Hello! This is the XDesigner, Japanese designer agent service, editorial department. We would like to introduce information  about hiring designers and outsourcing design in Japan. 

Many foreign companies which try to ask for designs may not know how much to charge for their first  project. If you do not understand the market price, you may have to pay more than the  market price. 

In this article, we will explain the market prices of design costs and fees for web pages by  page and type. It also explains whether you should ask for a production company or hire a  freelancer. 

What can you do as a web design request?

Depending on the scope of your web design project, you may find that the cost estimates can  vary greatly. 

The price will vary greatly. To get an idea of the market rate for fees, make sure you  understand what you can ask for and accurately tell the scope of the request. 

The web design production process can be roughly divided into three stages. 

• Planning 
• Design 
• Coding

Planning

What do you do in the planning stage? 

• Clarify the purpose of web design 
• Setting Personas 
• Designing customer journey maps

First, clarify the objective of why you are doing web design. 

Once the objective is determined, the next step is to set personas. Personas are specific  images of people who will visit the website, such as name, gender, family structure, hobbies  and interests, work style, and so on, and should be defined as clearly as if they actually exist.  Persona creation is very important for marketing strategies as it facilitates thinking about  "when," "what," "where," "how," etc. 

After deciding on personas, design a customer journey map to think from the user's perspective.
The customer journey map is the process by which a user perceives and acts on a product or  service. 

By considering actions in  order, users' emotions and behaviors are visualized. Thus, in web design, planning before design, such as persona design and customer journey  map design, is important.

Design

We will design to visualize what has been decided in the planning process. 

The first step is to create wireframes to visualize the image. Wireframes are like blueprints that  define a web page and are characterized by simple lines and frames. By creating wireframes, we  can share the overall structure of the website with the people involved and eliminate any  differences in perception. 

Next, we will design the illustrations and images to be displayed on the web page. When  creating the design, it is important to first determine the design guidelines in order to give a  sense of unity to the entire design. 

Coding

The designed contents are actually displayed on the web page, using the programming  language. 

Website coding uses HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other languages to express the colors, size,  layout and animation of a website. 

Web Design Fee and Price Range by Site

The cost will vary greatly depending on the purpose for which the site is being created, such as  to increase recognition of the company or to strengthen recruitment. 

In this section, we will explain the cost comparison for the following five sites. 

• Corporate Site 
• Recruitment Site 
• Media Site 
• EC Site 
• Landing page 

Corporate Site

A corporate website is a website that provides a company profile, corporate philosophy,  products and services, employment opportunities, IR information, etc. 

The website is the symbol of the company. 

The purpose of this product is to increase awareness of the company and to improve the brand. The cost of a corporate website ranges from 1.5 million yen to 10 million yen. 

Recruitment Site

A recruitment website is a website that provides company information for job seekers. 

We focus on the attractiveness of the companies and the information that job seekers want to  know, as a place to work. The goal is to increase the number of applicants, to prevent application mismatches,  and to increase the level of interest in the company. 

The cost of the recruitment site ranges from 1.5 million yen to 6 million yen. 

Media Site

Media sites are mainly news articles and summaries that generate advertising revenue, as well  as owned media operated by companies. Owned media is created for various purposes such  as increasing awareness, branding, customer loyalty, lead acquisition, and recruitment. 

The cost of a media site ranges from 1 million yen to 10 million yen.

EC Site 

An EC site is a site that sells goods and services over the Internet. The  market price for an EC site ranges from 2 million yen to 30 million yen. 

Landing page 

A landing page is single page that leads the user to take action when selling a product or service. 

The market price for a landing page ranges from 300,000 yen to 1,000,000 yen. 

The cost is reduced compared to other websites because it is a one-page complete website  that appeals to the attractiveness of the product or service and promotes the user's desire to  purchase.

Web Design Fee and Price List by Page 

A website is made up of multiple pages, including the top page. When requesting a design, It is also possible to design each page. Here are the cost estimates for each page. 

• Top page 
• Bottom page 
• Fellowship Page 

Top page

Estimated cost: 50,000-500,000 yen 

The top page is the first page a user sees when visiting a website, and is also the face of the  website. 

This is the most expensive part of the website because it has a significant impact on the  impression and quality of the entire website, and the costs are higher than those of the pages  we will introduce below. 

Once the design of the top page is determined, the direction of the other pages is also  determined. 

The top page is also characterized by the many decisions that need to be made regarding concept and layout, font  size, font size, layout, etc. 

Bottom page

Estimated cost:20,000~30,000 yen∕page 

Lower-level pages are those that originate from the top page. In a corporate site 

Information that cannot be written on the top page, such as a company profile and a message  from the representative. 

The design of the lower level pages should be based on the top page in terms of color scheme,  fonts, etc. to give a consistent feel to the site as a whole. By using other pages as references,  the number of decisions and the cost of the design can be reduced. The use of a template can also reduce the cost. 

Fellowship Page

Estimated cost: 10,000~35,000 yen∕page 

A "fellowship page" is a page that is identical in design and type to a lower-level page, but differs  only in information. 

Minor  information, such as the privacy policy,  company information, store information, etc., should be placed on the student's page. 

The fellowship pages are updated with the same design as the lower level pages, thus reducing  costs.

Web design cost by process

Next, we will introduce the cost range for each production process. 

