Getting started as a graphic designer takes a lot more than being creative and highly talented in your field. You definitely need to be adept at graphic design and have a bulletproof graphic design invoice template prepared that will enforce the amounts agreed on in your graphic design quotation template, but that is not enough to carry you through the intense competition that is characteristic of freelancing. What you need is an attitude that complements your skills and a reliable invoice template that separates you from the large number of competing graphic designers.
You should appear to be one that is professional yet is never hesitant to seize learning opportunities. For that, you may need to train yourself to adopt certain habits that help you with your career. After all, you became a designer to be happy with your work-life balance. You do it to be your own boss and the opportunity it offers you to enjoy all the benefit associated with working for no one else but you.
A happy attitude sets you apart from all the other graphic designers. You can learn to be happy. In the freelancing world, this is largely dependent on how well you are paid for your free design invoice templates. This is not just about the amount but the time that you are paid too. Obviously, you need to please your clients if they are to pay you well and on time. One other factor that affects your payment is how well you prepare graphic design invoice examples for clients.
The main problem regarding your business you will be facing is that of being paid, but you might also face challenges when you calculate your graphic designer tax deductions. Few clients are noble enough to actually pay you on time for your graphic design invoice sample and without causing any problems. Most clients pay late, not pay the full amount or sometimes do not even pay. With the prevalence of such clients, you should adopt the widely recognized business practice of invoicing clients, which solves many levels of problems you have to face as a graphic designer. Important as it is, invoicing clients is an issue many freelancers struggle with.
Apart from that, the designer must also learn how to present a good case before the council or courts in case a client refuses to pay or defaults. This protection is not available in law in every state. Therefore, designers must adapt other means of ensuring that they are paid well and on time.
A good tool for encouraging prompt payment is the use of a graphic designer invoice template. The template is a learning tool. It is the closest you will get to a learning or teaching aid. It shows you how to prepare a graphic design invoice template professionally and accurately.
Free design invoice template are probably the best invoicing resources you can take advantage of. With a good template at your disposal, you can quickly prepare a professional looking invoice that is ready to be sent out. You do not need to waste much time on making a new invoice for each of your contracts since templates are made for reuse. Because you can reuse, there’s hardly any need to prepare an invoice from scratch or get a new template frequently. All you need to do is make sure that your graphic design invoice example contains spaces for the information below.
1. Addresses and credentials for your design invoice template
Graphic design invoice samples are official documents, so there needs to be proper business information included in it. They make mutual correspondence much easier and add a touch of professionalism to the invoices.
The template contains a section for this information. The client’s physical or postal address and any other necessary piece of information must appear on the invoice under this section. Any contact information that helps to distinguish the recipient better should appear under this section of the invoice.
Take care not to enter the wrong details in this section. Otherwise, your invoice will go to the wrong person, which would mean non-payment or late payment.
2. Poor formatting of your graphic design invoice
Study the freelance graphic designer invoice template, and you will notice one thing – it is well formatted. Take time to study how to format the invoice properly. Make it as attractive as possible. Some freelancers see the effort of making an invoice attractive as an unnecessary bother. After all, the important thing is that it is delivered to the right person and that the right amount due is quoted. This notion is however not correct. Well, formatted invoices please customers. They present you as a professional who takes clients seriously. Aside from formatting, the graphic design invoice example should be free of:
- Spelling errors
- Incorrect amounts
Not taking the time to format the invoice properly or rid it of errors makes you appear sloppy. Again, it is good to reiterate the importance of appearing professional. Clients will doubt your professionalism after seeing the poorly formatted invoice you just sent them. It is thus good practice to double check the invoice before sending it out to any of your clients. This should not be viewed as an insult to your ability to prepare error-free business documents. Rather, making your invoice error-free and well-formatted means you take your work and clients too seriously to send an error-filled document. Further, failure to double check and eliminate errors could mean a delay in getting your payment on time.
3. Graphic designer invoice billing section
This part of a template is the most utilized one. It contains spaces for the billable items, quantities, hours worked and prices. A good template is designed in a way that it is easy to see how the final price is calculated. This is where you enter all the figures and amounts for work done and tell the client the amount to pay. It is also where you indicate details of the work you did.
While the entire graphic design invoice sample should be error-free, there are two especially crucial parts where you cannot afford making a mistake. These are the address and the billing sections. With the guidance of the template and double-checking the details, you should be able to ensure that this section correctly done. There are other crucial mistakes that you should avoid making in the invoice.
