You’re probably tired of seeing posts about how to become a graphic designer. But what if I told you that it’s possible to get paid for freelance graphic design work without being an expert?
It sounds crazy, but it’s true and this post will show you exactly how the pros do it.
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Focus on Your Strengths: Emphasize your unique skills and strengths, even if you’re not a design expert yet. Showcase your creativity and willingness to learn. |
| 2. Build a Portfolio: Develop a portfolio that highlights your best work, even if you don’t have extensive experience. Include a variety of projects that showcase your capabilities. |
| 3. Network and Connect: Attend design events, join online communities, and connect with potential clients and other designers. Networking can lead to valuable opportunities. |
| 4. Offer Value: Provide solutions to clients’ design challenges. Demonstrating your problem-solving skills and creativity can make you a desirable choice for projects. |
| 5. Continuous Learning: Keep learning and improving your design skills over time. Invest in online courses, tutorials, and resources to enhance your expertise gradually. |
Find Your Niche
If you’re a freelancer, chances are that it’s because you love to design. But what if your clients don’t?
There’s a lot of competition in the graphic design industry. To get hired as a freelance designer, you need to stand out from the crowd. One way is by finding your niche. Your niche is where your expertise lies and how you can help others most effectively with it (and live happily ever after).
So how do we find our niches? We have to know ourselves well enough first before we can figure out what our strengths are or what we enjoy doing most in life or work as a whole. This will help us determine where our own needs align best with those of our clientele so they benefit from what they need while we benefit from providing those services or products!
If you’re new to the world of graphic design and looking to hire a freelancer for your project, it’s natural to feel a bit overwhelmed. Check out our guide on how to hire a freelance designer when you have zero clue to navigate the process with confidence.
Find A Great Mentor
One of the best ways to learn something is to find a mentor. A mentor is someone that already knows what they are doing and can show you how they do it. They will have a wealth of knowledge to share with you on your journey, which will make your learning process much easier and faster than if you went at it alone.
You can find a great mentor by asking around for recommendations or searching online for someone who seems like they would be a good fit for working with you as your first step in this new endeavor of yours. If possible, meet up with them in person so that they know who they are dealing with before agreeing to anything too serious (or not serious enough).
Once you have found someone who seems like an ideal fit for mentoring others and especially if this person has offered their services freely–then consider yourself lucky! They could become invaluable resources for future projects down the road too…
Aspiring freelance graphic designers often wonder where to start and how to secure projects. Our authoritative guide to finding freelance graphic design work offers valuable insights and strategies to kickstart your freelance career.
Offer To Do Some Free Work
To get your first freelance graphic design job, it’s important to remember that your goal isn’t just getting paid. Your goal is also to build relationships and get the word out about who you are and what you do. You can get started by offering to do some free work for people in your network.
This may seem counterintuitive at first because freelancers typically have a hard time turning down money, but there are several reasons why offering something for free is beneficial:
- It gives you more opportunities than simply waiting around for someone else to find out about how good of a designer or web developer (or whatever else) you are through word of mouth alone (which may never happen).
- It allows potential clients who may not even know they need help with anything right now to see what kind of work ethic and professionalism come along with hiring someone new like yourself who doesn’t yet have any well-established reputation or brand presence (and therefore might be easier/less expensive).
- If nothing else works out, they at least know where they can go next time they need someone with similar skillsets/experience level as yourself so long as this person has been willing enough beforehand.”
Look For Opportunities That Are Outside Of Your Comfort Zone
The best way to find new clients is by going outside of your comfort zone. This means doing things you are not comfortable with, which may seem counterintuitive but it works!
Let’s say you’re a designer that specializes in logo design, and one day someone approaches you about designing their website.
You hate web design and have no interest in learning how to do it, but what if that person had some quick SEO work for you? Or maybe there was an event coming up for which they wanted some promotional material done (logo design included)? What if this same person needed some help with their brand guide or annual report? How many jobs can one client hire you for?.
This process will force us out of our comfort zone so we’re forced to learn new things!
Create A Great Portfolio
You need a portfolio, and it should be your best work. The portfolio is the first thing people will see when they’re evaluating you as a designer, so make sure it’s an accurate representation of what you can do. Showcase your process by including notes and sketches for each project in the portfolio.
