There are many excellent freelance careers, and being freelance designer surely has to be not only one of the most rewarding, but also one of the most in-demand.
As a freelance designer, you have the option to work with various clients, helping them establish their brand or create visually appealing content that helps them connect with their customers.
Freelance design offers numerous benefits, including a flexible schedule, remote working opportunities, and higher pay through projects from multiple clients.
If you’re taking your first step into the freelance design world, there are lots of things to learn. To help you out on this journey, here are nine freelance design advice to follow:
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9 ways to earn more as a freelance designer
So you’re a freelancer designer. Amazing! That means you have the skills businesses all over the world need right now. But how do you put yourself at the front and get the pay you deserve? That’s what we’ll look at below.
1. Submit consistent applications
Landing a freelance design gig may not happen overnight, but you must be consistent in your efforts. As you send in your applications to more potential clients, people will start to take note, and some will give you a chance to prove yourself.
A good idea is to schedule a specific time each day to search for job opportunities and submit your application. You should make the most of social media, freelance groups, and freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr when searching for jobs.
2. Set a work schedule
Working as a freelancer gives you full control over your time, allowing you to decide when to work. This is great if you’re not interested in the traditional 9-5 environment, but it also means you’ll be working awkward hours if you don’t create a proper schedule.
Constant work can lead to burnout, making it difficult to perform effectively. To avoid this, setting a work schedule is crucial. Your schedule should clearly outline your work time and breaks, and you must follow it for the most impact.
As a freelancer, you don’t get paid if you don’t work. So, ensuring you’re in peak condition is a priority.
3. Define your niche
Freelance design allows you to work with clients from various industries, which is great news for anyone. However, to attract the right clients, you must define your niche.
There are several options when defining your niche, and you can choose a specialization based on the client base, the type of service, or the industry.
If you choose to specialize by client base, you’ll need to decide if you want to offer your expertise to content creators, startups, large companies, or authors.
Specializations based on services allow you to focus on packaging designs, motion graphics, website and app UI/UX designs, typography, or logo design. What matters when picking a niche is focusing on what you’re passionate about doing.
When you work on projects you love, being a top performer becomes a lot easier.
4. Follow industry trends
Like with every other industry, freelance design technologies and tools change over time, and as a professional, you have to stay up to date. To stay competitive, attract new clients, and retain repeat customers, you must continually upskill.
There are several ways to upskill, but the most common option is to take courses on the latest design technologies. Another excellent option is to experiment, which is absolutely critical for gaining hands-on experience with new technology.
Ultimately, nothing helps you learn faster and get to grips with new tech than using it.
If you’re looking for information on the latest industry trends and new technologies, you should consider signing up on design blogs to receive newsletters and publications that can help. Following top design pages on social media is also a step in the right direction.
5. Find networking opportunities
Every freelancer thrives on the quality of their network, and building a large network is crucial. Developing relationships and connecting with other freelancers in the design field is a great way to get recommendations.
One of the easiest ways to build your network is through social media. You can use platforms like X, Facebook, or LinkedIn to find online communities that consist of clients and freelancers.
Another excellent approach to building relationships is to collaborate on projects with other freelancers.
To make the most of this approach, you should collaborate with freelancers in other fields, such as web development, programming, or content writing. This is a great way to learn about other industries from which you can attract new clients.
6. Createa a Portfolio
As a freelance graphic designer, your first opportunity to capture a potential client’s attention is through your portfolio. This showcase is crucial, and you can choose to display your design portfolio on social media or your website.
There are other specialized platforms that you can use, such as Dribble, Behance, and DeviantArt. You can decide on what site to use, so go through each platform to find out what they offer.
Your portfolio should only showcase your best works, so limiting the size to around 20 projects is a great idea.
Many clients aren’t just interested in your final project, so the portfolio should include the problem, concepts, wireframes, and your approach to solving each problem.
7. Always ask for testimonials
Testimonials are proof that you’ve worked for someone else and you’re not all talk. In addition to your portfolio, your testimonials help advertise your skills to potential clients.
Great testimonials are what separate a new freelance designer from an experienced one. Each client will provide a unique testimonial, highlighting the actual impact of your work and adding credibility to your business.
To obtain a testimonial from a client, simply ask.
Often clients will be more than happy to write a positive review, as long as you deliver a client project that meets their expectations. Some clients may not have the time to provide a testimonial when you need it, so you will need to follow up at a later date.
8. Grow your savings
Your income from freelance graphic design work isn’t set in stone, and while it’s possible to make money every month, there are periods when you’ll have no income.
If you have a month when you make little or no money, then your savings should be able to cover your basic needs.
When starting your freelance design career, you want to save as much as you can.
