clients will point fingers at the designer’s design, thinking that since they have paid, they can instruct the designer "how to design". But I believe that the value of being a designer is "to meet the needs of clients within a reasonable range", and understanding needs and communication is an inevitable part. Design is definitely a profession, and professionalism itself is built on mutual trust, to make clients believe that your design can solve their problems. Many times, clients actually don’t know what they want, and they will subconsciously say some very "abstract" needs, and then expect the designer to try several versions/styles to see which one happens to hit their preference. This is actually like buying a lottery ticket, very much reliant on luck. To avoid this problem, my method is to continuously ask the client why, to guide the clients to express their real needs. Or use mature products on the market as the basis for discussion, ask clients to find the ideal design in their minds, and not be blinded by abstract needs, and then start spending time "trying", and finally spend far more time than the project cost. For example, when encountering: Can this page feel a bit more lively? This font seems a bit too small, I think users don’t want to click this button, etc... You can ask back: "May I ask what the lively feeling in your mind is like, are there actual case references?" "May I ask, how important is this text on the entire page?" "May I ask, what part makes you feel that users don’t want to click this button? Is it color, shape, or other reasons? Or can you provide some data on the past user website click buttons?" Asking why more and finding the real reasons behind the client's needs can help you communicate and solve problems more effectively. But if you encounter clients who are unwilling to communicate and have a "paying money is the boss" mentality, my suggestion is not to continue to take it because this will definitely be a painful and long process, mutual respect and trust are definitely the best solutions to maintain a long-term cooperative relationship. Phew~ I accidentally typed a lot, so let’s talk about it in the first episode. In the next episode, I will share with you various details about taking projects, such as costs, how to quote, and how to write contracts, etc., see you next time! The next episode: Freelance Skills for UI/UX Designer: Calculating Costs, Quotations, and Contracts -- This article is reprinted from：Simon Lin (article) (This article is translated by the Digital Nomad editor group.)
December 6, 2023