A freelance graphic designer with a small business should avoid a number of invoice mistakes. One of these mistakes is entering incorrect details. Additionally, the freelancer should make the free design invoice template itemized. Itemization means explaining each charge.
Itemized invoices are very attractive to clients as they help clients to understand what they are paying for. This improves the likelihood of the customers paying on time. The invoice should never include fees you never discussed with the client. The last thing you need in this section is one or two unexplained fees. Clients would never agree to settle or pay a fee whose reason for being on the graphic design invoice example they know nothing about. Therefore, avoid including additional or extra fees, which the client knows nothing about, on the invoice.
Accuracy in preparing this section of the invoice is crucial because it can break your relationship with the client. If you mistakenly include items that aren’t supposed to be there, you risk looking dishonest in the eyes of a client who is not so forgiving. Similarly, omitting some items, you won’t be paid the entire amount you are owed on time. You will have to talk to the client explaining the mistake and requesting for the unpaid amount. Either way, mistakes in this section can damage your reputation and relations with customers if not handled correctly.
Therefore, use the graphic design invoice template and double-check it before you send it.
4. Policies when using graphic design invoice templates
You need a set of policies that help you be paid. For example, you can add payment deadlines, late fees, interest rates and other things of the sort to this section to make invoicing more effective. You also need to include these when writing graphic design contracts.
Now what remains is how you get your hands on such a comprehensive invoice template. The answer to that is Bonsai; we have the best invoice template options for freelance graphic designers out there, which have guaranteed success for many, like they will do for you.
The policies on the invoice – regarding your terms and conditions – should be as clear as daylight. The clients should never have to call you complaining about their inability to understand what your policies mean. In fact, the policies in the Freelance Graphic Designer Invoice Template should ideally have been communicated to the clients during the contract signing stage. This way, what is on the invoice would serve as a reminder. This way, the client is not surprised by policies s/he has not seen before. Using a solid contract template makes this process much smoother and efficient.
The goal here is to make it impossible for clients to blame you for sending payments late. The policies should help you convince and encourage the client to not only pay you, but also do so on time. For example, let clients know that you charge late fees for delayed payments. Let them know there shall be consequences for late payments. The longest period should be 30 days. However, always try to work with a shorter timeframe.
While setting the payment period, do not forget to ask clients about their pay cycles too. In fact, you should endeavour to familiarize yourself with the clients pay cycles since they are unique for every cycle. Find a compromise, which does not hurt either you or the client and Synchronize the two pay cycles.
5. Multiple payment options for graphic design invoices
The graphic design invoice example should offer clients multiple payment options. This way, you make it easier for clients to identify an option with which they are more familiar. The reason for doing this is to make it impossible for clients not to pay you.
Offering more than one payment option takes the thunder away from your clients. It denies them one more excuse they would have used for not paying you. Remember, a freelancer gets clients from all over the world. Some of them may be unfamiliar with your preferred method of payment.
Make life easier for your clients. Let them know you consider and value them too.
Some of the options you should consider presenting to your clients include:
- Credit card processing
- Direct bank deposits
- Checks
- Cryptocurrencies – such as Bitcoin
Offer clients the safest, fastest, and most efficient payment options.
6. Branding a free design invoice template
A freelance graphic designer is a creative individual. The invoice offers the freelance graphic designers an opportunity for displaying their creativity. A good invoice should also have a business logo that helps market the business and make the invoice look more professional. Research shows that freelancers who add a logo to their invoices are three times more likely to be paid. Therefore, any freelance graphic designer invoice template should accommodate a logo.
A logo serves several purposes. First, it clarifies the fact that you not only run a professional but also a well-established business. It establishes the fact that you run or are building a brand. It sets your graphic design invoice sample apart from all the others the client receives from other freelancers.
A good invoice template has a provision for this thus make sure you utilize it. Design a good logo and make it a permanent feature of all your invoices.
Branded invoices also have:
- Specific colors
- Specific fonts
- Specific templates
The invoice is a marketing tool. It is not only a tool for obtaining money but also for creating and increasing awareness about your business. It is good at attracting or drawing attention to your freelance graphic design business. Therefore, you can use the invoice to make the discounts and referral incentives you offer known.
