Graphic Designer Hourly Rate in California

[theacefes]

Hey all!

So, a friend of mine is applying for an entry level design position at my company where she would be doing mockups for a website using Photoshop and basically just following guidelines and patterns in the mockups. Some vector art creation/editing as well. In the past she’s worked on indie games doing art for that but everything has been either self employed or set pieces/flat fees. This is really a paid internship of sorts to get her foot in the door in graphic design. No HTML or CSS required here.

She isn’t sure what a good hourly rate would be. What can I suggest? We are in Orange County, CA, so stuff costs a lot here. ;)

Thanks!

-Kat

[chrisburton]

It depends. What does her current portfolio look like.

[theacefes]

Well, as I said, her experience has been doing art and using photoshop in indie games and small projects. She doesn’t currently have an online portfolio. She does however, have a bachelor in comp sci, but towards the end of her degree, she decided she wanted to get into art. No web or print experience, mostly spritesheets for animation and level backgrounds, tiles, those type of layouts.

Hm…here are some screenshots of an XNA game I worked on with her. She did all the design and artwork. Supposed to be a cartoon style thing.

http://katbella.com/media/images/gamedev/6.jpg
http://katbella.com/media/images/gamedev/5.jpg

[chrisburton]

Hmm. Not really having a portfolio is going to be hard to justify a rate. The standard is between $85/hr to $100/hr.

[theacefes]

Thanks. Yeah, obviously what I suggest to her isn’t going to be what the company will give her.

[TheDoc]

I don’t think a company would give an employee that high of a rate, I think Chris is referring to a freelance rate.

[chrisburton]

Ha. Definitely not. That’s more based for freelance work as a standard rate. I assume they will offer her a salary?

Edit: Thanks for the clarification @TheDoc

[theacefes]

No. This would be contractor/hourly rate. Again, also entry/jr level/paid internship. It would probably be much lower no?

[chrisburton]

Yeah, so she’ll probably be looking at an average of roughly $15/hr – $18/hr depending on the company.

[theacefes]

Ok, that seems more like what I was thinking but I wasn’t sure if it was too low.

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