How to Get Gigs as a Freelance Graphic Designer

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Starting a career in graphic design can be an exciting one, and the thought of working as a freelancer makes it even more exciting. Although a career in graphic design is not an easy one, as we will see in this article, the rewards are endless.

After acquiring the skills needed to being a graphic designer, you need to look for ways to make money with your design skills. At the end of the day, running your own graphic design business does guarantee a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, knowing your every cent was earned through your own hard work and skills.

How do I Start as a Freelance Graphic Designer?
Is a Degree in Graphic Design Worth it?
How do Graphic Designers Get Freelance Jobs?
How Can I Get Clients Fast?
Can I Learn Graphic Design by Myself?
Which App is Best for Graphic Design?
How do I Market myself as a Freelance Graphic Designer
How do I get a Job as a Graphic Designer?
Is Graphic Design in Demand?
Freelance Graphic Design Jobs Work from Home
Freelance Graphic Design Jobs Online
Freelance Graphic Designer Portfolio
Freelance Graphic Design Salary

How do I Start as a Freelance Graphic Designer?

One of the career that has a promising future is graphic design, it offers endless opportunities to work with professionals, businesses, and brands around the world.

Freelancing opens up endless opportunities to design the best brochures, documents, posters, and other visuals. However, It is not every freelance graphics designer who finds success in the industry. In view of that, how do you find success as a graphic designer working as a freelancer? We will examine some tips.

Be Passionate About it

The graphic design field require a lot of creativity, and one way you can achieve this creativity is if you are passionate about what you do.

You must be attentive to details and think like the consumers of your graphics.

You should see errors in posters and find solutions to poorly done work. You must also have the capacity to appreciate an excellent piece of design.

Passion helps you to avoid working as a formality and failing to meet the expectations of your client. Take an interest in the latest developments in the industry, software, how to get clients, and where the money, among other crucial elements of graphic design.

Passion also helps you to reinvent yourself so that you can remain relevant to the industry. It will be easy to see the emotion through your work.

In the freelancing industry, you need the desire to help you grow a reliable brand. You must be attentive to details and think like the consumers of your graphics.

You should see errors in posters and find solutions to poorly done work. You must also have the capacity to appreciate an excellent piece of design.

Passion also helps you to reinvent yourself so that you can remain relevant to the industry. It will be easy to see the emotion through your work.

In the freelancing industry, you need the desire to help you grow a reliable brand.

Arm Yourself With Knowledge

If you fail to learn the needed skill to be a freelance graphic design, you might not go far in the industry. Even though you might not need a university degree to achieve success, you need to look for other mean to acquire the needed knowledge.

The skills can be acquired from the best college and tutor. A college introduces you to the best graphic design practices around the world. It is also a chance to learn the theories of graphic design that make your work acceptable around the world.

The best graphic design school is one with skilled and experienced tutors. The college should be equipped with the latest tools that will guarantee the skills you need to compete in the graphics design world.

Choose a school with a reputation for producing the best graphic designers in the industry. Check reviews of graphic design schools to help you make a choice.

Your learning should also take you to the necessary tools you need. Graphic design is highly reliant on software. The features you add to your projects will depend on the finesse of the tools at your disposal.

Designing graphics and visuals is also a matter of mastery. One designer could possess the most sophisticated software yet fail to deliver on a project because he or she has not mastered it.

The best graphic design software helps you to produce advanced images and posters as well as meet customer expectations.

Choose software with advanced features such that you can grow your graphic design skills. Train with the best tutors in graphic design to acquire the necessary skills.

Use tutorials provided by these software developers to learn the latest about the software available in the market. It is these skills that will turn you into a competitive graphic designer.

Acquire the Needed Tools

Buy the essential graphic design tools that will enable you to meet the needs of your target customers.

The tools include computers or laptops, software, printers, and the internet, among others. Some projects can be completed using phones and tablets because they are not as sophisticated.

However, some projects require the best computer for design with a fantastic monitor that will give you the advantage of viewing details.

A freelance graphics designer needs discipline to meet customer deadlines.

Prepare a work station with the necessary equipment and amenities to work on the projects at hand.

The best freelancer work station should meet the following conditions.

