Are you artistic? Do you enjoy putting together creative images? Is your favorite part of Pinterest pages and pages of beautiful and interesting pins? Do interesting color combinations come easily to you? You may be cut out to be a graphic designer!
Graphic design is a great way to make some money from home. It is one of those fields that can accommodate a wide range of talents and interests. If you’ve got an interest or aptitude for graphic design, don’t let a lack of education or experience stop you.
The truth is, there are some graphic designers with a lot of experience and education, who can play an integral role in putting together logo and branding packages for companies. There are other graphic designers who learn the craft by studying it and absorbing the principles of good graphic design, maybe reading a few books or Take a courseAnd able to deliver great designs to their clients.
How to Become a Graphic Designer
Generally speaking, there are a few ways you can become a graphic designer. One is to be a freelancer, which is how many graphic designers work at home. Another way is to become a contractor with an agency, which can be difficult to land but is a great way to develop your skills. There are also occasional graphic design jobs with a single company, but these are far less common.
If you’re not looking for a full-time employee job as a graphic designer (which can be hard to find in remote employee positions), graphic design is actually a fantastic option.
The place to find graphic design jobs from home
Whether it’s applying to job boards, agencies, or marketing yourself as a graphic designer, there are many ways to pick up some graphic design work from home. It all depends on how you want to structure your work, business-wise.
Working for an agency or as a freelancer means you are an independent contractor. This gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of schedule and client load, and is the route most people take when they want to become a graphic designer at home.
So where do you go about finding this job? There are several options! Let’s have a look.
1. Job Boards
The obvious first stop is job boards. Some gems like traditional work boards are buried Indeed and flexjobs. SimplyHired.com Another one worth tracking. These job boards are known and familiar, so they may be the most comfortable for you, but don’t be afraid to branch out into some of the job boards that are more geared towards freelancers.
2. Graphic design-specific job boards
There are several job boards that are primarily directed at graphic designers. Here are a few good ones to start with:
- real job — The biggest name in job boards for digital creatives, this site isn’t just about graphic designers. If you’re a beginner, this might not be the best place for you to start… but it’ll give you a good picture of where your graphic design gig could take you if nothing else!
- Behance — Behance is primarily a portfolio website, but it also has a job board where you can uncover some great opportunities.
- Coroflot — This job board isn’t necessarily the biggest since it’s geared toward agencies, but it’s still definitely worth checking out. You can check out the many different agencies out there and see what types of jobs are available to work with.
- Creative Hotlist — On this site, you create a resume and upload your work samples, and then use those files to apply for jobs. Most of the job opportunities here are for working with agencies.
- Crop — This is a job board specifically for graphic designers. This is a good place for beginners and an added benefit of this site is that you can create a portfolio to showcase your work there.
- Smashing Jobs — This is a graphic design major, and you’ll find freelance and traditional graphic design work opportunities here. Run by a graphic design magazine called Smashing Jobs Smashing MagazineAnd this site is a real go-to for the industry.
3. Bidding and Contest Sites
There are a few well-known sites where you can bid for jobs and compete for gigs in other ways. You’ve probably heard of these:
These are good sites to get some beginner work and practice, and can be a good source of clients if you can find a way to stand out. The downside of these sites is that the pay rates tend to be fairly low. In my opinion, they can be a great place to start, but probably won’t be where you want to be for very long.
4. Social media
Perhaps the best place to find graphic design jobs on social media is Facebook. If you find a good group to join that is full of businesses that hire graphic designers, you’ll have some great insights and leads. Getting a feel for your target market (is it a local business? blogger? fitness professional? Etsy seller?) and what they need or want will help you better serve them.
Many Facebook groups for online businesses and creative professionals have weekly threads where you can advertise your services, promote content you’ve recently created, or post a “help wanted” ad that you can answer.
Building Your Portfolio (and Business)
Once you are able to do some graphic design work and build a portfolio, you will have a better chance Get more work. Your past and present clients may refer you to their friends and colleagues, which can send more work your way.
Working with an agency can send you tons of work and give you tons of experience, but agency work may require more of you if you want to keep it a low-key side gig. If you find agency work that fits your schedule, you’ll have a solid foundation for wherever your graphic design business takes you.
You can also create a blog to support your graphic design business. Blogging is a solid strategy for business, although it requires time from you that you might choose to spend building your business through more general marketing efforts like cold pitching and networking.
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