From what I understand with my limited knowledge of the Norwegian community, the prices seems to be somewhere between 100 and 150 euros, perhaps even more for an agency.

Charging creative work hourly is always a tricky business.

Here in New York the rates seem to run from $10 to $150 per hour. Seriously.

Off course. But those in the lowest end are not serious? A least that's how it is here.

This could be helpful: The 13th Edition Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines

Some might say that €150/ hr isn't serious.

But those in the lowest end are not serious?

They’re serious. And there’s always some bored freelancer who will work a few days for $10 an hour between the good gigs.

In Serbia - from $0 to $10.

Those Serbian prices are exactly what I'm wondering about. I know how to price myself at home, but not when foreigners approach me.

UK per hour £20 (freelancers) to £100 (agencies) outside London. I'm sure the London prices are triple.

Oh, don't worry.
There are a big chances that you'll never work for any Serb, cause Serb designers don't like to work for Serbs neither. Intellectual work here is very under-payed, so unless you are looking for someone cheap to work for you, then the Serbia is right place for you. Ideal for multinational corporations and explorers of how far can you go with mobbing.

BTW, does anyone wanna hire an not-so-expensive Serbian freelancer? :P

Knowing who's way below my price range is always good.

But that's not a rule, what I said up there, and that can be applied to any country.

Usually, people have prejudices about each country, they have some eternal feeling when you say, for example, Norway even they never been there. So, that also can lower your impression when you hear that some designer from Serbia is asking for 100e per hour... but as in many cases, agreed you or not, money is almost always a priority against the quality of designer for the most companies and I have experienced a couple of times that clients accepted our offers and when I asked - "why we" - "cause you were the cheapest one". But that also depends on how much basic knowledge about design have some clients....

Also, Serbian and Norwegian markets are not the same, and Norway is a miles away from Serbia as a country in economic way.

Maybe it's more interesting to know, for example, what is the average price of logo per country, that can maybe give a more realistic view on market.

> Here in New York the rates seem to run from $10 to $150 per hour

I think everywhere the rates can vary wildly. In my area (Ohio) I know some freelancers working for $30 or $40 an hour, some more-experienced designers and small design firms charging around $75-100, and some big firms charging considerably more.

A lot depends on your clients, of course. If your clients are little neighborhood shops they won't be able to afford the rates you could charge big corporate clients.

I think that in today's economy many designers have been lowering their prices to get work, although they don't like to admit it.

All you have to do is some simple arithmetic.
How much are your yearly expenses?
How much do you want to earn in a year?
How many hours a week can you realistically bill to a client?
Done.

Price is what you can convince someone to pay, not what you think you are worth. The *right* price is the one where both you and your customer are happy with the transaction and want to do it again.

Most designers sell themselves short by a long shot — they're great at creating value, horrible at capturing that value. The world is full if talented designers who are terrible business people, pricing themselves by what their expenses are (or worse, by what they 'deserve'). Some designers even feel guilty charging for their work. This is the difference between designers and business people. Business people do not feel guilty when they close a great deal, they look for a bigger deal.

James, this is not answering the question I'm asking.

While a small item on your homepage, I notice you do books. In the States, rates vary according to the kind of book. Design & production supervision for a museum catalog for a prestigious museum can run $20,000. On the other hand, design, with no production supervision, for a scholarly monograph interior runs about $700, with a like amount for the jacket.

As far as hourly rates go, our shop charges $60/hr for things not done on a unit basis (most are unit prices). We will only work for a press that has an editorial dept, and handles their own production. My wife's shop, which specializes in more hand-holding (i.e., they will arrange for editorial services, and handle all production), charges $75/hr.

In short, I think your question is too broad. As with anything, one charges what the market will bear, constrained by costs. If your prices are high, some folks will look elsewhere. No argument, or citation of rates others charge will change their mind. But if you have enough work, somebody is obviously willing to pay your prices.

And of course it depends on what the client is willing to pay - what one client thinks is extortionate another will think is reasonable. I'd much rather a client do a sharp intake of breath and ask if there's room for negotiation than immediately say 'yeah, that's fine'.

Some designers even feel guilty charging for their work.

Probably these are not designers, but artists. If you have the feeling, that you are selling your soul, because you have put it in your art work, you can feel like you would prostitute.

But in fact all work, for which you are paid, is prostitution. If you are destroying your body during years of work in a colliery, you are selling your body.

The nature is driving us to struggle to survive. And therefore the nature is the biggest whoremaster.

"What the traffic will bear" as opposed to "how hungry are you" is a worldwide measure of what to charge. If you want to first look at a comparison of GNP and average earnings per capita, you can probably figure a sliding scale per country. Some places are tough to figure because of great disparity in wealth from one person to the next. In the USA, there is a great disparity so what you charge a neighborhood shop keeper is not what you charge a mega-corporation (if they will even talk to you). Truthfully, your reputation must precede you to get connected to those who can pay the higher rates. I think James is right when he says expenses vs livable income. A college professor in design who has a tenured position and freelances can afford to charge less because he knows his bills are paid. For the same reason, he can charge more for jobs or clients that don't interest him. Either way, when someone is not hungry, they can pick and choose. I have seen well known design firms do pro bono work because it interests them.

All you have to do is some simple arithmetic.
This sounds like perfect competition, where demand matches supply. Unfortunately, I think a lot of us are working in a very imperfect market, where there is a glut of 'designers' willing to work for free, or at least pitch for free, and there are a hell of a lot of marketeers, PR types and others willing and happy to exploit free labour.

Dunwich Type : Here in New York the rates seem to run ... to $150 per hour. y.

who can afford to live on that in NYC?

:o)

What I charge depends on the client, my own situation, the amount of work (I've charged less for a secure long term relationship with a good client for example) and a lot of other factors. All these are adjustments applied to my "base rates". I'm basically just asking about another factor in the equation: e.g. how much the client can pay. Interesting answers nevertheless.

IMO, serious web/graphic... any designer must have a couple "fixed", stable and serious clients, clients that you'll work with for long term relationships and, for example, if you have 5 clients, you can expect that you'll have at least one job per month from then.

Under this way of working, there are a lot of subquestions that can be asked... but I found that one as the best way I personally work and so far it gets me more jobs and people made a trust in me as a part of their company even I'm freelancing. Even I get a nice bonuses from time to time. Both way trust and catchy communication is the key where I'll put my energy to do my job the best, to be as much as original as it can be, to make a client feel like I'm really (and I am) always there for them, even they don't have a money to pay me in that moment....

Look on clients as a girls, try to impress them, to take care of them and they'll show you what they can do for you. But you have to build experience to find a good and right people to work with, otherwise you'll end up naive.

I know this sounds like some guide or religious preaching... but in my case, this gets me, on monthly bases, more and more jobs and I can keep the run with tempo of new projects.

Frode, when I say "you", I don't mean on you personally. ;)

I'm a director at a studio outside of London, we're mutli-disciplinary, branding, graphics, web, retail interiors.
Our standard hourly rate is £55 per hour+VAT (pretty much the standard around here).
However we usually worked to a fixed fee for a project, rarely do we get to charge hourly unless we're commissioned
by other outside professionals (mainly large architecture firms where we provide way-finding & branding design services).

Martin

> any designer must have a couple "fixed", stable and
> serious clients, clients that you'll work with for long
> term relationships

I agree; it's very beneficial for a number of reasons to have several steady clients.

I just want to add that I've seen several design firms fall into the trap of depending too much one big client. When the big client unexpectedly left, suddenly they were left with almost no income at all. So try to have at least 2 or 3 steady clients to reduce the impact if 1 leaves.