• Planning 
• Design 
• Coding

Planning

This is the cost for planning, research and consulting for website production.  The total cost for planning ranges from 1,500,000 yen to 6,000,000 yen. Breakdown, 

• Project design (service understanding, desk research, overall implementation structure, etc.):
  from 300,000 yen 
• Persona design: from 1,400,000 yen 
• Customer journey map design: 1,000,000 yen  

In addition, service design, user testing, expert review & heuristic analysis may beadded.

Design 

This is the price for ordering only design. This is the cost for the case of "We would like to ask you to produce only the in design”.

• Concept design (to determine the direction of the design): 200,000-500,000 yen 
• Guideline design (determination of font and color rules): 150,000-500,000 yen

The fee varies depending on the amount and content of the design, and the skill of the  designer, so there is a range of fees. 

Coding 

The cost range is from 30,000 to 600,000 yen. 

Since the top page is the face of the website, it tends to have a gorgeous design and functions. 

The more complex the design and  animation, the higher the cost. 

Lower-level pages range from 5,000 yen to several tens of thousands of yen per page. The  price for a poured-in page with the same layout and no CSS changes required is from 1,000  yen to 5,000 yen. 

For responsive design that supports both smartphone and PC browsing, for new site creation, It will be about "total coding cost x 1.5 to 2 times".

Other expenses related to web design ∕ Fees and  charges

We have introduced the cost of web design production by page and process, but there are other design costs involved in the actual design  process. 

The following is a list of the three main types of expenses. 

• Banner Design 
• Logo Design 
• Photography and video recording

Banner Design

It means an image with a link on the sidebar of a website that encourages inquiries and  applications. 

We will introduce campaign information, products, services and special features. The cost of  banners varies depending on the type and size, but ranges from 5,000 yen to 30,000 yen per  banner.

Logo Design

The cost of logo design ranges from 10,000 yen to 1,500,000 yen. The reason why there is  such a wide range in the price is because there is a large difference in skill. 

Freelancers can request a logo design for about 10,000 yen, but it may cost more than  300,000 yen if you ask an experienced production company or a famous designer to do the  work. It is believed that there is no market price for the cost of logo design, and the cost varies  greatly depending on the skill of the designer. Also, the cost will vary depending on the proposal  fee for multiple logo proposals and the revision fee. 

Photography and video recording

The market rate for photography is about 20,000 to 30,000 yen per hour of shooting, with an  additional charge of 10,000 yen per hour. 

For a one-day shoot, expect around ¥80,000 for 7-8 hours. If the photographer is coming from  a long distance, a separate travel fee may be required, so be sure to check in advance. 

In addition, if a production company is commissioned to take photographs, the market price is  450,000 to 800,000 yen per day. 

For video production (promotional video), the market price ranges from 300,000 yen for an  individual to 1,500,000 yen for a production company. 

Promotional videos require a lot of creativity to be seen by viewers - from background music  and cutscenes, to the inclusion of tickers, to a narrative structure. 

Which should you ask for Web design,  a production  company or a freelancer?

When you need  design resource, there are two options: production companies and freelancers. 

Since the process of production and the cost are completely different, it is advisable to choose  a client after clarifying what your company is looking for, your objectives and the results you  want to obtain. 

If you want to request the entire process, a production company is recommended.

As mentioned above, web design involves a wide range of work including planning, design,  coding, and post-publication operations. If you want to request all of these processes, a  production company is recommended. 

In the case of a production company, there are many specialists such as directors,  designers, coders, SEO personnel, etc. 

This ensures quality at every step of the process. Moreover, the production company can often  be requested to provide optional support after the website has been opened to the public,  which is a great benefit for beginners in the field of website operation. 

However, the cost of production tends to be higher due to human resource costs. Also, since  you cannot choose who is in charge of your project, you may have trouble communicating  with them if you are not a good match. 

For these reasons, if you have a sufficient budget and would like to request the entire process  from planning to completion of the site and its operation, a production company is  recommended.

Freelance is recommended if you want to commission a specific part.

If your budget is limited and you only want to commission planning, design, etc., 

We recommend that you request freelance designers.  The cost of freelancers can be reduced compared to a  production company. 

Another advantage is that communication is easier. In the case of production companies,  receptions and the person in charge may differ, and communication may take a long time. However,  in the case of freelance, the exchange proceeds smoothly because the partner works on the  job as it is. 

However, if the freelancer is handling everything from planning to design and coding by himself, there  is a risk that quality may vary depending on the process and that you may suddenly lose  contact with him. In addition, in many cases, there is no support afterwards, so it is best to assume that the request is only up  to the production stage. 

For these reasons, we recommend asking freelancers if you want to keep costs down or if  you want to commission a part of the web design process.

Contact us!

The cost will vary depending on various factors such as the purpose, content, page type and  scale, and client. 

In order to produce a website at a reasonable price, clarify why you are creating the site,  what is the objective you want to achieve, and what kind of site is necessary to achieve that  objective. 

If you want to hire a skilled freelance designer, XDesigner is the place to go. 

Xdesigner is designer agent service for freelance designers that offers the  most appropriate designer from the largest registered pool of designers in Japan. Currently, we have more than 7,000 designers on our roster. 

Assignments can be made in as little as three business days if you consult with an agent.  Flexible requests of two to three days per week are also possible, allowing for efficient  outsourcing according to the workload of the company. 

Please contact us by clicking on the link below.

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