If necessary, explain why certain decisions were made during the design phase (for example: “The client wanted this logo to have a hand-drawn look,” or “I used gradients because they are more eye-catching than flat images”). This gives potential clients insight into how you think about solving design problems and shows them that you’re willing to put in some extra effort to get something right.
Showcase your personality with personal projects that showcase who you are as an individual (e.g., if you like to draw cartoons). By showing off what makes up most of your working day and letting others see how much fun it is you’ll convey professionalism without seeming stiff or boring!
Transitioning from a full-time job to a freelance graphic design career requires careful planning and preparation. Discover the steps and challenges I faced in my journey from traditional employment to freelancing in how I went from working full-time to being a freelance graphic designer.
Have Confidence In Your Portfolio, Even If It’s Not As Strong As You’d Like
You need to be confident in your portfolio, even if it’s not as strong as you’d like. This can be difficult when you know that the work isn’t exactly what they are looking for or they are rejecting your designs, but try to remember all of the great things about your portfolio.
Think back to when you created those designs and how much they helped with getting jobs in the past. You probably spent a lot of time putting together a strong portfolio so that no one could see through it!
When someone asks for revisions on a project, try being honest about how hard it is to change something without making them upset about it later on down the road when their whole business is based on those changes (or lack thereof).
Become A Thought Leader In The Graphic Design Space
Let’s be real: if you want to get a freelance graphic design job, you’re going to have to do some work. That doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to make your job easier and more efficient though.
Here are some quick and easy tips that will help you become a thought leader in the graphic design space:
Write articles about your field of expertise and publish them on sites like Medium or LinkedIn Pulse (which has an audience of over 300 million readers).
Start a blog and publish tutorials, guides, and case studies related to what it is that you do best. If possible try to create something new each time so as not to bore readers with rehashed content too often – which means that this might need investment at first but once set up properly should pay for itself after just a few months!
Create YouTube videos where customers can see how good work looks done by professionals such as yourself (this one comes free with Google+ account creation). You can even monetize these by adding ads before watching them so even if no one watches them they still generate revenue!
Add More Skills To Your Portfolio
If you don’t have the skills to support your freelance graphic design career, then it’s time to add them. The more skills you have in your portfolio, the better!
You can do this by getting a certification that demonstrates an additional skill set. For example: If you’re applying for jobs as a web designer, get certified in HTML and CSS from W3Schools or Treehouse.
And, If you specialize in logo design, take a course on Adobe Illustrator or InDesign. And don’t forget about After Effects and Photoshop. These are two of the most popular programs used by graphic designers today and they’re both essential tools for any freelancer trying to make their mark on the world of design.
Build Up Referral Business
If you have a happy client, there’s a good chance they’ll tell their friends about you. Studies show that referrals are the #1 source of new business for freelancers and independent companies.
- Build up referral business by offering to do some free work for your clients as a form of thanks for referring other people to you.
- Ask your clients if they can refer anyone else who might need design work done in the future.
- Give them a special discount code so that when someone uses it to hire you, both parties get something out of it: The person who hired them gets their money’s worth, and the person who referred them gets credit from their friend or family member who hired them (and was probably going to do so anyway).
Starting a career in freelance graphic design may seem daunting, especially if you’re new to the industry. Our comprehensive guide on how to break into the freelance graphic design industry offers valuable tips and strategies for newcomers.
Approach business owners with offers they can’t refuse.
It’s important to identify the problem before you start on a solution. The same can be said for setting your own goals when it comes to fitness, or anything else. If you’re trying to lose weight, do some research and figure out what the most common issues are with people who are overweight and how they got that way.
Are there any similarities? What about their habits? Once you have an idea of what your ideal goal looks like, feel free to write it down in detail if that helps you keep track of what needs fixing and why it needs fixing (and whether or not this is something you want to be fixed).
Once you know exactly where you’re headed, start thinking about how far off course things have gotten for yourself so far how much work has gone into getting here and how long it will take before reaching those goals becomes a reality again.
It’s good practice at this point not only because this information will help keep us motivated throughout our journey but also because we’ll need these numbers later on when calculating our progress:
- How many pounds did I lose per month?
- How many times did my heart rate go up over 150 BPM during exercise?
These metrics may seem insignificant now but they’ll become more meaningful once we’ve collected enough data over time (like every Monday morning).
Offer Related Services As, Well Such, As Consulting Or Training
Offer related services as well such as consulting or training.
Why? Because this shows that you’re flexible, and you can do more than just design.