This means you’re spending less during the initial months. As a freelancer, it can be tempting to go on a spending spree when you land your first big pay. However, you must be smart financially to ensure long-term success.
9. Pay for the right tools
As you grow your savings, you also need to set aside money for all the tools you need for your freelance design. Free tools won’t cut it when you decide to go pro, so you’ll have to pay a monthly or yearly subscription.
Tools like Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, Canva, Adobe XD, and Sketch usually require a subscription to use. Plus, if you use freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, you may need to spend some money to get your proposals ahead of the competition.
Freelance sesign mistakes to avoid
Life is full of challenges, and mistakes are expected.
The same is true in the freelance design world, but some of these mistakes can have long-lasting consequences. However, it’s okay to learn from other experienced designers to ensure you can avoid these mistakes.
To ensure you’re on the right track, here are some freelance design mistakes you must avoid:
1. Accepting a job without a contract
A common mistake many freelancers make is taking on a task without signing a contract.
If you choose to accept a freelance job, a contract must be in place that details the scope of the project, terms of payment, review process, and deposit agreement.
The best freelance contracts usually protect both you and your client.
However, if you’re not sure how to go about creating your first contract, you can find a contract template online to use as a guide.
2. Not growing your client base
Gaining the trust of one excellent client can be a game-changer for you, but it shouldn’t stop you from searching for more.
As a freelance graphic designer, building your business around a single client can lead to significant problems if they decide to end the contract abruptly.
In addition to providing multiple sources for your payments, having several clients ensures diversity in your portfolio. Each client will have different project requests, which often helps you develop skills and experience in various areas.
Working too long with the same client may lead to overspecialization and difficulty adapting to new requests from other clients.
3. Not searching for new clients early
As a follow-up to the previous mistake, stalling your search until you lose all your clients comes with its risks. One of the consequences of this mistake is the need to accept any job that comes your way.
As a result, you’re likely going to find yourself doing more work for less pay, just to maintain your income.
Sometimes, the pay might be great, but you’ll be working with unrealistic deadlines. Other issues include the possibility of taking on a task without a signed contract or unclear payment terms.
4. Quoting low to stay competitive
As a new freelance designer, it’s a great idea to offer low prices to attract prospective clients early in your career. However, maintaining these low prices may have a negative impact as your skills and experience grow.
For most of your freelance work, you should have an hourly rate that serves as a flat fee, which should increase as you improve. If you secure high-value projects, a value-based pricing model is effective.
This model will account for the unique requirements of the projects, ensuring you’re adequately compensated for your time and effort.
You can ask around for freelance graphic design rates, which can help you determine your own prices. Of course, this is only a guide that gives you an idea of what other designers charge in the industry.
5. Growing overconfident
As mentioned earlier, you must continue to upskill to remain relevant in the freelance design industry. However, there are other areas where overconfidence can kill your freelance design dreams.
For a new freelance designer, failing to follow feedback or being biased towards constructive criticism can be a problem.
Overconfidence in your skill leads to an inability to properly assess the complexity of a project. As a result, you may be underpaid for the job or provide an incorrect estimate for completion, which may lead to missing deadlines.
Many clients aren’t forgiving when it comes to missed deadlines, so they may end the contract early without returning to you for future projects.
6. Accepting all freelance projects
Knowing when to compromise is an important skill for any freelancer, but you also need to know when to say no.
To do your best work, you mustn’t take on all projects that come your way.
Sometimes, you have to reject certain projects if you notice some red flags from the client. These flags include poor communication, undefined project expectations, clients who request free samples, and clients who avoid contracts.
If a project doesn’t interest you, this is a good reason to decline or refer to someone else. For many freelance designers, taking on projects without being passionate about it often leads to low-quality outputs or procrastination that leads to missed deadlines.
Taking on any project you find may also lead to work overload. As a result, you’ll have little time to complete each project, leading to low quality across all projects.
When this happens, you end up with low ratings and customers not coming back as they lose their trust in you.
7. Not having your style
It can be difficult to say no to clients when you’re just finding your footing, but you need to ensure you’re only taking projects that fit your design skills and vision.
As it really is essential to have your own unique style that sets you apart. However, not all projects will align with your style or vision.
Having a vision doesn’t mean you won’t listen to the client. Instead, the client provides their problem and the details of their target audience, while you work on providing a solution.
Ultimately, your solution must align with both the client’s expectations and design vision.
Conclusion
Freelance graphic design is one of the many careers that require you to get burned a few times to learn some useful tricks. However, with so many freelancers now sharing their experiences, this doesn’t have to be the case anymore.
Defining your niche and building strong freelance networks can take you far in this business, so don’t underestimate them.
You also want to treat your clients well, so you can attract repeat business while trying to acquire more potential clients to try your services.