Q&A: How Do I Find More Graphic Design Work?

Find Freelance Jobs  |  Internet Marketing  |  Project Management

Recently, a reader of Freelancer Magazine by the name of Mike Stone asked us a question with regards to clients and the type of work he receives from them. He says that a lot of his clients need web design work done, whilst he himself is looking to pick up more graphics design only jobs instead.

The question reads:

“How can I find more graphic design work when the majority of my clients just want web sites?”

Anyway, let’s see if we can answer the question for him.

First of all, I’m going to assume that when you say graphic design work it doesn’t include the PSD designs of websites; so it only entails things like banners, buttons, headers, illustrations, business cards, posters etc.

Establishing a reason behind your situation

It’s always good to examine your current situation and try to form a rational explanation for what you’re experiencing. In this case, Mike Stone can’t find much graphics design work over web design work. There could be multiple reasons behind this, but there could also be a general underlying reason behind it. In this case, there is. Graphics design work in essence can be very closely linked to web design work. After all, web designs do use graphical buttons, banners etc. in them so it’s pretty difficult to get graphics design work only. Also, in general web design work is in much more demand as the numbers of new websites entering the websites continues to increase exponentially.

There are, however, things you can do in order to maximize your chances of hitting the right clients.

Getting into the right crowd

One reason why the clients you come across may want web sites instead is probably because you’re marketing yourself in the wrong place. Although the two are closely linked, if you’re looking for graphics design work only you should be heading for the more ‘physical publisher’ side of things. For example, approaching magazines and newsletters are good ways you could pick up more graphics design work.

If you get a lot of work online, then may be you should consider joining some graphics design only forums and getting involved in communities of that sort. A simple Google search may present you with some good forums to join.

You may also want to present your work to printing businesses whom do custom work for their clients and see if you can pick up some extra work from there too.

Making your portfolio clear

Another reason behind this conundrum could be that your portfolio isn’t clear and concise enough for potential clients to see that you do graphics work only. Now before you start screaming at me, and exclaiming that everyone knows the difference between graphics and web design, just stop and think. There are a lot of ‘newbies’ entering the field all the time, especially since we’re seeing such a rapid growth of people starting online businesses. It could be possible that this ‘newbie’ potential client isn’t fully versed in the differences and what they entail; this is why your portfolio is crucial in explaining this.

Mike Stone himself didn’t link me to his private portfolio with his own domain name, but he did give me a link to his deviantART profile which I guess probably serves as his main portfolio. Whilst we’re at it, I also recommend that if you’re serious about getting some decent clients and graphics work that you have a proper external portfolio which you can aptly show your work off at.

Improve, improve, improve

In the graphics design world, it’s extremely competitive and the talent that exists is astonishingly good. You need to be able to make yourself unique in terms of the style of your work if you want to hit any clients. Although it seems distantly attached to getting more relevant and well-paying clients, you will inevitably get more recommendations via ‘word-of-mouth’ if your work is exceptionally good.

Conclusion

So that’s my little rant in order to try and answer the question Mike posted to us. If you’d like to ask us a question of your own, do not hesitate to get in touch. Also remember to subscribe to our RSS feed.