Among all of the different ways to create an invoice for different industries, one of the particular invoices you should know about is an invoice that will reflect design work completed. Let’s learn more about design invoice.
Creating an invoice for any graphic design job is necessary in order to get paid for the work you have completed The invoice should look professional, be detailed in the information it provides, and it should also look great, as it is an example of your design work. You can design your own invoices based on the look and feel of your brand.
What to include in a design invoice?
Start by including a professional header that lists the name of your business, or your own name if you work as a freelancer. The header should be in a large, professional font, or a font that matches your brand; you can also include your logo, if you have one.
Below the header, include contact information for your client, including the name of the person that is handling the account, the street address where the business is located, an email address, and a phone number. You should also include your own contact information if it is not already in the header. Below that, include the date the invoice will be issued, along with the unique invoice number in order to keep track of the invoice.
Next will be the bulk of the document, which will be the detailed list of all of the services completed. Each different service completed should be described in detail. Instead of writing “magazine cover”, write “Graphic design for September 2016 cover of Faux Magazine”. The more description you can offer, the less likely it is that your client will have questions. This will also help you and your client understand where time and money was spent if they have to pull this invoice out a year from now. Each line item should list the date it was completed, along with the amount of hours it took to complete (if you are charging by the hour, along with the hourly rate), and the total amount owed for that line item.
At the bottom of the list, you will add all the items up to get the subtotal. Then, list any additional fees, taxes, credits, or discounts that will go into the final total. And then add everything up to get the final amount owed; feel free to bold or color this total differently in order to have it stand out against all of the other numbers in the invoice.
Finally, you should include any information about how the client should pay the invoice, whether it’s a special address to mail a check to, a PayPal username for an electronic payment, or information on late fees and when the payment is due to avoid fees.
And lastly, some freelance designers like to include a line at the bottom of the invoice where they can sign and date it. Before you send the invoice, double and triple check it to make sure there are no errors – including spelling, grammar, or mathematically. And then, send it off! The sooner you send it, the sooner your client will receive it, and the more likely you are to get paid, sooner.
The key to success: keep track of your invoices
Once the invoice is sent, make sure you have a method in place for keeping track of it, and all of your other invoices. You’ll want to keep a copy of each invoice for yourself in order to file it, and set up some some sort of system to keep track of when the invoice payments are due. If the invoice due date starts to approach and you have not heard from your client, you will have to reach out and get a status on payment. If you still do not hear from your client, you will have to institute late fees, and may even have to look into collections. It is not the most fun part of business, but it is the most necessary part if you want to keep the cash flowing.