New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: How to handle tasks that require design skills as a freelance web dev?

Ask HN: How to handle tasks that require design skills as a freelance web dev?
3 by n4bz0r | 5 comments on Hacker News.
Occasionally, clients ask me to make a new page or a new "widget". If something similar isn't already implemented on the site, it requires certain graphical design skills to make such things from the ground up. I like to believe that I have a good taste for design, but lack of experience, and overall poor "design vocabulary" wouldn't allow me to make such things efficiently . As my clients are usually small businesses, they don't have a designer nor willing to find one. They feel comfortable with having a single guy handling everything. And that's understandable in such market. But I have no idea how much should charge for the way-beyond-secondary skillset. Sometimes I try to explain, that I'm not exactly the right guy for the job when it comes to "drawing". The common argument is: "it doesn't really matter as long as you can deliver something that works". I love to make my clients happy, so I don't turn them down immediately. Maybe they really are in need of just something in order to function properly. So I try hard to make the thing. Results aren't exactly awful, and clients seem to be happy. Sometimes I even like the end-result myself. But at least half of the time it doesn't look good enough to me . I never had a complaint, but I feel bad charging the same amount I ask for my primary skillset. And the time spent is just ridiculous compared to the other things I do! For example, I can make a markup and implement backend in, say, 2 hours. And then, there would be 5 to 8 hours that are spent tinkering with fonts, images, colors, spacings. How should I charge? Should I avoid such feats? Should I hire a designer? Or maybe I should develop needed skills myself as I am kinda already stepped into it? It's also worth noting that I never have never hired a freelance designer, so it's a bit frightening. Please, tell me about your experience.

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