Five hours, one week, whatever you decide is most worth fixing. Then we both know if a retainer makes sense.

Who this is for. You suspect you need ongoing design help but you are not signing a monthly commitment to someone you have never worked with. Reasonable. This is the version where you find out first.

How it works. You pick the work. Not me. A landing page section, a set of campaign assets, a UI cleanup, an audit of something specific. We agree it on a short call, I do it inside the week, and you see how I actually work: how fast, how much direction I need, how the handover looks.

Why five hours is the right size. Enough to produce something real that you keep and use regardless of what happens next. Small enough that if we are a bad fit, you spent $250 finding out instead of a month.

What happens after. If it works, this converts to the monthly retainer at $500 for ten hours, or to a project. If it does not, you keep the work and we part on good terms. I would rather lose a retainer than hold someone in one that is not earning its cost.

One trial per client, because it is a way to start rather than a way to buy discounted hours.