What should you charge for freelance design work? We’re about to find out

Being a freelance designer has its perks, but pay transparency is not one of them. Designers are constantly forced to second-guess themselves: 

Should you charge a day rate or a project fee? 

Are you earning  as much as your peers? 

Is AI taking work/jobs away from you?

Today we’re launching a new, data-driven effort in partnership with the American Institute of Graphic Arts to help you answer those questions and more with confidence. It’s called the Design Pricing Transparency Project, and it’s dedicated to helping freelance designers understand how much they should be charging for their work. 

We’re asking designers across the industry—graphic designers, UX professionals, art directors, and others—to help us gather information by taking a short survey. We want to know what kind of projects you’re working on, how you price that work, and how you’re feeling about the general state of freelancing in 2026. If you’re a full-time or part-time freelance designer (yes, even if you have a full-time job!) we want to hear from you.

And we know that getting paid is not a one-way street. That’s why we’re also asking companies that hire freelance designers to tell us what they pay, what they’re projecting for the coming year, and how AI factors into all of it.

Our goal is to create a detailed snapshot of the freelance financial landscape. We’ll share the results later this year in a special report. 

You can take the survey here.

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