Spacious enough to accommodate all your apparatus and gadgets
Comfortable to allow you to work long hours
Well lit to avoid straining your eyes
Warm and aerated
Quiet so that you can concentrate on your project

It takes time to buy all the equipment you need to run a successful freelance graphics design profession.

Improve your equipment and work station gradually until you can meet the standards of the most lucrative clients in the market.

You must also dedicate time to learn the apparatus so that they can help you to deliver to the expectations of your clients.

Apply For Your First Design Gig

Take the small graphic design gigs that will introduce you to earning. Talk to friends with businesses and are looking for logo designs, posters, and merchandise, among other items that require your skills.

Volunteer for an organisation where you are a member or give them an offer if they are ready to provide a stipend.

Success as a freelance graphic designer takes a while.

You have to gain the confidence of your target clients by taking the smaller gigs then graduating into more lucrative ones over time.

Prepare for the corrections and revisions that come from clients. Do not compete with friends and peers.

Pick a niche and specialise in the area to get the best results. You can only work hard to reduce the learning curve but have to go through the curve anyway.

Look For a Mentor

A freelance graphic designer comes with much learning on the job because you will not be working under any organisation or boss. It can lead to numerous mistakes that slow down your progress.

The best step is to identify a mentor who will guide you through the steps. A mentor ensures that you do not make obvious or costly mistakes. Choose a mentor who has been in the industry for a while. He or she understands what it takes to succeed.

The mentor will also introduce you to amateur gigs and show you the fastest path through freelancing. A mentor should have a proven track record so that the tips provided have been tested. A mentor will give you confidence that your work meets the standards required in the industry.

Take Advantage of Referrals

Take advantage of the networks that your clients and friends have to get referrals. Referrals will only come when you deliver quality services to the existing clients.

They are happy to recommend professionals if they get the best services. If you fail to deliver quality services, referrals will not be forthcoming.

Register on Freelance Websites

Look for websites that provide gigs to a freelance graphic designer. The sites have such jobs as designing a logo, creating posters, brochures, and such other tasks that graphic designers are known to do.

The websites will allow you to work on the commission since clients will come to the platform looking for your skills. Create the best profile on the website or platform such that you attract high profile clients.

Bid for jobs and deliver high quality so that the clients can give you favourable ratings. Use these platforms to establish yourself as a highly-skilled and experienced freelance graphic designer.

Such a platform forms part of your sources of gigs. You will still look for clients on other platforms.

Showcase Yourself

If people have never seen your work or do not know about your existence, they will never order services from you. Expose your work and skills by talking to friends, using social media, and marketing your business.

A freelancer does not have a strong brand behind their name or work. It is, therefore, upon you to work towards exposing the skills for potential clients to notice.

Create a design portfolio and share it with potential customers. Have a strong social media presence, and promote the page for business.

Participate in competitions and exhibitions so that people can see your work. The exposure will result in customers ordering your services.

Is a Degree in Graphic Design Worth it?

As already mentioned earlier, your success in the graphic design industry depends larger on your creativity. Which means that without a degree, you can achieve as much as possible. However, you have to be ready to put in the work needed.

A graphic design degree not only increases your chances of getting a design job, it also increases your level of income. With a degree, you might find it easier to get a job.

Typically, designers with advanced degrees in Graphic Design will be more successful getting jobs in larger and more reputable companies.

For example, the median salary of a graphic designer is $48,800 a year, but graphic designers working at companies like Apple can expect a median salary of $96,000 a year. Overall, it is worth it to invest in a graphic design degree.

How do Graphic Designers Get Freelance Jobs?

The Internet provides a lot of opportunities for freelance graphic design jobs if you know where to look. There are numerous freelance websites that can prove profitable for your career.

If you aren’t already hitting these sites up for graphic design work, you should add them all to your list. We’ve found some good opportunities for graphic designers on all of them in the past.

While there are many, many places that you could go apart from what’s here, we will focus on what we believe to be the top five.

Upwork

Upwork is a great place for beginners to find graphic design work. It is international and very competitive, but you can set your prices low in the beginning.

You bid for jobs on Upwork. So, if you are generally comfortable on freelance bidding sites, then you should be okay with this one too.

