Everhour keeps design time tied to projects and budgets, while client scope, revisions, and deadlines stay visible.
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 page to turn a week of design activity into a usable record by client, project, deliverable, and task type. Graphic design work often moves from consultation to concept options, layouts, revisions, final review, and print or publication files. A useful record separates those stages so a client, studio manager, or bookkeeper can see where the hours went.
The record also needs to fit the way designers schedule work. BLS identifies time-management skill as important because graphic designers often handle multiple projects with different deadlines, and O\*NET reports 70% experience time pressure every day. A daily total alone hides whether the pressure came from a logo revision, a web graphic, a client call, or production cleanup.
Each entry should answer five questions: who the work was for, which project it belongs to, which deliverable it advanced, which activity was performed, and how much time was spent. Useful design categories include consultation, concept development, layouts, logos, web graphics, revisions, print preparation, final review, and archived production work. Notes should name the output, such as "homepage hero layout version 2" or "print-ready brochure export."
A clean Monday log for a freelance designer can read: Client A, brand refresh, logo concepts, 2.5 hours, three black-and-white directions drafted; Client B, product launch, web graphics, 1.25 hours, social ad sizes exported; Client A, revision round 1, 0.75 hours, color changes from art director applied. That structure keeps billable work, nonbillable admin, and revision history separate.
Revisions deserve their own category because they answer a different billing question than initial concepts. A client can approve a fixed concept phase and still request extra file sizes, copy swaps, or color changes later. Separate entries for revision round 1, revision round 2, and final review show whether the project stayed inside the agreed scope or expanded after approval.
Deadline-driven design also creates scattered work blocks. BLS notes that self-employed graphic designers may adjust their workday for evening or weekend client meetings, and 18% of graphic designer jobs were self-employed in 2024. Those hours should still be tied to the client and deliverable. The calendar time matters less for billing than a clear connection between the work, the request, and the output.
A one-off tracker is enough when you need a clean weekly summary, a small freelance invoice, or a quick record of time spent on one design request. It works well for a narrow job with one client, one deliverable, and a short approval path. Export or save the record before sending the invoice so the notes match the bill.
A managed workflow becomes the better choice when design hours affect retainers, budget caps, recurring client work, or team approvals. Everhour Project Budgeting lets teams use hour-based or money-based budgets, recurring budget periods, threshold email alerts, and budget protection as designers log time. That gives studios a running view of brand, web, print, and revision work before the invoice or payroll review.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
High Performer
G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
Separate categories should mirror the work that changes scope or billing: consultation, concept development, layouts, logo work, web graphics, revisions, print preparation, final review, and archive or production cleanup. Client communication can be its own category when the contract treats meetings separately. Internal admin and new-business work should stay separate from billable client work.
Log each revision round as its own entry with the request source, affected deliverable, and result. A note such as "revision round 2, packaging mockup, label color and typography changes from client email" explains why the work occurred. This prevents extra revisions from blending into initial concept development and supports scope conversations before billing.
A single total can be acceptable for a simple fixed-fee invoice, but it gives clients little context for time-and-materials billing. Break time into client, project, deliverable, task category, date, duration, and short note. For design work, the most useful split often separates concepts, layouts, revisions, final review, and production file preparation.
For U.S. employee designers, the federal baseline under the FLSA does not require overtime premium pay solely because work happens on Saturday, Sunday, a holiday, or a rest day. Covered nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek at not less than 1.5 times the regular rate, unless a state law, policy, or agreement gives more.
Under the FLSA recordkeeping rules, covered employers must preserve payroll records for at least three years and basic time and earnings records, such as time cards or time sheets, for at least two years. For employees covered by the FLSA minimum wage or overtime provisions, records must show hours worked each workday and total hours worked each workweek.
Everhour Project Budgeting lets a studio set hour-based or money-based budgets for a client project, including recurring periods for retainers. Email alerts at 75%, 90%, 100%, or custom thresholds and budget protection help stop extra logging after a cap is exceeded, so designers see budget pressure before revision work consumes the margin.
Everhour embeds time tracking controls inside tools such as Asana, ClickUp, Jira, Monday, Notion, Trello, GitHub, Linear, and Basecamp. Designers can start a timer or add manual time on the task they already use for a layout, logo concept, web graphic, or production file.
Track design time against client budgets, set recurring limits for retainers, and get alerts as work approaches the cap. Everhour turns creative hours into clearer budget control.
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