Design work shifts between concepts, revisions, and production. Everhour keeps task and project hours ready for review.
Enter your time in and out for each day. Overtime and gross pay are calculated automatically.
| Day | Time In | Break Start | Break End | Break | Time Out | Total |
|---|
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
Use this workflow when you need a clean record of design hours for a client invoice, retainer review, agency timesheet, or capacity check. Design work rarely fits one bucket: concept exploration, layout, prototyping, client calls, revisions, final file preparation, and admin tasks all compete for the same week. A usable record shows the client, project, task, deliverable, date, duration, and billable status.
Freelancers need client-by-client detail because 18% of U.S. graphic designer jobs and 10% of U.S. web and digital interface designer jobs were self-employed in 2024. Studio and in-house designers need the same discipline for team capacity, handoffs, and deadline planning. For capacity pressure, O*NET reports that 55% of graphic designers described their typical workweek as more than 40 hours. A simple weekly total hides whether time went to billable revisions, internal research, archive maintenance, or production cleanup.
A complete design entry connects the time to client, project, task, and deliverable. Use task labels that match design work, such as discovery, mood board, logo concept, layout, prototype, usability test review, browser/device check, revision round, final export, or client meeting. Add billable status and rate only when the contract or internal policy uses them. For U.S. billing records, rate and invoice fields normally use U.S. dollars.
A useful line for a freelance brand designer reads: Client: Northstar Cafe, Project: spring menu refresh, Task: layout revision, Deliverable: print-ready menu PDF, Date: March 5, 2026, Time: 2.25 hours, Status: billable, Note: incorporated approved copy edits. That entry supports the invoice and explains the work without exposing draft chatter, personal notes, or unrelated browser activity.
Revision time creates the most disputed designer records because the same words cover small edits, fresh concepts, and client-requested rework. Keep each revision round tied to the deliverable and the request that triggered it. A note like "Round 2 homepage mockup, updated hero hierarchy and CTA treatment from client comments" gives enough context for billing review. A vague label like "changes" invites arguments over scope.
Pricing and contract choices also affect how you label time. The Graphic Artists Guild's professional handbook covers pricing, contracts, licensing, reuse rights, and model forms for visual creatives, so design labor, rights, and usage fees need separate records when the agreement treats them separately. Track hours for work performed. Record licensing, rush fees, stock purchases, and reuse rights as separate invoice or accounting items.
A one-off time record is enough for a solo designer closing a small invoice, checking a retainer balance, or reconstructing a week after a short project. It works when the job has one client, one approval path, and a small number of deliverables. Keep the export or PDF with the invoice, contract, and client approval so the time trail stays retrievable.
A managed workflow matters once multiple designers, overlapping clients, approvals, budgets, or payroll review enter the process. Everhour Time Tracking captures hours with live timers or manual entries against tasks and projects, including inside tools such as Asana, ClickUp, Jira, Monday, Notion, Trello, and GitHub. Those entries can feed timesheets, reports, budgets, invoices, and payroll review without retyping designer hours into a second system.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
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Designer time records should cover client discussions, concept development, layouts, logos, interface screens, prototypes, testing review, requested changes, final file preparation, and project administration. Separate the record by client, project, task, and deliverable so the entry explains both the hours and the outcome. Internal work, such as archive maintenance or research, deserves its own category because it affects capacity without appearing on every client invoice.
Split time at the point where the business reason changes. A client presentation, logo refinement, and final export belong under client work when the engagement treats them as billable. Software research, file archive cleanup, internal critiques, and administrative work belong under internal categories. The split protects invoices from padded-looking totals and gives managers a real view of design capacity.
Revision notes should identify the deliverable, round, and request that changed the work. A useful note says "Round 2 homepage mockup, revised navigation from approved comments." Leave out personal information, unrelated browsing, and confidential client details that billing reviewers do not need. U.S. businesses handling personal information must avoid unfair or deceptive practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act; California employee data may fall under CCPA obligations for covered businesses.
Freelance billing records usually focus on date, duration, client, project, deliverable, and the rate or fee basis in the contract. Employment records follow a different standard. Covered employers under the FLSA may choose any complete and accurate timekeeping method for covered non-exempt workers, but records must include hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek. Payroll records stay preserved at least 3 years, and basic time and earnings records stay preserved at least 2 years.
Weekend or holiday design work does not create overtime premium pay by itself under the federal FLSA baseline. For covered non-exempt employees, overtime applies after more than 40 hours worked in a fixed 168-hour workweek and must be paid at not less than 1.5 times the regular rate. Those hours cannot be averaged across two or more workweeks for FLSA overtime purposes. State law, an employer policy, or a contract can add more generous rules.
Everhour Time Tracking lets designers start a live timer or add manual time on specific tasks and projects, including inside Asana, ClickUp, Jira, Monday, Notion, Trello, GitHub, and other supported tools. Those entries can flow into timesheets, reports, budgets, invoices, and payroll review without retyping design hours elsewhere.
Everhour Timesheets let designers submit weekly project hours or working hours for manager review. A manager can approve, reject, or partially approve submitted time, and approved time stays locked for regular members, which protects finalized records before billing or payroll review.
Track design work where tasks already live, then let Everhour Time Tracking feed timesheets, reports, budgets, invoices, and payroll review for faster invoice and payroll review.
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