The first step is to sign up and create a portfolio. It also wouldn’t hurt to take a few tests to prove yourself.

99Designs

One of the favorite of almost everyone is 99Designs. There seems to be a variety of graphic design work there, and the pay seems to be fair.

The only problem is it is highly competitive due to its good reputation. It may not be the best place for a beginner, but you can always try.

It mostly operates as a contest for designers to brainstorm ideas for a client. The client will pick the winner and then reward them with the contest money.

Authentic Jobs

Authentic Jobs is a job board site that has shared jobs for Facebook, Apple, ESPN, and the New York Times. Many of the opportunities listed pay well.

There is a variety of work which also includes jobs for web developers and illustrators.

There are also regular jobs and other freelance work listed. While this may not be he best place for a beginner to find graphic design work, it may still be worth an occasional look.

Most of the jobs are for US residents.

Krop

Krop is a great job board site for graphic design work on all skill levels, especially beginners.

Once you sign up at Krop, you receive job board access and the privilege of posting your portfolio to the site.

Most of the jobs are for US residents and offer competitive pay.

Smashing Jobs

Smashing Jobs is owned by Smashing Magazine, one of the top industry magazines in graphic design.

Freelance graphic design jobs as well as programming jobs are often available on the job board. There is an option to sort between these if you’d prefer them separated.

Smashing Jobs has handled such important clients as Amazon, Mercedes Benz, Sony, and Nokia.

This is a job board with over 4 million worldwide users!

Graphic design work can have busy times and slow times. It’s just a matter of being consistent and always being on the lookout for that next great project.

How Can I Get Clients Fast?

Now that you have acquire some of the necessary skill, you are excited and ready to take on the world. Well that excitement might quickly die down when you realize that getting a client will not be be a walk in the park.

However, that is not to say you can’t land your first client with the little skills you have gather. We have put together some tips that will help you get clients fast for you graphic design.

1. Start with your Family and Friends

Sure, you think they all know what you do and would refer people to you if they had the opportunity. But the reality is, they might not be thinking of you as often as you may hope.

Your friends have a lot of friends and your family do too.

Send out a personal email to all of them giving them a quick update about the services you provide, tell them some time has opened up in your schedule and you’d really appreciate if they could spread the word about you.

Ask them to put the word out on social media, forward your website to any connections they have that might need you, and/or send you some names of people they know that might be interested so you can reach out to them yourself.

2. Offer some Discounts

Discounts can work well to get out of a slump, but you want to do them sparingly and only in really slumpy situations. Why? Because you want people to perceive your services as valuable, and discounted services have a lower perceived value.

Plus, if you do it often, you risk attracting the coupon-clipping clients that are usually not the best ones. Or worse, people see that you often do discounts and will wait around to hire you until you discount.

BUT- when you’re in a slump, you’re in a slump. And giving a discount can be a good incentive for clients to help you get through it.

The better option however is a “deal”. What could you add-on or package together temporarily to give your potential clients a special deal by hiring you now? What would make your package just a little bit better?

Think about your current packages, and what little extras you could throw into the mix. Put up a limited-time only offer where they get the regular package PLUS x, for no extra cost.

Keep it simple though. Remember how valuable your time is, and don’t go crazy with the extras. Great add-ons are things that are relatively easy for you to do (not a ton of hours of work), but your potential client cannot do on their own and would therefore be super valuable for them.

3. Offer Referrals to your Connections

Just like digital products have affiliate programs, you can take advantage of the same concept for your services. I haven’t actually done this myself but have seen others do it.

What would incentivize your close connections to help you out a bit more with referring to you? Maybe a future discount on your services if you provide something they may need. Maybe a straight-up commission for any work they bring your way. In the classic sales industry, this is common, and there is no reason it couldn’t work for you in order to get out of a slump.

4. Industry-specific job boards

A great place to find clients who know exactly what they want (and, therefore, are willing to pay top dollar for it) are industry-specific job boards.

These are job boards specific to certain industries that can help you generate great leads. If your hustle is niched down enough, you’ll be able to pick up clients from many different job boards.