You could offer to do the following:
Logo Design: You can offer logo design, but make sure your portfolio includes different types of logos (cartoon, hand-drawn, etc.). This way clients can see what type of logo they want.
Web Design: Offer website design services including responsive designs for mobile phones and tablets. Make sure every page is optimized for search engines so it ranks higher in search results (also known as SEO).
Branding: Letting a designer create a brand identity will save you time because they know exactly where to start when designing other collateral materials like business cards, brochures, etc., which means less work for you!
Create A Website And Blog That Showcases What You Can Do
If you’re not already running a blog or website, start one now. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does need to showcase your work and be professional-looking in terms of design. Make sure it’s mobile responsive so that users can see it from their phones this is very important in 2018 because nearly half of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices!
If you don’t know how to build a website yourself, there are plenty of great options out there (WordPress is super easy). If you do know how to do this kind of stuff on your own though: I strongly recommend using Squarespace as your platform because they make it easy for non-coding people like myself who want an attractive website without having any technical skills whatsoever!
Just make sure when creating yours that all pages load quickly (no more than 5 seconds) and that each page has at least one image per 300 words the higher the better (but don’t go overboard).
Join A Freelancing Platform Site Like Fiverr Or Upwork And Start Bidding For Jobs Today
Fiverr and Upwork are the two most popular freelancing platforms, but they’re very different. Fiverr is a marketplace where you can sell single micro-tasks in exchange for $5 or less. Upwork, on the other hand, is more of a full-on job board where you can find long-term gigs that pay hundreds of dollars per project.
Upwork requires an annual subscription fee (starting at $0), while Fiverr does not charge anything to post your profile there (though if you accept payments through PayPal or Stripe, then you’ll incur transaction fees from those companies).
Success in the competitive field of freelance graphic design requires a combination of skills, strategies, and determination. Learn how to navigate the challenges and thrive as a freelance graphic designer in how to succeed in freelance graphic design without becoming homeless.
Final Thoughts
You’ve just learned how to get freelance graphic design jobs without being an expert. I hope this guide has helped you figure out which direction your career should go in, and provided some useful tips on how to get started on a path towards success!
If you have any questions or comments about this article or just want to chat with me about anything else, hit me up at my email address: [email protected] I’d love it if you did!
Further Reading
Here are some additional resources you might find helpful for your journey into the world of freelance graphic design:
How to Find Freelance Design Work
Discover strategies for locating freelance design opportunities and building a successful career in the design industry.
How to Start as a Freelance Graphic Designer
Learn the essential steps and tips to kickstart your journey as a freelance graphic designer and attract your first clients.
How to Find Remote Graphic Design Jobs
Explore methods for finding remote graphic design jobs and adapting your skills to excel in a virtual work environment.
People Also Ask
I’m A Beginner. What Should I Do First?
The first thing you need to do is create a portfolio website, also known as an online portfolio. This is where you will showcase your work for clients to see. A good portfolio website would include:
- Your contact information (phone number, email address)
- Links to your social media profiles (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter) so clients can find more about you and see what other projects you have worked on in the past
- The type of work that interests you do most often for example, designing logos or creating graphics for websites,and examples of these types of projects done by yourself and/or others in your industry
How Much Do Graphic Designers Make Per Hour?
The average freelance graphic designer makes an hourly pay of $20 to $40 per hour. The median hourly rate is around $30, which gives you an idea of what the majority of freelancers are making in this field. If you can find clients who will pay more than that, then you can make more money!
What Is The Best Way To Get Started As A Freelance Graphic Designer?
The best way to get started as a freelance graphic designer is by working on your portfolio! Once you’ve done this, start applying for jobs and building up your reputation. Try not to jump straight into accepting projects that aren’t right for you because it will take longer than necessary until someone wants to hire you again!
How Do I Find Freelance Graphic Design Jobs?
There are many different places where freelancers can find work online like LinkedIn or Reddit but we recommend using job boards specifically designed for designers like DesignCrowd or Upwork (formerly known as ODesk). However, if none of that appeals then don’t worry about it too much because there’s no shortage of opportunities out there waiting for us all!
How Do I Find Clients?
The best way to find clients is through personal recommendations or word of mouth (someone sees your work on social media or hears about it from a friend). If someone hires you for one gig, they’ll likely recommend other people who might hire you too. It all starts with one person!
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.