Graphic design has always been my passion. Some of my earliest memories are of me doodling on everything I could get my hands on, and everyone who knew me as a child can attest to the fact that I constantly made everyone’s drawings better by adding stuff here and there. Now that I am an adult, graphic design still remains one of my biggest passions, and it has become an essential part of who I am as both an artist and a designer.
For most graphic designers, this profession isn’t just a job, it’s their passion. So, graphic design is my passion too!
Whether you’re an employee or owner of your design firm, making sure your clients are happy with the final product is important—but so is making sure you have fun while doing it! With the right tools and skills, graphic design can be your passion—and I’ll show you how you can find and develop your passion in graphic design!
The Top 5 Reasons to be a Graphic Designer
Graphic designers are an essential part of any business. It’s these design professionals who make ads look beautiful, and who make websites look easy to navigate. If you’re considering becoming a graphic designer, there are lots of reasons to do so, but here are our top five!
- Creative Freedom
I’m sure you’ve heard that in life that we end up doing most of what we love. Working as a graphic designer your work will be something that came from your heart and you have the freedom to create whatever you feel like creating.
- Ability to Work from Home
With many jobs, you have to work in an office. However, with graphic design, you can work from home. You can set your hours and create a schedule that suits you. Having flexibility in when and where you do your job can help make sure that it is something that fits into your life instead of making your life fit around it.
- Work is Never Dull
Creating something from nothing is one of the most exciting aspects of being a graphic designer. Whether it’s getting a brief from a client or starting from scratch, you’ll never know what your next day will bring!
- Work is Never Routine
At its core, being a graphic designer is all about problem-solving. Every new project presents a unique challenge, and every day you have no idea what you’ll encounter when you get to work.
- Work Offers Great Opportunities for Advancement
While working in an organization, you could earn promotions or new job titles. These titles come with additional perks and benefits that affect your quality of life outside of work. Many designers find that great opportunities for advancement are one of their favorite parts of being a designer!
How to Be Passionate About Graphic Design without Paying the Price
Graphic design is my passion, but that doesn’t mean we always enjoy pursuing our passion. More often than not, it takes some serious time and money to develop the skills necessary to make it in this competitive field. Here are some helpful tips on how to be passionate about graphic design without paying the price!
- Understand what it means to be creative
Being creative is more than just making something pretty. It’s about putting into existence an original idea that didn’t exist prior. Before you can be passionate about graphic design, you need to understand that you have to come up with original and creative ideas.
- Improve upon your creative mindset
Creativity is something that can be studied and mastered. Even when you think you’re in a rut, there are always things you can do to get back into your creative groove.
- Figure out how much money you can earn being creative
My passion is graphic design but I still have to make money to support my passion!
Look at job sites to analyze what similar positions pay in your area. Based on that information, budget how much you can realistically make as a full-time creative professional. If that number isn’t big enough, maybe graphic design isn’t your thing after all.
- Define what kind of freelance designer you’ll be
First, you’ll need to think about what kind of business you want to run. Once you’ve decided, approach your career from that angle. Try to land clients who will give you lots of work, or clients who will pay small amounts often – depending upon your business model.
- Diversify Your Portfolio
If you seriously want to work as a graphic designer, you must diversify your portfolio. Not only will you have a broad range of work to show prospective clients what you can do, but it also gives you more options if one client stops working with you.
How to Start a Freelance Business as a Graphic Designer?
If you want to work on your own, you can start by setting up your freelance business. Even if you’re already working in-house somewhere else, it might be worthwhile to make the switch. Whether you want to take on clients immediately or spend some time building up your skills before launching out into the market, the following steps are a way to get yourself prepared.
- Get your portfolio ready
Once you’ve gained some experience and feel like you have enough work to show, consider creating a portfolio. There are many platforms online where you can display your work and gain new clients from all over the world. If you don’t have your website yet, design something professional and simple with WordPress.
- Build your online presence
Set up an official website or portfolio site where potential clients can see who you are and what services you offer. Secondly, establish social media presence by making accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram so people have multiple ways of getting in touch with you.
- Create content
Start by creating and publishing content related to your niche. This not only establishes you as an expert in your field, but it helps build trust and rapport with potential clients. They see you as someone who knows what they’re talking about.
- Market yourself
Your clients, whether you work for them or they hire you directly, will often come from word of mouth and referrals. So it’s important to add testimonials and case studies about past projects.
Graphic design is my passion and I hope that after reading this article you also know how to move forward with your passion!