Here are a few good industry-specific sites you can check out for your leads:

Media/publishing:MediaBistro.com, JournalismJobs.com
Healthcare/pharmaceuticals:AllPharmacyJobs.com, HealthcareJobSite.com
Non-profit:Idealist.com, Encore.com, CommonGoodCareers.org
Developer/engineer:iCrunchData.com, Engineering.com, Toptal.com, SmashingMagazine.com
Illustrators/designers:99designs.com, Designs.net

Can I Learn Graphic Design by Myself?

As you will have learnt so far from this article, it is possible to master graphic design without going to a university to obtain a degree. Infact, the internet has made it very easy with a lot of websites and different courses available to help to achieve your goal of learning graphic design. Below are some tips to help you.

Find Reliable Information Online

There are several websites that offer graphic design resources and information. Not all the information you find on the internet is reliable, which means you’ll need to do some investigating to find the best online resources.

Master Design Theory

Graphic design is an art form. You need to study the theory behind any art form to truly understand it. You need to know the rules for great design, and how those rules came into existence. So many people make the mistake of jumping into a program like Photoshop without knowing the principles of why things work the way they do.

Jumping in too quickly is a recipe for failure. Take your time, and really learn the theory and concepts of graphic design.

Choose a Niche and Focus on it

A great designer will be skilled in all the aspects of graphic design, but choosing a specialty is important. By choosing what you’ll specialize in, you can dedicate yourself to that topic and learn everything about it. This is where studying all that theory comes into the picture.

You’ll need to have as much background information as possible to decide what area of graphic design you’d like to specialize in. There is an old saying, “A jack of all trades is a master of none.” This simply means that if you try to be great at everything, you’ll never master anything.

The industry-leading designers are masters of a specific area of design. There are many overlapping areas of graphic design, so you’ll get the general skills you need by working on a niche.

Acquire the Necessary Tools

In graphic design, different areas of expertise require different applications. If you’re going to be a logo designer, you’ll be primarily working in a vector application like Illustrator. If you’re doing print design, you’ll most likely be working in a layout application like InDesign.

Most designers have access to all of these types of programs, but when you’re first starting to learn graphic design, focus on the application that corresponds to your specific area of study.

It’s important to note that you do not need to go out and purchase an expensive application to be a graphic designer. While the Adobe applications are the most popular, there are several free alternatives to the software that Adobe provides.

If you’re more comfortable sticking with the Adobe applications, consider getting a subscription to the one application you’ll be using the most. This will keep costs down, and help you focus on learning one application at a time.

Master the Needed Tools

Find some tutorials for the application you’ll be using for your design work. There are millions of tutorials in audio, video and text form available for free online. You may also consider purchasing a book written about the application you’re trying to learn.

Most tutorials will give you a new skill set, and provide some work to add to your portfolio. These books and tutorials are also a great way to reinforce what you learned while studying design theory.

The most important thing is to get out there and practice. Apply the skills you’ve learned to everyday objects. Identify good and bad design. Work on projects and gather as much information as you possibly can. Graphic design isn’t a static skill.

Designers on every level continue to learn daily and grow as designers. Find a great design community, get your work out there and enjoy the process of learning and designing.

Find Inspiration

One of the best ways to learn graphic design is to emulate artists, designers, and creators that inspire us. When we look for inspiration, we will naturally gravitate to the styles and trends that we like, and we will start to recognize what works and what doesn’t.

Getting inspired by designers we like or admire gives us a roadmap of what we need to learn. Also, imitating the work of others allows us to learn and improve on new skills.

After all, as children we learn by imitating the people around us. The same is true for graphic design.

Start looking for inspiration and learn what you like or don’t like. Start noticing which trends might apply to what you see and which designers are doing amazing work.

Here are some ideas for getting inspiration:

Follow specific designers or hashtags such as #vectorgraphics or #logodesign on Instagram
Do searches on Google Images for keywords such as “logo inspirations” or “best website designs”
Go to Pinterest and look for graphic design group boards.
Follow graphic design social media such as Behance or Dribble.

Find a Project to Work On

If you want to become a self-taught graphic designer, my single most important recommendation is to center your learning around a specific project. The reason is that it is very difficult to learn a skill in thin air.

