Whether you’re a rock star creative in a top-ten agency or a freelancer running a business from home on a shoestring, graphic design is an absorbing, all-encompassing practice.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and therefore disagreements occur and criticism can be hard to take. But it’s a great job because you spend time creating beauty.

But there are plenty of other facets to freelance graphic designing other than creating beauty.

Marketing

This is a real biggie. Every graphic design company needs it’s clients. My favorite way to get freelance design work to is concentrate on my own site first, backed up with SEO and social media and not to bother with job or bidding sites.

Marketing never stops. You need to keep working on your own website, your own brand and your chosen methods of marketing almost every day. This is extremely time consuming and it’s time you don’t get paid for. But experience gained from marketing yourself can be used to provide a better service for your clients.

• Think of a unique selling point that your customers will “get” immediately.
• Provide a reason why customers should do business with you.
• Don’t spend any money on marketing if it is something you can learn to do yourself.
• Always have a follow-up offer after a project is completed. The best client is one who just gave you money.
• Occasionally go back to your existing clients with exceptional offers.
• Develop your business, brand and company’s personality. People buy from people.

Clients

In business, especially the design business, your best next client is your current client. That’s why it’s essential to develop a great working relationship with them.

Clients want value. They want the job done to as high a standard as possible without any complications. That’s why communication is vital. Make sure you understand the client and the purpose of the project. Why do they want to spend this money? If you make the client more money than they spend on you then you’ll be well on your way.

• Spend as little time as possible talking with the client but when the discussion period is over send a short email to the client detailing the project and the cost.
• If you do have questions about the brief after this point, do not go back to ask the client. Use your own initiative to solve the problem. This is what you are being paid for.
• If a client emails you a secondary request, never start work on it immediately. There may well be a follow up email in a few minutes time.
• When giving a deadline, always add a day onto it. (Under promise; Over deliver)
• Always take on board the client’s suggestions. OK, maybe they haven’t spent the last 20 years designing but it’s their business and an outside point of view is always useful.
• If you are ever angry or annoyed by a client, don’t pick up the phone or write an email. You are wrong to be angry or annoyed. Get over it. Calm down. Do something else. Contact the client when your mood improves.
• Like the client. Enjoy working with them. Have fun!

Design

Yes, you’re going to have to do some design if you want to be a freelance graphic designer.

• Follow the work of designers you like and endlessly be on the look out for great design.
• If you haven’t got anything to do then do a design for yourself – you only get good at design by designing.
• Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve before starting.
• With any project, always start with the hardest element or the part that you’re most worried about first.
• Never spend too long on any one element of a project, especially at the beginning.
• If you are having problems with a design, move away from it and come back to it later, if possible. Look at it through squinted or blurred vision. Look at it upside down.

Network

Continually keep in contact with other designers, illustrators, developers, etc., and don’t be afraid to ask anyone for advice. Whether you do it through social media or in person doesn’t matter, connection with related professionals is essential. Even their bad advice will teach you something.

• Upload visuals and ask for other people’s comments.
• Help people who ask for advice.
• Always answer every non-spam email.

Rates

Some people have elaborate formulae for calculating their rate. One thing’s for sure it should be more than you think. Whatever you were getting paid as a designer in someone else’s company it should be at least double that. Why? Because, with all the other things you’ll have to do you’ll never spend all your days designing. Try to price jobs rather than to getting paid by the hour.

Accounting

Unfortunately you have to remember to keep records of everything – and have those records easily accessible. You will have to work out ways of simplifying the process.

Not only do you have to keep account of the company’s revenue and spending but also you need to record exactly how much time you’ve spent on each job and everything that was agreed between you and the client.

Equipment

I have written about the software I use to run a design business, the only applications you need to purchase are Adobe’s Creative Suite and a decent font manager. You may wish to get cutting mats, spray booths, boards and a good lazer printer, but, even so, equipment purchase or capital outlay is extremely small compared to other businesses

Work

I really have had enough of reading; “if you really want to do graphic design, you’re going to have to work really hard and be really committed”. Because most people work hard and are committed. It’s really difficult to work hard at a boring job but people do. I’d love to see some graphic designers working in a shop or a factory. Working hard at and being committed to graphic design isn’t a huge imposition.

Conclusion

Another piece of advice:

Constantly focus on the critically few activities that produce exponential results. Don’t get caught up in minutia.

This and some of the other ideas above came from 33 rules for maverick entrepreneurs which was written after a brainstorming session with Richard Branson. And here are some other great random lessons from a freelancer from John O’Nolan.

And, as always, I’m more interested in other great pieces of advice anyone else can add.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

One thing I am often asked by designers – old and new alike – is: “how do you get work” or “how do you get clients”.

Here are the principles and practices that I have used and found successful over the years.

