A fair rate
Making impactful design affordable

Businesses and organisations tackling the biggest issues – climate, nature, health and social crises – often have the smallest budgets. This can mean there isn’t the money to invest in the time needed to create branding, communications and marketing that moves the dial.

I support my clients by basing my rate on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Minimum Income Standard and keeping my overheads low – no salespeople, account handlers or fancy office. As a result, more of your budget goes on time spent on your project. More time means more care, thought and impact.

My rate is £50 an hour.
No VAT to add.

See how this is calculated below.

My hourly rate is pegging to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Minimum Income Standard. See the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s minimum income calculator.

Most agencies have a day rate and charge for a day’s work even if they’ve only spent a few hours on the project that day. I believe the right thing to do is to charge for the actual time spent, which is why I charge for my time in hours.

With no salespeople, account handlers, or fancy office, my overheads are very low. My expenses – including software, hardware, marketing, professional fees, home office costs, travel, telephone, broadband and office supplies – average around £3,500 annually. I’ve also chosen not to become a B Corp, which would increase my costs by a third. This means less of your budget goes towards overheads, allowing me to spend more time on your project to achieve the best possible outcomes.

I aim to charge for around 700 hours a year. This is informed by:

Research by the industry body for design businesses – the Design Business Association (DBA) – shows that sole traders spend 50–70% of their time on client work, with the remaining time spent running their business. This includes admin, accounting, marketing, tendering for work, maintaining technology, attending events, professional development, purchasing office equipment, and periods without work. The DBA research also shows that on average 23% of the time spent on client work is unpaid, due to over-servicing – giving more time to the client than the fee allows. This results in the following:

When I started, my business mentor advised me that a consultant should expect to charge for around 100 days a year.

Over 22 years in business, this concept of 100 billable days, or 700 hours, has proved roughly correct.

Unlike some designers, I don’t subsidise my work for ethical organisations by also working for corporates. I see this as disingenuous. For example, I know of an agency that works with a heart charity while also working for an ultra-processed food business – directly undermining the aims of the first client. One step forward, many steps back.