How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Freelance UI/UX Designer in Canada?

UI/UX design costs vary significantly based on the depth of research and design required. A UX audit with heuristic evaluation costs less than a full research engagement with user interviews, usability testing, and persona development. The complexity of the product determines design effort — a simple marketing site requires far less UX work than a complex SaaS dashboard with multiple user roles and workflows. The number of unique screens and interactive states directly impacts visual design time. Prototyping requirements affect cost: static mockups are faster than interactive prototypes with micro-animations. Design system creation adds significant value and cost — building a comprehensive design system with reusable components, spacing systems, and documentation is an investment that pays off for ongoing product development. Platform requirements also matter: designing for both web and mobile requires responsive thinking and often separate mobile-specific flows.

UI/UX design seniority dramatically impacts the quality of your product's user experience. Junior UI/UX designers (1-3 years) can execute visual designs from established guidelines and create basic wireframes, but may lack the research and strategic skills for complex products. Mid-level designers (3-6 years) bring solid UX research skills, can conduct user interviews and usability tests, and produce polished visual designs independently. They're excellent for most product design projects. Senior UI/UX designers (7+ years) bring strategic thinking, extensive user research experience, and the ability to solve complex interaction design challenges. They're essential for products serving diverse user groups, complex workflows, or when establishing a design system and design culture. For SaaS products and complex applications, senior-level design expertise pays for itself through better user adoption and retention.

Separate UX research from visual design in your budget — they're different disciplines with different costs. For new products, invest more in UX research upfront to validate concepts before committing to visual design. A design system investment pays off quickly if you plan multiple products or ongoing development. Provide thorough product requirements and user data before the engagement begins — this reduces discovery time and keeps costs predictable. For visual design, share examples of products whose design direction you admire to align expectations early. Budget for usability testing even if it's just a few sessions — catching UX issues before development saves 5-10x the cost of fixing them after launch. Consider phasing: start with wireframes and test them before investing in high-fidelity visual design.

UI/UX design projects work well with both fixed-price and phased approaches. For UX audits and landing page designs, fixed-price contracts are straightforward. For product design work, a phased approach works best: Phase 1 (research and wireframes) at a fixed price, then Phase 2 (visual design) after validating the UX direction. This prevents wasting visual design effort on flows that may change after user testing. Monthly retainers suit ongoing product design needs — a dedicated designer who understands your product deeply delivers better results than switching freelancers for each project. For startups, a sprint-based model (1-2 week design sprints) helps maintain velocity while controlling costs.