Phase profitability for graphic designers

See how extra concept rounds affect the fee.

Phased organises a design project into the same phases used in your proposal, such as discovery, concept, identity design, and guidelines. Give each phase part of the fee and track its hours. You can see the effective rate for each phase and record unquoted revision work separately.

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One rebrand, opened to its phases. Identity design is the biggest slice of the fee and still inside its hours; concept has already gone past its share.

Track concept rounds against the fee you agreed.

A brand identity fee may include two concept directions and a set number of revisions. If the client asks for another direction, those hours can disappear into the same fixed price unless you record them separately.

Give Concept its own share of the fee and track every round there. You can see when the included work is taking too long and keep unquoted rounds separate for a clear client conversation.

Turn every phase's fee into planned hours.

Enter the same phases and amounts you used in the proposal. Phased turns each amount into planned hours using your target rate. For example, €1,800 for Concept at €60 per hour gives you a 30-hour plan for the included directions and revisions.

If the agreement changes, update the fee or add another phase. The hours you already logged stay attached to the work. Reports you created earlier keep their original figures, so a document you sent does not change later.

  1. 01 Discovery €1,200 20h at €60/h Brief, brand audit, and what the identity has to do.
  2. 02 Concept €1,800 30h at €60/h Directions, type and colour, up to the one the client picks.
  3. 03 Identity design €4,200 70h at €60/h The chosen direction built out across every application.
  4. 04 Guidelines & handoff €1,800 30h at €60/h The rulebook and the files, packaged to outlive the project.
€9,000 across 4 phases · 150h of work at €60/h Name them however you work: discovery, concept, identity design, guidelines, or your own.

See what each phase is really earning per hour.

Effective rate is the fee divided by the hours spent on the agreed work. Concept was agreed at €1,800 and has taken 40 hours, so it is currently earning €45 per hour instead of the €60 target. Identity design, the largest part of the fee, is still within its plan.

The project total hides that difference. The phase view shows where the fee is working and where it is not, while there is still time to manage the job. When you quote the next identity project, you have real Concept hours instead of a guess.

How Phased calculates budget use and hourly earnings

Keep the third direction separate from the included work.

When the client asks for another direction, mark the related time entries Out of scope. Their hours stay in your records but stop counting against the 30-hour Concept plan. The original budget continues to measure only the directions and revisions included in the proposal.

On Pro, give the extra direction an hourly or flat price and include it on a Phase or Project Report as Additional Work. If you decide not to charge, leave it off the report. Either way, you know exactly what the request cost in time.

Common questions

How do I set up a brand identity project?

Use the same phases as your proposal, such as Discovery, Concept, Identity design, and Guidelines. Assign part of the fee to each one, and set a custom rate only where it is needed. You can mark phases as reported and paid separately while later work continues.

Is my fixed-fee identity job meeting my target rate?

Compare each phase's fee with the hours spent on the agreed work. A €1,800 Concept phase earns €60 per hour after 30 hours. If it takes 40 hours, that falls to €45. Phased shows this while the job is open, so you can manage the remaining work and price the next project more accurately.

Can I charge for extra revision rounds?

Yes. Mark the time for an unquoted round Out of scope. Its hours stay in your records but stop using the budget for the included concepts. On Pro, add an hourly or flat price and show the round on a Phase or Project Report as Additional Work. You still choose whether to charge for it.

Is this a design tool?

No. Phased does not store artboards or design files. Use it alongside your design tools to track the time, budgets, and effective rates for the work you do there.

How is it different from a generic time tracker?

A basic tracker tells you how many hours you worked. Phased also knows how much of the fee belongs to Discovery, Concept, Identity design, and Guidelines. It can therefore show which part of the job is underpriced, even when the project total still looks healthy.

What happens to my projects if I stop paying?

Nothing is deleted when you move to Free. Every project keeps its phases, hours, reports, and history. Free supports three active projects; the rest are archived after a short grace period, and you can swap which three stay active. Pro-only settings such as money budgets are kept but hidden until you return to Pro, while CSV and JSON exports remain available.

One person, one price.

Free includes the calendar, timer, three active projects with two phases each, tasks, time budgets, Time Reports, and data exports. Pro is €7 a month or €66 a year. It removes the project and phase limits and adds money budgets, budget health, effective rates, priced Additional Work, Phase and Project Reports, and your own letterhead.

See what is in each plan