Software for freelance graphic designers

The hard part of a logo or brand project is rarely the design. It's the client who sends feedback in four places, the "small tweak" that's really round five, and the final invoice that waits until the files are delivered. SoloWOS gives each of those its own place.

A brand identity project, step by step

1. The client fills out a project inquiry form from your portfolio site: budget range, deadline, what they have today. If they pick "under $1,000", a conditional question points them to your logo-only package instead of a discovery call.
2. You send a proposal with discovery, two logo concepts, two revision rounds and brand guidelines as separate lines, a 50% deposit and a line for extra rounds at your hourly rate. Save it as a template for the next one.
3. The accepted proposal creates a signature request for your contract, which covers usage rights and when they transfer (usually on final payment). The independent contractor agreement guide lists the clauses to include.
4. Create the deposit invoice from the proposal. Work starts when it shows Paid.
5. Upload concept boards as PNG, JPG or PDF for approval in the client's portal. They pin comments on the exact spot, request changes or approve a version with their name. Every new upload is a version (up to 50), and the approved one stays locked.
6. Record a 4-minute Screen Recording presenting the concepts, so the client hears your reasoning before they react to colors.
7. If they ask for a third round, the hours go on the Time Tracking timer started from that task on your board, and "Add unbilled time" puts them on the balance invoice.

A typical week

• Monday: you present concepts for a café rebrand with a video and an approval request. By noon the owner has pinned two comments on the wordmark.
• Tuesday: a packaging inquiry arrives. You send the proposal from your saved template with the dieline work as its own line.
• Wednesday: version 3 of the café logo is approved. You share the brand guidelines PDF through Document Tracking and see the owner read pages 1 to 6 but skip the color specs.
• Thursday: the packaging client accepts and signs. The deposit invoice goes out from the proposal.
• Friday: the café pays the balance by card, including the extra round, and you send the source files from your own storage.

All 13 tools, one by one

Proposals, E-Signatures and the approvals in the client portal do the heavy lifting on a design job. Here is the full list, including the tools a designer uses less:

• Link in Bio: a page for your Instagram or Dribbble profile with your portfolio site, the project inquiry form and a signup for people who want to hear when you open new spots.
• Short Links: a short link per case study you send in cold emails, so the click counts show which project prospects open.
• Forms: a brand questionnaire sent once the deposit is paid: competitors, three words the brand should feel like, and where the logo will appear. The answers sit on the client's contact for the kickoff.
• Scheduling: a 45-minute discovery call for brand projects and a paid 30-minute feedback session for clients who'd rather talk through a round than write comments.
• Proposals: tiers as separate templates (logo only, logo plus guidelines, full identity), with usage rights and the number of concepts written into each scope.
• E-Signatures: the project contract, plus a one-page change order signed when a client adds a deliverable halfway, such as social templates after the logo is approved.
• Document Tracking: send your portfolio or a pitch deck as a tracked PDF to an agency or a prospect and see which case studies they spent time on.
• Screen Recording: after delivery, record a tour of the brand guidelines so the client's team knows where the color codes and logo variations are.
• Notes & Boards: one board per active project with columns for concepts, revisions, final files and handoff, and a page with your export and file-naming checklist.
• Time Tracking: run the timer on fixed-price jobs too, so after three logo projects you know whether "two concepts" takes you 12 hours or 20.
• Invoicing: the deposit and the balance from the proposal, and a recurring monthly invoice for a client who keeps you on a retainer for social graphics.
• Expenses: Adobe and Figma subscriptions, font licenses, stock images and print proofs, with receipts, so you see what a package actually earns.
• Automations: when the balance invoice is paid, an automation can email the client your handoff note and create a task to send the source files.

Start with these three

Proposals with your revision policy written into the terms, E-Signatures for the contract, and the client portal for approvals. Time Tracking only matters once a project goes past the rounds you quoted.

Free tools for designers

• Project cost calculator to turn hours per deliverable into a fixed price.
• Profit margin calculator to check a package after fonts, stock and printing.
• Freelance rate calculator for the hourly rate you charge on extra rounds.
• Invoice late fee calculator for the clients who hold the balance until launch.
• Free proposal template with scope limits and revision rounds.

What SoloWOS won't do for a designer

• No delivery of large source files: approvals take PNG, JPG, WebP or PDF up to 25 MB, so send .ai, .fig or packaged files from your own storage.
• No Figma or Adobe integration, and no comments on live prototypes.
• Clients can't upload files to their portal or through a form, so reference images still arrive by email.
• Pinned comments work on images. On a PDF, clients comment on the version as a whole.