If you start on a particular project, you will encounter specific problems that, in turn, will guide you to specific solutions. You will search for advice, tutorials, and knowledge that will be as specific as the problems that come up.

The more a resource helps you, the more the quality of the resource. This becomes your noise filter to all the resources out there.

Also, the more problems you are able to solve, the more experience you get, and the more qualified you become as a graphic designer. So, if you want to become a self-made graphic designer, take on a specific project right now.

Maybe you need to create a newsletter for a group, a business card for your friend, or a logo for your Instagram profile.

By taking on a project that matters to you as an excuse to learn, you will learn so much faster and gain experience as you grow.

Which App is Best for Graphic Design?

Your effectiveness in the graphic design field will be determined by the tools and applications you use. To help you out, we have outlined five apps that will make your work easy. Before now, you needed just Adobe’s design apps were the only game in town.

In the 2010s, however, all that started to change, with rival software companies upping their game. But Adobe, in turn, hasn’t taken this lying down; fighting back with both new features and brand new design apps.

Adobe Photoshop CC

First launched in February 1990, Photoshop is the grand old warhorse of the design industry. Although it was originally focused on image editing, it’s grown over the years into a sophisticated tool for graphic design in general.

Now in 2019, its longevity is both a blessing and a curse.

Dominating the profession for the last three decades, Photoshop is undeniably the go-to software for design studios, and you’ll struggle get a job without knowing how to use it. If you’re a freelancer, of course, you have more scope for using other tools in your day to day, but it will probably be difficult to avoid it altogether.

Beyond that, though, is it any good? Well, you don’t stay on top in an ever-expanding industry for nothing, and Adobe has made strident efforts to update its tool to keep it relevant over the years, recently adding powerful 3D modelling and 3D printing capabilities, for example.

It’s also been made faster and more efficient in operation, and perhaps most significantly, the latest version contains small but important tweaks to speed up your workflow. To take one example, you are now able to undo multiple times simply by pressing Ctrl+Z, which might not sound revolutionary, but actually saves a lot of time in practice.

Adobe Illustrator CC

Illustrator has been the natural companion to Photoshop for generations of illustrators and graphic designers, and it’s long been considered the standard vector drawing tool for the industry.

That dominance has started to fray quite a bit in recent years, though, with a rush of new rivals into the space.

As with Photoshop, this has been largely about price, and for those whom money is less important than efficiency, Illustrator remains a hugely powerful and versatile tool, that Adobe is constantly making efforts to improve further.

The latest version, for example, comes with a Freeform Gradients tool that makes it super-easy to create rich gradients, and a Global Editing feature that lets you simultaneously make changes across all instances of a similar object.

There’s also a smart cropping tool that automatically suggests crops based on AI, and the ability to customise your toolbar.

More broadly, the same issues that apply to Photoshop apply to Illustrator too. On the plus side, its industry ubiquity makes it a good tool to learn for your career, and the integration with the Creative Cloud as a whole can help make your workflow smooth and speedy. On the downside, well, there’s that monthly subscription.

Affinity Designer

For most of Illustrator and Photoshop’s life, its rivals have been low-cost and low quality. For designers who didn’t need all that much power, and just wanted to do some simple tasks, there were many alternatives… but none ever came close to offering the breadth and depth of what Adobe’s software could offer.

In the 2010s, however, that all changed. First, in 2010, came Sketch, a sophisticated vector graphics editor that wasn’t just cheaper, it was actually free. It was, however, purely aimed at digital design rather than print, and only available for Mac.

Then in 2014 came Affinity Designer, a vector graphics tool that was fast, powerful and intuitive, and as useful for print design as it was digital. Just one problem: this one was also Mac-only.

Finally, in November 2016, Affinity Designer was released for Windows. Now PC users at last had a decent alternative to Illustrator, which included a complete vector and pixel editing toolset, 10 million percent zoom, non-destructive effects and adjustment layers, and more.

While some capabilities in Illustrator are missing, such as object warping, the majority of what you can do in Adobe’s tool, you can do in Affinity Designer. And to anyone who’s used Illustrator in the past, the Affinity Designer interface is similar enough that it’s easy to pick up and use intuitively.