7. Show kindness with your design invoice template
Your clients deserve kindness from you. It is a bit irresponsible for you to send an invoice full of foul or rude-sounding language. Instead, learn how to frame your words from the example offered through the freelance graphic designer invoice template.
Phrases worth using in the invoice include:
- Please pay your invoice within 15 days
- Thank you for choosing our business
It costs nothing to be kind. Your business will enjoy the benefits of being kind for years to come. In fact, showing a bit of kindness, especially with the tone and language of the invoice, increases your chances of being paid by up to five percent.
Kindness can help your business to grow. Some clients may prove difficult to work with or serve. Others seem to have a thing for causing you sleepless nights. It might be too tempting to give such clients a dose of their own medicine. Nevertheless, don’t fall into this temptation in any way, especially with the tone of your free design invoice template.
Once again, study and learn from the freelance graphic designer invoice template closely. Kindness also does wonders for your brand. Customers are more willing to relate to you based on the kindness you extend to them.
8. Show flexibility with your graphic design invoice
How flexible are you? Flexibility is not something you can derive from the freelance graphic designer invoice template. It comes from taking time to examine your unique needs and circumstances. You are the only person who knows how flexible you can be.
It is good to stick to the payment terms and schedules that you set. However, allow a bit of room for wiggling. For example, you probably send weekly invoices, which you expect the clients to pay each week. A bit of flexibility is good if the client has a monthly pay cycle.
Failure to exercise some measure of flexibility creates the room for huge disappointments.
In fact, you are likely to grow angry with the client for not paying you weekly yet they only settle invoices on the first of each month. In some cases, the client might not have the money with which to pay the graphic design invoice template. Offer the client some reprieve by extending the payment period.
9. Warranties and guarantees when using design invoices
Do you offer warranties and guarantees? If you do, make sure that all your clients know about it. Check the freelance graphic designer invoice template once again. You will see the portion talking about warranties and guarantees.
In fact, warranties and guarantees do wonders for your business. They make your business appear more credible and legit. Apart from that, warranties and guarantees put the customer’s mind at ease. They should appear under the section labelled ‘Terms and Conditions’ on the invoice.
Let customers know the factors or situations that could cause them to be ineligible for warranties and guarantees. Otherwise, they could do anything, especially the things that hurt your business, while still benefiting from the warranties.
Therefore, study the freelance graphic designer invoice template closely. Use it as the template upon which you write an excellent invoice that’s free of errors. The template is a useful tool; hence, the need for treating it as such.
10. How to create a graphic design invoice template PDF
The process of invoicing can prove to be very complicated at times. Freelancers who design their graphic design invoice templates in PDF by themselves take very long to do so at times, which is of no surprise. Some people find it hard to design their own invoices as organizing the fields in a reader-friendly way can sometimes be difficult too. This is where the graphic design invoice template PDF can come in handy. Templates can offer you unique choices regarding your invoice designs and the ordering/ of the information.
If you think that the problems with invoices are limited to the designing only, you are wrong. Another big issue is the file type of the invoice being sent. Sometimes the invoice you send to your client might not be compatible with the version of the software in their system, which might result in the invoice appearing in a scrambled form. The freelancers, who rely heavily on the graphic design invoice template PDF to get their demands to their clients, can definitely not afford this. To overcome this issue, one solution is to send the invoice in PDF format. This ensures that the invoice remains in the same shape as sent to the client by the freelancer, as PDF files are read-only. This combines with other benefits to make PDF format the most suitable to send invoices in.
Some jobs in the freelance industry require more devotion than others, but are more rewarding as well. According to Forbes, graphic designing is one of the best paying freelance jobs in the world. But there is no room for error for graphic designers in any of their tasks. Some tasks also take hours to complete. This mostly leaves the graphic designers with no other choice than to make their graphic design invoice template PDF through a template. Another important thing for graphic designers is that their invoices should have a pleasant look, which is a reminiscent of their job, which involves the use lot of creativity and colors. This is bound to leave a good impression on the client about the worker.
Besides job requirements, the one thing that is essential for all freelancers is having the idea of what details their graphic design invoice template PDF should contain. Some features slightly vary with each job, but most fields are the same for each type of invoice.
Bonsai's graphic design invoice templates can solve all the problems mentioned above. All you have to do is choose a suitable template and fill out the information in the spaces where it is required, and the invoice will be saved to PDF once it's completed and ready to be sent to the client.
