Graphic design career tips

The Graphic Design Career is a fast growing career that is becoming more and more competitive with every passing day. People are realizing how much money is available and how flexible the graphic and web design career really is.

1) Get Experience Doing Graphic Design Work & Working with REAL Clients

In design school, they don’t really focus on how to assess a client’s needs, wants, mood swings, and basic demographic factors. They certainly do not teach you how to learn basic communication principles, how to follow-up correctly with a prospective graphic design client. Academia is a long way away from perfection. That means it’s time for you to educate yourself on how to do REAL graphic design and get the wheels in motion so you can slowly but surely climb the ladders.

2) Choose Between Freelancing & Getting a Graphic Design Job

If you have never freelanced before, I recommend working as a freelancer on a strictly part-time basis to test the waters, while working a graphic design job prior to committing yourself to full-time freelance work or you may be conditioning yourself for disappointment. Get a handle on how to manage a project and a REAL deadline, and then start to learn how to manage a client. Remember, clients are REAL people. That means, real problems. A client may attempt to get you to complete work for free, forget or miss a payment, procrastinate in getting you content so you can complete their website design.

3) Graphic Designers Should Stick to What They Are Great At

If you enjoy working with vector graphics, you could familiarize yourself primarily with Adobe Illustrator, and perhaps specialize in icon-creation or acquire some knowledge of Adobe Flex and design interfaces for cell phones and other mobile devices. If you can’t take your hand off of a lead pencil crayon, it may be a good time to consider doing concept artwork for video games. If find yourself constantly doodling or drawing logos, icons, and enjoy coming up with tag-lines, become a branding and logo design expert.

4) Graphic Design Career – Start Small, Think Big

You are young, talented, and can afford to avoid some mistakes that could be avoided. Now, to a creative person, even the thought of writing an agreement or contract is daunting, so either get it done by a legal professional or suffer the consequences. Focus on what you do best and remember the rule of numbers – the more people you talk to, the more projects you will acquire. Keep going. Go to networking sessions, industry meetups, and other social events. Social media and email are mostly useful for follow-up. Don’t give up, but be smart and avoid setting yourself up for failure.