If you have a skilled hand at graphic design and you hate working for ‘the man’, the next step is to start your own freelance design business. The following are some ideas of where you should apply your skills if you want to complete your dreams of becoming a successful freelancer.
The First Steps To Becoming A Freelancer
If you want to start a freelance design business, you should come up with a name, a mission statement, a portfolio that showcases your skills and a fee structure. These will be presented to potential clients when you’re looking to get hired. If you don’t have any portfolio work, as in this is your first foray into the graphic design business, choose one or more of the freelance design jobs listed below and build a portfolio of your own that you can show potential clients. Just because you weren’t paid for a project doesn’t mean you can’t show it off. Once you have a portfolio and you’re ready to look for clients, start hitting the freelance design job boards and strut your stuff. Here are a few jobs to pursue.
Web Design
A company will not survive without a website and a mobile site to complement it. This is where you come in. As a freelance design professional, your job will be to create a website that reflects the business in question and that incorporates all the specifications the client gives you. This will require you to work closely with the web coder and possibly a freelance writer who will be creating the website copy. This will ensure that the design and all elements of the website mesh together to create a cohesive experience for the site visitor.
Logos And Corporate Branding
A freelance design professional may also be called on to create logos and other graphic elements for the purpose of corporate branding. Branding is most effective when customers are able to identify the company from a single glance alone. Think of your favorite company, their logo and all other elements that you can pinpoint from a mile away. This was all done by a graphic designer and that person may have been a freelance professional just like you hope to be.
Ebook Covers
Authors and professionals looking to disseminate information via book form need engaging covers to entice people to buy or otherwise download their work. The freelance design professional will listen to the client, read through the material and will then come up with an eye catching design that makes people stop and take notice. Many businesses use ebooks, ereports and other publications like white papers, or even email templates, to get their message across to their primary audience. If you can find a company that needs this type of work, as a freelance professional, you should be able to keep busy for quite some time.
Games Designer
Think of the latest games coming out – Grand Theft Auto V, the next Madden, Tomb Raider, Call of Duty – and then consider that many of these video game companies advertise freelance design jobs on many of the popular freelance job boards. If you can be lucky enough to be hired by EA, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft or Sony, you might be able to add the next best-selling game to your already expanding portfolio.
Animation Designer
While it’s true that many video games require animation freelance professionals, you can also find animation freelance design jobs advertised by big names like Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks. Many big Hollywood movies also use animation to bring their CGI-enhanced monsters and big special effects to life. As a freelance design professional, you might be able to have your name listed in the credits of big blockbuster movies like the next Transformers or superhero movies.
While some of these freelance design jobs are very ambitious, you never know where your freelance connections might take you. The first step is to start sending your portfolio to potential clients. Look on job boards, never stop trying and who knows, you might find yourself working alongside big game developers or Hollywood directors. Even if you’re only designing websites and ebook covers, you can still have a very rewarding and lucrative career as long as you provide excellent work and are always reliable. The world needs more freelance design professionals. Will you be the next professional to make it? That all depends on you.
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