11. How to create graphic design invoice template Excel
When it comes to judging the difficulty of each job in freelance industry, there is no denying that graphic designing is one of the toughest jobs to do. To find a perfect blend of your ideas and your client's demands can sometimes prove to be a mammoth task. Yet, with their expertise, the graphic designers, constrained by the creative demands of their clients, make it through, with exquisite designs and logos, making it all look easy, something that we witness daily in the form of posters, billboards and on television. All of this is possible with the help of a well structured graphic design invoice template Excel.
While you may be a skilled graphic designer who wins contracts almost every time you send a proposal, being a freelance graphic designer is a lot more than creativity and being talented in your field. There’s already stiff competition in the market, and you’re only going to make it as a freelance graphic designer by staying on top of your game. Apart from addressing your client needs, you must demonstrate some level of professionalism in carrying out your freelance business, and having a graphic design invoice is part of this.
When someone does a job as time consuming and mentally draining as graphic designing, there are some responsibilities which they would absolutely love to be relieved of, and invoicing is one of them. Even though no freelancer would like the idea of getting paid late, but the strains of such a job would make the worker want to automate the process of invoice making. Besides, the calculations of the charges need to be accurate in order for the payment to be done smoothly, and they are bound to be error prone if the mind is worn out. An invoice is useless if the billing details are incorrect, and such an instance can damage the professional image of the worker as well.
Therefore, as a graphic design freelancer, it’s important to have an invoice in place. And not just an invoice that lets you do all the work with all the errors, but one that automates the billing process. However, creating an invoice that will effectively address your billing needs isn’t a simple task, and it may just be difficult to start from scratch. An easy way to save yourself from the headache of invoice designing is to use templates. That’s why a graphic design invoice template Excel, could just be your savior at this point.
Bonsai's templates for graphic designers offer distinctly brilliant designs for your invoices. The templates are designed to match your profession, because we know that as graphic designers, you would want your invoices to reflect your creativity in order to give a better impression to all your clients. While adding a few tweaks to your invoice may not seem necessary, your client may just be happy to see your skills and expertise in graphic design translated onto your invoice. So, don’t miss out on this. When you choose Bonsai’s templates for graphic designers, all you have to do is fill each bit of information in its respective field as written in the template, and once you save the file, your invoice will be ready.
Not just this, these templates are designed in Excel format. This is suitable for your creative image as Excel allows each cell to be colored according to your choice. So, depending on the information stored in each cell, you can add colors to your invoices as you wish. Of course, you should stick to your company’s theme to demonstrate a level of professionalism. Again, you can have your company’s logo included on top of the graphic design invoice template Excel to make it look more presentable. This is just one advantage of using such invoice templates to create a freelance graphic design invoice for your business.
Another convenience that Excel offers is in the form of different mathematical operations that can be performed by writing simple formulae in the cells. Each graphic design invoice template Excel you get from Bonsai allows you to use the simple formulas to perform your invoice calculations. The good thing is that most of these calculations aren’t complex, and so, you can always get it done within seconds.
A simple example is the calculation of total charges for each job. The variable would be the number of hours worked and the multiple would be hourly charges. With the help of functions, the elements of these two cells will multiply and the value of total charges will appear in its respective cell. You don’t have to perform these calculations individually. Once you’ve got the formulae in place, all you need to do is to enter the given values in the cells and let Excel do the calculation for you. Again, you’re not limited when it comes to the number of formulas you can generate on the same sheet. There are numerous other calculations which can be performed in Excel, depending on the functions involved. However, you may not need the complicated ones. Usually, you may only use the common operations such as addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. If you need to use a complex formulae, you could just get it from the in-built excel formulas.
Basically, you need Bonsai’s graphic design invoice template Excel to make your billing process convenient. After spending your energy in handling complex graphic design tasks, it may not be easy to start working on your invoice to make sure it’s error-free. It would be better to get a system that automates the process, which in this case is an Excel invoice. We’ve got a variety of templates you can go through to help you design one for your business.
Remember, getting paid late or receiving less than you expected are the last things you’d want to encounter as a graphic design freelancer. Therefore, you have to get it right when it comes to your invoice. Get a graphic design invoice template Excel by Bonsai to get started. With this, you’ll be able to communicate your brand effectively and minimize the errors that your invoice is prone to.
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