Cost of Hiring a Designer for Your Startup: Key Points to Consider

How Much Are Designers Paid?

According to the latest statistics from Indeed, the average salary of a UX designer in Russia ranges from 150,000 to 1,000,000 rubles. The hourly rate for a UX designer is 4,500 rubles.

In comparison, designer salaries in Europe are lower, but rates vary greatly depending on the country. For example, designers in Western Europe have higher salary expectations than those in Eastern Europe due to taxes and a higher cost of living. Nevertheless, the median salary for a UI/UX designer is approximately 500,000 rubles. Later in this article, we will break down prices based on location and skill level.

As you can see, hiring UX or product designers is not cheap. It raises a logical question: why is that? We are about to answer that question.

What Makes Up a Designer’s Salary?

Various factors influence a candidate’s salary expectations, but the most important ones are work experience, specialization, location, and form of cooperation. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Work Experience

According to Indeed, the salary of an entry-level UX designer in Russia is about 60,000 rubles. To reach the mid-level, a designer needs 3 to 5 years of experience, and such specialists can ask for about 2,000,000 rubles per year. Finally, with more than 10 years of experience, a senior UX designer’s salary rises to 12,000,000 rubles per year.

Specialization

This may come as a surprise, but speaking of design, we are not just dealing with the beloved “UI/UX designer.” Of course, small companies may have only one UI/UX designer with a broad set of responsibilities. But major industry players may look for different specialists for different projects. These include UI designers (as a separate discipline), interaction designers, product designers, information architects, UX researchers, and UX writers. In 2024, the average salaries of various specialists in Russia are as follows:

The average salary of a visual designer is 91,250 rubles, and an interaction designer earns 90,198 rubles on average.

On average, the expected salary of a user interface designer is typically lower. And the salary of a web designer is even more modest. However, they are not the best fit for working in a startup. Their strengths lie in visual and aesthetic design, while UX designers’ responsibilities are more about usability. So, if you want a versatile professional, look for a product designer or UI/UX designer.

Location

The next factor affecting salary is the designer’s location. UX and product designer salaries in Russia vary by region. For example, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the headquarters of major tech companies are located, a UI/UX designer earns more than in places where the IT sector is not among the leading ones.

Overall, average costs can be more than 25% higher depending on the state. That is why some businesses look for employees who do not need to pay rent in the Bay Area.

Unfortunately, there is no single database of designer salaries worldwide. But information from different sources still provides some valuable insights.

Hiring a designer from Canada or Australia will cost you about 550,000 rubles. In the UK, as in most EU countries, the average cost of designer services, as already mentioned, is about 500,000 rubles. As for Central and Eastern Europe, the figures are around 300,000–400,000 rubles. Chinese designers have salary expectations similar to their Eastern European colleagues, but in Singapore and Japan, the average UX designer salary reaches 660,000 rubles.

Form of Cooperation

The final cost also depends on how you want to work with the future designer(s). The most common forms of cooperation are hiring in-house designers, working with freelancers, and working with design agencies.

In-House Designer

This is probably the first option that comes to mind, especially if you have many ongoing projects or plan to update your product's design regularly. You pay a fixed salary and, when the work is done, you get a new team member (hopefully for many years to come).

However, hiring an in-house designer comes with additional costs. Computers, tablets, and other equipment are one-time expenses. Nevertheless, you will have to pay for the designer’s insurance and sick leave, so keep that in mind.

Unexpected expenses may include paying overtime or outsourcing some tasks if the workload turns out to be larger than expected. And if after the probation period you find that the designer is not a good fit for the team, you will have to spend even more time and money to restart the hiring and onboarding process, and may lose money if your product design remains unfinished.

Freelancers

Freelancers typically work at an hourly rate that depends on their qualifications. As a rule, their services are not cheaper than those of their full-time colleagues. However, you can save on benefits and equipment.

But when it comes to hiring freelance designers, we strongly recommend this approach only if you already have experience. We don’t want to offend anyone, but it cannot be denied that hiring inexperienced freelance designers is risky.

You might save a little money on a junior designer’s hourly rate, but you will lose more on rework and product recovery if something goes wrong. Even with a more experienced designer, freelancing carries the risk of miscommunication between the designer and engineers, costing you time and money. And if the freelancer cannot continue working with you for some reason, you will have to spend money to find a new candidate, possibly at the worst time.

Agency

The cost of a design firm’s services depends on the scope of the project. Thus, it is impossible to estimate the cost unless you contact them directly. On the one hand, the cost will be higher. On the other hand, you save time on finding, hiring, and onboarding a design team, as well as project management, compared to hiring in-house designers.

How to Get the Best Design Talent for Less Money

Let us be clear: we do not recommend cutting corners on design. Successful companies invest heavily in design. But of course, there are ways to bring talented professionals to your project without breaking the bank.

As mentioned, working with an agency, while more expensive than hiring a freelancer, is still cheaper than building an in-house design team from scratch and may be your solution.

Summing Up

Generally, when it comes to hiring a talented specialist, the final price you pay depends on the complexity of the project and the factors we discussed in this article. But if you want to work with a design agency and don’t want to take risks, consider collaborating with companies that have a strong reputation.