How to Package Your Design Services
To the designers who are sick of custom quoting every new project that comes your way… this one is for you!
I’m talking to the designers who are really starting to get traction in their business. You may have a few freelance projects under your belt, your client base is growing, and now your inquiries are ramping up (maybe at a pace that’s a little too quick for your work-life balance!).
I want to share one of my favorite solutions to that overwhelming-but-exciting growth you’re experiencing.
ENTER: PACKAGED DESIGN SERVICES
Offering various graphic design services can be a great way to start developing your portfolio, growing your client base, and discovering the kinds of projects you love the most. But as your business grows, if you continue to offer an open-ended menu of design services to every client you land, you may end up responsible for a different design process for every single project. Talk about overwhelming!
By offering packaged design services, you can begin to streamline your process and refine it so that it feels second nature and more ease-filled. This gives you a little more structure in your biz and giving your client a top-tier end product because you’ve become the expert on YOUR design packages and process.
Why I love packaged design services
Here’s the thing…
Clients don’t always know what they need. They think they do, but they don’t always see the bigger picture of their project. They may only think:
I need a logo
I need a lead magnet designed
I need social media templates
I need ________ (fill in the blank!)
For example, I have a lot of people who come to me who say they’re just looking for a logo or they don’t need a full branding package. And sometimes, that’s completely legitimate and they really aren’t ready to invest. Other times, after I explain my Signature Branding Package and what it entails, they’re like “Oh yeah, that's actually what I'm looking for. Let’s do it.”
When our clients come to us inquiring about our services, it's our job to listen to them, understand their pain points, read between the lines a bit, and present them with a solution to their problem.
People like to be heard but they also like to be taken care of. They want to know that they’re working with an expert who can anticipate their needs before they can. Our job is about educating our clients as much as it is designing for them!
I have found that clients really appreciate that I’m guiding them. I have a branding package that enables me to say, “This is proven to work… and you have some customization options.”
Design packages give your clients confidence in YOU that you’ve done this before, you know what works, and they can trust you to lead them.
Beyond that, packaging up your design services also simplifies things behind the scenes for you! Creating design packages has been so helpful for me in:
Creating more structure in my project schedule
Predicting my income
Cutting down on the amount of time spent on creating custom proposals
Positioning myself as the expert in my niche
Instilling confidence and trust in my clients
So, how do you switch from custom proposals to neatly packaged design services?
Keep reading for 5 steps that explain everything you need to know about simplifying your services and capitalizing on your growing business!
Step 1: Reflect + Consider
If you've been hanging around my blog, you know I'm a big fan of asking yourself the big picture questions before diving into creating a new offering or doing anything in business. This is no exception!
When you're first setting out to create design packages or revise the design packages you currently have in place, take some time to reflect on your business and your clients.
Questions to consider:
What services/types of projects are your clients frequently requesting?
What types of projects do you love doing the most? What do you want to do more of? Hint: Don't put together design packages around services that you don't enjoy!
If you have current design packages in place, are there any extra design requests or project add-ons that your clients didn't want initially but continually ask for mid-project?
What do your clients need that they might not be asking for?
Consider your target audience and the types of clients you want to serve — would it make sense to have multiple level offerings or offerings for different needs? Or perhaps just one signature offering?
Step 2: Start mapping it out
Taking your answers above into consideration, get out your pen and notebook or open a Google Doc and start defining what kinds of packages you might want to offer to your clients.
4 things to define for each package:
Who the package is best for - especially if you have multiple packages and slight different audiences
Final deliverables included
The process you'll bring clients through - including number of revisions
The timeline involved
For example, in the early years of my business when I first started offering branding design, I had three different packages for clients to choose from. Here is a summary of each:
1. Small Branding Package
Best for: New business owners who are just getting started.
Deliverables: Logo, logo variation, watermark, color palette, font system
Process: Brand questionnaire, kickoff call, mood board + color palette, 2 concepts to choose from with two rounds of revisions on chosen concept, finalize files + deliver
Timeline: 3 weeks
2. Full Branding Package
Best for: Business owners who really know who they are, are clear on their target audience, and are really focused on creating a cohesive brand experience for their clients.
Deliverables: A full logo suite, submarks, patterns and textures, color palette, font system, complete style guide, business cards + stationery and social media profile graphics
Process: Branding workbook, kickoff call, mood board + color palette, 2 concepts to choose from with two rounds of revisions on chosen concept, style guide creation, design of business cards + stationery + social media graphics, finalize files + deliver (including helping to coordinate printing)
Timeline: 5 weeks
3. Full Branding Package + Website Design
Best for: Same as Full Branding Package, but those who want their brand implemented on a professionally designed website as well, that they can manage on their own.
Deliverables: Everything in Full Branding Package, plus Squarespace website design
Process: Same as Full Branding Package, plus a website planning workbook, initial design of website (up to 6 pages) with two rounds of revisions, connecting domain + launch of site, creation + delivery of website guide along with a custom Squarespace tutorial video on how to make edits and maintain the website
Timeline: 8 weeks
The above package examples are specific to branding, but they can apply to ANY sort of design services that you want to offer and/or your clients are coming to you for!
