Proper graphic design is one of the most important attributes of a successful brand. After all, humans are a highly visual species and don't typically want to interact with something they find unattractive.
So, it should come as no surprise that graphic design is a rapidly growing field with plenty of demand.
In fact, it’s even possible to become a freelance graphic designer — but you’ll have to follow the necessary steps to give yourself the best chance of success in the freelance design industry.
Not quite sure how to begin? Let's explore everything you should keep in mind.
Let’s first define what it means to be a freelance graphic designer. A freelance graphic designer is a professional who offers graphic design services on a project-by-project basis to clients. They possess skills in visual communication, layout design, typography, color theory, and the use of graphic design software or other design tools. Freelance graphic designers work with clients from diverse industries, including marketing, advertising, publishing, and web development, to create visual content that communicates a concept, idea, or brand message to the public.
Many graphic designers decide to go freelance for many reasons. The pay ceiling is near limitless, only hindered by the amount of work you can do and the customers you can reach. You can set your own hours, offering complete autonomy on your own schedule. Indeed, the freedom offered by freelancing is a big reason why many enter it to begin with. Now, let’s dive into some freelance graphic designer tips to get you started.
Before you decide to venture out on your own and start your graphic design business, it's essential that you build up a solid list of clients.
All too often, graphic designers quit their day jobs in favor of working for themselves, only to find that they are unable to secure sufficient work to pay the bills. Fortunately, talented designers will encounter little difficulty when it comes to building the foundation of their client base.
In most scenarios, graphic designers will contact clients they've previously worked with to inform them about their business venture. This is a particularly streamlined process for those who have worked with clients independently in the past as opposed to through an agency.
In fact, it may be a breach of your contract with your employer if you attempt to poach clients from the agency you work at before you begin work as a freelance graphic designer. So, keep this in mind while developing your list of clients so that you don’t encounter any legal issues in the future. Freelance graphic designers create visual content for both print and digital media.
Unfortunately, people aren't going to just take your word for it when you tell them you're capable of professional graphic design work.
Instead, you’ll need to create a comprehensive portfolio to showcase all of your best projects. Not only should your portfolio contain high-quality pieces, but it should also convey that you have a diverse set of skills and can effectively manage a design project from start to finish.
For example, a well-rounded graphic designer will be able to showcase projects relating to digital art, ad creation, logo design, etc. Put simply, the more diverse you're able to make your portfolio, the easier it will be for you to secure clients later on.
It's worth noting that many graphic designers choose to use an Instagram account as their professional portfolio. While this is often a viable option (especially for smaller freelancers), having a professional website is often the better choice.
Many freelancers become discouraged when they discover their local industry is full of talented graphic designers. Unfortunately, this often means that they have plenty of competition standing between them and the clients they want.
However, there is a solution you can implement — proper branding.
This factor alone often helps your target demographic differentiate between you and a competitor. This becomes particularly true at higher skill levels, where the work of two particular designers may be more or less of the same quality.
Branding yourself as a designer will help you express and integrate your personality into who you are as a professional. Establishing a strong brand identity is crucial as it conveys your message through visual communication, defining elements like logos and colors, and ensuring consistency in representing your mission and vision. For example, some graphic designers market themselves as creatives in their purest form who live for the thrill of making art.
Others may choose to brand themselves as graphic designers who specialize in working with companies that require sleek, corporate designs.
As long as your branding is authentic, you’ll have a much easier time resonating with your potential clients. This will also ensure that everyone you interact with has a similar mindset.
In the early days of your freelance graphic design business, you won't have the luxury of turning down projects you don't want. This is, of course, if you want to be able to pay the bills.
As a result, you'll need to be flexible about the type of project you're willing to work on.
This will often result in you completing work that you're not enthusiastic about. However, it's imperative that you do all you can to produce high-quality results.
Over time, you will develop significant experience working with clients, optimize your workflow and turnaround time, and better understand your strengths and weaknesses.
After you complete a large handful of projects, you'll even have additions that you can make to your portfolio that will allow you to secure better clients in the future. From here, you can slowly fill your portfolio with the type of projects you'd like to work on.
This will show your audience what you specialize in and showcase the quality that you're able to produce.
In an ideal world, becoming a freelance graphic designer would involve nothing but finishing design projects and exporting them to the appropriate location. In reality, working as a freelance designer is notably similar to working as a business owner.