For freelancers who have more freedom to organise how they work, though, Affinity Designer certainly worth considering, especially as you can import and export .ai files when necessary.

Affinity Photo

Just as Affinity Designer rivals Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Photo provides an alternative to Photoshop for image editing. And it’s a pretty familiar experience. Brushes, layers, masks, for example, are all treated in the same way as in Adobe’s tool.

Affinity Photo is not, however, a carbon copy of Photoshop by any means. Indeed, while some designers will complain that Affinity Photo doesn’t do everything that Photoshop does, that’s kind of missing the point.

Essentially, makers Serif have set out to create an app that’s not weighed down with hundreds of features that try to please everyone, but is more streamlined for specific tasks.

Affinity Photo, then, is better described as a photo editing tool with some good art and design features, along with some unique features like a saveable undo history and PSD Import/Export options (this Envato video walks through the tool’s best features in detail).

If you’re looking for a fully-fledged graphic design tool, then, you’ll be better off – as the name suggests – with Affinity Designer, which has pixel design capabilities alongside its range of vector tools.

But for photo editing, Affinity Photo offers some excellent tools and capabilities, at a low price; and there’s a free trial option if you’d like to take it for a spin first.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019

CorelDRAW is a vector-based illustration tool that’s mainly focused on Windows (although in 2019 it did finally launch on MacOS).

It’s difficult to recommend it over Adobe Illustrator for features, while Affinity Designer easily beats it on value for money. But CorelDRAW continues to be popular amongst everyone from artists to graphic designers, so its makers are clearly doing something right.

In recent years, its standout improvement has been the LiveSketch tool: an innovative line drawing solution for designers and illustrators who want to bypass producing thumbnails on paper and freely sketch-out vector art at the source; this is particularly useful on a drawing tablet.

Other cool features in CorelDRAW include Colour Harmony, which lets you change the look of an object from one group of complementary colours to another; Pointiliser, which lets you create vector mosaics; and the way that every layer is represented with a thumbnail representation of the shape in question.

How do I Market myself as a Freelance Graphic Designer

Whatever design discipline you’re in – be it web design, graphic design, digital art, illustration, 3D art, VFX or other creative fields – there are some tricks that can help your freelance business to take off. Here we’ve outlined a few of the basics to help you get started

1. Network online

Contacts are perhaps your biggest asset as a lone freelancer, regardless of whether you’re looking to market yourself online or offline. Open networks such as Twitter provide the perfect platform for you to engage in conversations with the wider design world and build relationships with your peers and potential clients.

Social networks also serve as a platform for you to show off your expertise and gain some recognition. By sharing interesting and useful content with others, you can become an important voice in your industry and a designer in demand.

2. Use online marketing tools

There are so many free marketing tools out there, ready and waiting for you to take advantage of. As well as social networks and blogging, there’s also a huge opportunity to grab some attention with the use of a good email marketing strategy.

With a database of email addresses from existing clients and a prominent link on your blog to attract new website visitors, you can send out a monthly or quarterly newsletter to keep people up-to-date with your latest projects. MailChimp is just one great and easy tool to help get you get started with your email marketing

3. Find a USP

Before you get yourself out there and flaunt your design skills, first and foremost it’s important that you understand exactly what you have to offer. Finding a trait that makes you different to others in the industry can help make you stand out in what is often a saturated market.

Once you’ve nailed that, tailor your design portfolio accordingly. Also consider creating or commissioning a distinctive logo design for yourself and splashing it across all your branded social media pages.

4. Start blogging

Setting up a blog and updating it regularly with snippets about your projects, industry views and some personal stuff will all help you to maximise your online presence and give you a voice within the industry.

5. Seek out client referrals

If you’ve had an amazing experience with one of your clients, get them to shout about it. Don’t be shy to ask your most satisfied clients for a few words on their experience working with you and the process overall, and make sure you publicise it across all your digital channels. You never know, your last satisfied client might lead to your next project win.

How do I get a Job as a Graphic Designer?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that as of 2016, 18 percent of graphic designers were self-employed. The other major areas where graphic designers work are in specialized designer services, advertising and public relations, printing, and publishers of newspapers, books, and other print materials.