This includes retainers for ongoing clients (a great way to book recurring work and guaranteed income!) and VIP Days, which I personally love (a streamlined way to tackle my clients' design to-do lists in one dedicated day).
INTERESTED IN SIMPLIFYING MORE?
I'm with you. Over the years, I've honed in my target audience and the types of projects I like taking on and pared my services down to ONE Signature Branding Package. This has been a game changer in simplifying my project schedule and allowing me to focus my attention on one big client at a time. Feel free to check out my Work Together page to get a sense of what my process and offerings now look like!
Step 3: Consider opportunities for customization
Offering package add-ons with a set price is a great way to allow clients to customize their package to fit their needs, while still having that solid base of your design package in place.
For example: in the past I’ve offered a social media template pack, a postcard design, and custom icons as add-ons to my branding packages. These are all designs that not every client needed, but were requested frequently enough where it made sense to at least offer them. Although they were a la carte, they were still packaged with set pricing so I didn't have to do too much custom-quoting! Plus, it got my clients’ wheels turning during our initial conversations and how nice it would be to have those extra elements and collateral items in place right away when they launched their new brand.
Now, I do things a little differently. My clients get to select three marketing pieces as part of their Signature Branding Package (these are included in the package price). During our kickoff call, I help them make their selections based on what they most need at the moment and what we have time/budget for in my package’s timeline. If they have even more graphic design needs, they can book a VIP / Design Day with me and we’ll tackle it all!
There are so many ways to add customization to your packages that leave your clients walking away with exactly what they need, while still maintaining the structure and simplicity that design packages offer.
Pro Tip: Have a general plan for each add-on and how much time it would add on to your project (OR if you would be able to fit it into the bigger project timeline), so you're ready to provide that info upon request.
Step 4: Set your pricing
This is a toughy. So much of pricing is a mindset thing... something that I continually have to work on myself, even 10 years into this owning-a-design-studio thing! That being said, I do have some go-to strategies for setting your package pricing and (surprise, surprise!) it all starts with looking at your bigger picture.
Tips for setting your package pricing:
KNOW YOUR EXPENSES + FINANCIAL GOALS
How much do you want/need to make per month? Decide on your monthly revenue goal based on your business and personal expenses, as well as how much you need to take home after taxes (ugh), insurance, etc.
GET A CLEAR PICTURE OF HOW MANY HOURS EACH PACKAGE WILL INVOLVE
Make a list of every single task that's involved in each package. I'm talking every design task AND onboarding tasks, admin, meetings, emails and communication, file prep... every single thing you do. Then assign an amount of time to each (yes, even the 15 minute tasks). This will give you a real look at how much time each package will take you, on average.
FIGURE OUT HOW MANY HOURS YOU CAN WORK IN A WEEK/MONTH (“BILLABLE HOURS” AND NON-CLIENT FACING HOURS)
This is unique for everyone and every business. It's so important to ensure you're not overcommitting and putting yourself on a path toward burnout. I recommend defining your billable hours (client-facing time) AND the time needed to dedicate to non-client facing tasks involved in running your business, like admin, marketing, etc. Not every moment of your working hours can be dedicated to design time.
KNOW YOUR HOURLY RATE
If you haven’t thought about this in awhile... try taking your monthly revenue goal divided by how many hours you have in a month to work. This will give you your hourly rate. For example: $8,000 / 80 hrs per month = $100/hr.
DO A LITTLE CALCULATING
Taking everything above into consideration, calculate your package price by multiplying your hourly rate by the number of working hours needed for each package.
Then adjust the price as needed based on the type of work you're doing, the type of copyright transfer/license you're giving your clients for the final product, the transformative value behind your process and final product, etc. Buffering your package price to cover unforeseen issues/complications (or “pain in the bum” clients) is NEVER a bad idea 🙂
Remember: Charge based on the value of what you’re providing, not what YOU are worth. YOU are priceless!
Step 5: Start implementing + experimenting
Once you feel pretty good about the design packages you've put in place, start pushing them out into the world! Post them on your website or create a Services Guide.
Then start testing them out with your next client. You may find that you need to make tweaks here and there, or maybe as your business grows, you eventually eliminate packages that your clients aren't gravitating towards or you no longer enjoy providing.
Nothing is set in stone and you can always pivot. So, put those design packages out there and start experimenting!
Hey designers!
Want to simplify your graphic design business and leave the overwhelm behind? What if you could pick the brain of an experienced design studio owner who’s been through it all?
Join the Designer Mentorship program - a monthly membership for designers who are in the early years of their freelance or small business journey and looking for mentorship to help them navigate all that comes with working with clients and running a smooth and profitable business.
Through regular group calls and online community discussions, you will have direct access to me and the opportunity to learn from my 10 years of experience running my design studio… and connect with other growth- and community-minded designers who are willing to share what’s working (and what isn’t).
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