This is a great start. Asking people how they respond to marketing and what you can do better is a huge step in the right direction. Be slightly cautious with

This is a great start. Asking people how they respond to marketing and what you can do better is a huge step in the right direction. Be slightly cautious with the answers you receive here though. The HackerNews crowd is largely different than the type of people you may be targeting. Many of us would prefer to hack out our own solution than pay a premium to another designer. To answer your specific questions: - quality UX and UI design commands higher rates, but there is likely more volume in logo/web-design and identity creation - usability = win - i personally prefer per-project pricing, because what i may be able to do in an hour may take someone else five hours, or 15 minutes. it's hard to gauge what an hour of someone else's time and ability is worth - revisions, knowing i'll be happy with the end product. communication is key here. i hired someone and hardly heard from them, it was very frustrating