However, the number of self-employed graphic designers is likely to rise as the freelance economy in the U.S. blossoms. According to a 2018 Gallup study, 36% of United States workers are self-employed, or part of the “gig economy”.

Degrees Needed

To become a graphic designer, you don’t necessarily need an undergraduate education. Often, the quality of work in your portfolio and the caliber of the clients you’ve worked with will speak louder than the degrees in graphic design you’ve received.

However, many people do choose to obtain bachelor’s degrees in graphic design, or in related fields such as industrial design, animation, or fine arts. In fact, some graphic design jobs require a bachelor’s degree in order to apply. There are also associates degree programs focusing on graphic design, which are a more cost-effective alternative to betting a bachelor’s.

Graphic Design Portfolio

A killer graphic design portfolio is your ticket to any graphic design job. Today, the majority of graphic designers upload their portfolios to a website, which can be either public or password-protected. Here are four easy steps toward building a great portfolio:

Choose your best work — Find the samples that best show your artistry, creativity, and skill as a graphic designer. If you are applying for jobs in a specific sector, such as publishing or advertising, make sure to include samples that show your expertise in this area.
Tell the story of each piece — For each sample you chose to showcase, write some words on why you chose it, what it was created for, and the process of its creation. Also mention if you worked on it with any other people, and what it was ultimately used for.
Choose your website — As mentioned before, most graphic design portfolios will be hosted on a website. Popular platforms include PortfolioBox, Adobe Portfolio, Cargo, and Behance. If you’re an avid web designer, you can also choose to design your own website.
Get your work on social – a great added component to a web portfolio is a social media account where you showcase your work as a graphic designer. You can send your graphic design social media page to prospective employers, as well as producing content in hopes to be discovered for your talents.

Is Graphic Design in Demand?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 266,300 graphic designers employed in the United States in 2016. The rate of employment growth for graphic designers until 2026 is 4 percent. However, these statistics account only for the United States market, and because graphic designers can complete assignments from their computers, freelance employment opportunities are often open to graphic designers across borders.

There are currently over 15,000 job openings for graphic designers across the United States on Glassdoor.

Freelance Graphic Design Jobs Work from Home

As a graphic designer in a work from home position, your job is to design logos, advertisements, and other marketing material for your company. In this home-based role, you use digital art software to produce material for each project, coordinate with other employees to ensure the artistic direction of content is in line with other material the company is making, and manage multiple simultaneous projects.

Work from home graphic designers often use virtual office software to keep in touch with other employees, produce samples in a variety of designs, and edit existing content based on feedback. This is a highly collaborative position despite its remote location, so the ability to get along with a wide variety of other employees is essential to your success.

Freelance Graphic Design Jobs Online

As an online freelance graphic designer, you work remotely to design brochures, signs, annual reports, web pages, logos, books, magazine covers, advertisements, and other visual communication materials. Since you work on a freelance basis, you may work on multiple marketing projects at the same time, depending on your capacity and responsibilities for a given client.

Your duties include meeting with clients to determine project scope, advising clients on strategy, presenting your designs, correcting design errors, and operating within existing brand guidelines. You create images and text for digital and print materials, set layouts with design software, and collaborate with other marketing or creative professionals.

Top States in US With Online Freelance Graphic Designer Jobs

Oregon
Ohio
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Indiana
Michigan
Rhode Island
Georgia
North Carolina

Freelance Graphic Designer Portfolio

There are uncountable design portfolios on the web. Each portfolio claims to have outstanding designs. They make tall claims due to the tough and competitive market and desire to drive clients’ attention.

1. Kha Von

Kha Von is a professional logo designer who has been a regular freelancer at Designhill for over three years now. He has worked with many reputed clients and has been voted as the winner of contests on several occasions.

His passion for designing and his skills made him what he is now, he believes. Von is a natural preference for entrepreneurs looking for graphic design work on Designhill.

2. Peter Komierowski

Peter Komierowski specializes in brand identity creation, illustrations, and interface design. As a visual designer, he has worked for many reputed clients including YouTube and The Huffington Post.

His portfolio site is unique in the sense that it has few logo designs. The page has plenty of white space that surrounds the logos. This shows his confidence in his high quality of designs.

