Summarize:

Say, “Congratulations! I’d like to offer you the position.” If they don’t pick up, leave a voicemail saying, “I’m getting back to you about the graphic design position. Please call me back at your earliest convenience.” Call them back the next day if they don’t return your call. If they still don’t get back to you, send them an email. If they don’t respond to the email, move on to the next candidate on your list. If you can’t agree on a salary or hit another snag during negotiations, you can offer the job to one of the other designers you interviewed. Rank your choices so that you know exactly who to go to next if you need to. Call up the candidate and say you’d like to extend the offer to them. Now is the time to be specific about the salary you’ll offer. A designer with a large portfolio and lots of relevant experience should be offered around $100-$150 per hour, while you can pay someone with less experience closer to $50 per hour. Depending on the size of the project, this could be anywhere from $300-$400. This is a good option if you’re running on a tight budget and can’t afford to pay a designer for every hour they spend on the project. You should have a good idea of how many drafts the designer usually needs from your interview, but state up front how many concepts you expect to be shown. Let them know if you don’t mind taking a look at multiple drafts, or even prefer that as a way to track their progress. If you’d rather have a more hands-off approach, and be shown just 1-2 drafts before you get a final product, say that instead. In this succinct, 1-2 page document, briefly sum up what your business does. Specify what medium you want for the final product, whether that’s a PDF file, an image, or something printed. Set a deadline you’ll need it done by. Describe the goals of this project, your target market, and general do’s and don’t’s for the designer. For example, if there’s a certain style you know you don’t like, tell the designer. Give examples of designs you think are effective or relevant that they might emulate. Many designer retain ownership, giving you only the agreed-on final product, which means that if you want a re-print or need to change the design later on, you’ll need to go back to the designer to do so. Negotiate for ownership if you can, so that you can make these changes more cheaply later on.
Call the designer with an offer. Wait to turn down the other candidates until the designer has accepted. Offer $50-$150 per hour, depending on their experience. Offer a flat payment if an hourly rate is too expensive. Talk about how many rough concepts you expect from them. Draft a design brief that shows exactly what you want. Discuss ownership of the final project before they start working on it.