You're responsible for invoicing your clients, keeping track of your expenses and income for tax purposes, etc. You also need to get into the habit of responding to emails or messages as promptly as possible in order to not miss out on potential projects.
On top of all of this, you'll need to establish a schedule that's conducive to both your efficiency and creativity. It's not uncommon for new freelancers to spend 12 or 13 hours per day in front of the computer simply due to not having an established schedule.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for increasing the visibility of your portfolio site. Optimizing your site with relevant keywords and other SEO strategies can significantly enhance your chances of being discovered by potential clients on search engines like Google.
The amount of work you're able to secure will constantly ebb and flow. There will be periods of time when you may begin to feel like you have too many projects to manage on your own.
There will also be weeks or months where you're barely able to find enough work to make ends meet.
However, you can overcome this difficulty by constantly searching for new work. This means that it's in your best interest to frequently reach out to brands or individuals who could benefit from your services.
It's also essential to maintain an ongoing marketing strategy for your business.
This practice also has a particularly noteworthy benefit — you'll get your brand in front of a much larger number of people, which will directly facilitate the growth of your freelance business.
A great way to go about this is to use your downtime during the day to reach out to potential clients, post on your social media accounts, or handle a similar task that will help get your name out there.
There will come a point where you will have mastered certain graphic design skills. After you reach this level, accepting certain projects will become a situation where you are trading your time for money.
In most scenarios, avoiding this situation is why people want to become freelancers in the first place. A common issue that designers also have in this scenario is that they aren't quite skilled enough in certain areas to take on professional-level work.
By improving your skills in your spare time, you can slowly gain experience in certain aspects of graphic design that will allow you to produce high-quality results for your clients. If this skill happens to be something different than what you're used to, you can even find yourself tapping into a brand new market.
For example, graphic designers who specialize in vector art could gain experience in photo editing. Although the extra time that you spend refining your skills might not earn you money at the beginning, this investment of your time could exponentially increase your revenue in the future.
As previously mentioned, you’ll have periods of time where you don’t get quite as much work as you like to. If you haven’t prepared for this situation, it could be difficult for you to continue working as a freelance graphic designer or web design professional.
For instance, let’s assume you’re used to making approximately $6000 per month from your graphic design work.
Since your workload has been steady for an extended period of time, you don’t make it a high priority to save a lot of your money. Out of that $6000, you typically spend $5000 per month.
But, it’s not impossible for your overall workload to change in a short period of time. If you cannot secure enough work to meet your monthly expenses, you may have to pick up a second job.
This will leave you with less time to focus on graphic design and cause your freelance progress to stagnate. For this reason alone, you must anticipate times when projects aren’t readily available.
You can help accommodate this situation by saving as much money as possible throughout the year.
In general, it's recommended to have at least six months' worth of living expenses to prepare for this type of scenario.
Working with a mentor could be one of the most beneficial endeavors that you pursue. Not only will it allow you to improve areas of your graphic design skills, but you can also get advice on how to properly operate as a freelancer.
Most independent graphic designers aren't sure how to handle certain scenarios, such as if a client refuses to pay for work that has been completed. They also might not know what to do if somebody steals their original work.
An experienced mentor can walk you through this situation and ensure that you make the best decision possible. While you can resolve these issues on your own, it's often better to work with someone who's been in your position before.
You can often find a mentor simply by asking — there are plenty of designers who have an abundance of free time and would be more than happy to offer advice and guidance to someone in need.
Above all else, you'll need to be patient when growing your freelance business.
You won't immediately reach the level of performance you want, and it will often take you years to get there. For those who are impatient, this can easily lead to getting burned out and giving up to go back to a traditional 9-to-5 job.
While this isn't always a bad thing, it's a scenario that's worth preventing if you're able to.
Something that can help you be patient is looking back on all the progress that you've made as a professional. While you may not be growing at the rate you anticipated, realizing how far you've come is often a humbling experience.
As designers slowly transition into full-time freelancers, they tend to forget how difficult it was at the very beginning when they were searching for clients, developing a website, etc.
Keep all this information in mind and keep working — you're guaranteed to make progress towards your goals if you do so.
From here, you’ll be able to ensure that you take all the necessary steps to facilitate your success as a graphic designer in the future.
Want to learn more about taking your freelance graphic design business to the next level? See how Moxie, an all-in-one business management platform built specifically for freelancers can help.
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