3. Ravi Naveen

Although the designer has expertise in custom logo design, he also provides services in UI designing, app designing, packaging design, illustrator designing, and label designing. It’s been over a year that he has joined Designhill.

In this one year he has won the title of ‘Best 11 at Designhill’ thrice. Special use of typography, colors, as well as animation, makes this graphic designer portfolio stand out.

4. Merijn Hoss

Merijn Hoss is an illustrator and artist whose portfolio site has psychedelic works of art. The portfolio also shows the designer’s traditional design approach.

It has several colorful thumbnails against a white background. The thumbnails come with a short description.

5. ToyFight

ToyFight is a Manchester-based studio that comes with many whizzy effects such as animated transitions, scrolling, and 3D versions of fighters. The portfolio creates a panache and visual humor.

The navigational features are joyful. This site is surely one of the unique graphic design portfolio examples.

6. Tom Biskup

Art Director Tom Biskup’s uses an animated header image in his online portfolio. The image quickly engages the viewer and follows the rest of the site. His work is in animated thumbnails, which are large and static.

This way, viewers can visit case studies and art direction talent. One of the things you can learn from this portfolio is the judicious use of text, images, and white space. This is how you should create a digital design portfolio that stands out.

7. Xavier Cussó

Barcelona-based designer Xavier Cussó has a great portfolio site to display his works. Special use of typography and bold colors, as well as animation, makes this graphic designer portfolio stand out.

8. Wade Jeffrey

Wade Jeffrey is an unconventional art director and artist. Wade’s portfolio reflects his works in a personal style. He shows himself snacking, working, etc with details. There are projects section features as well in the portfolio, which looks unconventional.

However, you can hire the graphic design services of a professional who specializes in creating portfolios. With a professionally designed portfolio, you can expect a consistent stream of clients coming your way.

9. RoAndCo

Creative director Roanne Adams founded the NYC-based RoAndCo studio. The portfolio has great designs and branding solutions for clients from the lifestyle, tech, beauty, and fashion industry.

Being one of the best portfolio websites, RoAndCo has full-screen video and animated web presentations for viewing pleasure.

10. Mister

Mister has this online portfolio site for graphic design uses a bold landing page and white-out-of-black typography to showcase the works.

You can preview a sample and download the portfolio only after scrolling down further. It also has an animated GIF presentation

Graphic design portfolios are great sites to showcase design works, skill, and talent. These sites find special mention in our list due to the unique use of navigational techniques and engaging design works. You can take inspiration from them and create your graphic designer resume or portfolio.

Freelance Graphic Design Salary

The average annual pay for a Freelance Graphic Designer in the United States is $55,642 a year.

Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $26.75 an hour. This is the equivalent of $1,070/week or $4,637/month.

We are seeing annual salaries as high as $91,000 and as low as $14,000, the majority of Freelance Graphic Designer salaries currently range between $44,500 (25th percentile) to $65,000 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $78,000 annually across the United States.

The average pay range for a Freelance Graphic Designer varies greatly (by as much as $20,500), which suggests there may be many opportunities for advancement and increased pay based on skill level, location and years of experience.

City	Annual Salary	Monthly Pay	Weekly Pay	Hourly Wage
New York City, NY	$66,073	$5,506	$1,271	$31.77
Dublin, CA	$65,245	$5,437	$1,255	$31.37
San Mateo, CA	$64,746	$5,396	$1,245	$31.13
North Bergen, NJ	$63,288	$5,274	$1,217	$30.43
Juneau, AK	$62,985	$5,249	$1,211	$30.28
Boston, MA	$62,943	$5,245	$1,210	$30.26
Berkeley, CA	$62,276	$5,190	$1,198	$29.94
Santa Monica, CA	$62,188	$5,182	$1,196	$29.90
Daly City, CA	$62,101	$5,175	$1,194	$29.86
Quincy, MA	$62,030	$5,169	$1,193	$29.82

Conclusion

With all the tips already discussed, what should be your next line of action?

Keep moving forward. Keep up your task of calling, emailing, or whatever you do on a constant basis. Don’t take rejection personally and discard envy. A rejection today could land you a job tomorrow or a new client further on.