Put most of your effort into developing your own site

Building and maintaining websites is a time-consuming business, but at least the time and effort put into your own site will benefit you and you alone.

Many people often ask me about the plethora of design work sites and bidding sites and whether I use them. The answer is “no”. Sites where people bid for work or upload their work for display will always benefit the consumer (the clients) rather than the producer (you). You are up against multiple competitors on the same site and the client can pick and choose and this means you make less money.

Compare this to having your own site, with basic SEO and incoming links. This will take a bit of time but when you are found by clients you have much less competition and can make more money.

Of course, you can engage with social media, directory sites and forums, etc., but use them for driving interest to your own site. Your site should be the hub of your online world.

But why would potential clients contact you from your website? Because you write quality content on there about what you do. You should write about everything you can possibly think of about your particular area of expertise – generally and specifically. Even take the time to research into related areas you don’t know much about now but hope to in the future. There is nothing quite so educational as writing a tutorial. People will start to arrive at your site from search engines, see you know what you’re talking about and hire you.

Remember – it’s far better to have clients going to you than to go cap in hand to potential clients.

Put your USPs, skills and services on your business stationery and emails

For example, I have “Marketing materials, Design, Animation, Print, Re-branding, HTML Email, Search Engine Optimisation, Website design & development, hosting & maintenance, etc.” in my email signature. So that anyone receiving mail from me will know that I don’t just do web design. Put this on your invoices, business cards, letterheads, etc., online and off.

Never turn down a job if it’s a good client

If someone asks for a job you can not do, say “yes”! Find someone to do the job and charge the client a little more than you paid for it. Did I say don’t use bidding sites? Don’t use them to look for work. But use them to find workers. Elance is good.

This way you get a new client, find a new contact through the bidding site and learn a bit about how to do work in an adjacent field to your area of expertise. Oh, and you get paid!

The best clients are the ones you already have

Some clients have come to me with tiny jobs and end up using me to rebrand their company. By saying this I don’t mean do all manner of jobs for rock bottom prices. But always treat clients with the utmost respect and honesty and this good karma will come back to you in terms of repeat business.

However, I don’t bombard my current clients with unnecessary email marketing – when they leave me alone, I leave them alone. But I do send them a card every year wishing them and their families the best season’s greetings and a happy new year. The card has my contact details and a synopsis of my services, of course.

It never ceases to amaze me how much work I get from people I have already worked for or from their recommendations.

If you’re just starting out

Whether you’ve been working as a designer for years or you’ve just left college, you can enter the freelance world with zero risk! There is nothing to stop you being a freelance graphic designer as you can work in your spare time. Many people ask me when is the best time to go freelance. I say now! You can start by creating and improving your own website and writing valuable content that is indexed by search engines. But do this in your spare time. Don’t leave your steady job to go freelancing with no clients!

What about you?

How do you go about finding work?

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

I wasn’t always a freelance graphic designer. I used to teach English to Brazilian businessmen but that’s another story. I started by working for newspapers and magazines so my background is in print. By a mixture of application and good fortune I taught myself how to create usable, aesthetic, standards-compliant websites and discovered how to get visitors to them by running this blog. So I’m lucky to be able to offer a large range of services to my many amazing clients.

I’m also lucky that commuting into work for somebody else is a distant memory for me. But I distinctly remember an aura of elitism that existed around senior designers when I was starting out. Maybe it’s because I never went to design school but I passionately believe that anyone can do this (or anything) if they want. Here is what you need to have this fantastic career:

Proprietary Software

Adobe CS is the only proprietary software you’ll need. Of this suite of programs I find Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign are the ones you really need to get to grips with. Illustrator for vectors, Photoshop for photos, effects and graphics and InDesign for long documents. If you’re only interested in web design, you can scrub InDesign from the list. There are open source graphics packages such as Gimp but I would find things very difficult without Creative Suite.

Free Software

You will need software for just about everything. The good news is that most of it is available for free. I have just been featured Char Polanosky‘s blog detailing my essential tools.

Hardware

I have an iMac at home and a Macbook for travel. You don’t need to go down the Mac route but it was what I started with so I’m hooked now. You will need a fairly powerful computer with a decent sized screen. You should also have external drives and a back up for when it all goes horribly wrong.

Fonts

All designers need a knowledge of typefaces. But take it nice and slow. Don’t rush out and buy Helvetica Neue or download a million free fonts. Continuously ask yourself when you see design work whether or not the font works with it and why. There are some fantastic new free fonts out there but you will need several weights of the classics.

Imagery and graphics

We all the know the usual stock and micro-stock photo libraries but there are a lot of great free photography sites and lots of great free vector content out there too.

Web presence and host

If you want to be a freelance graphic designer, a freelance web designer or anything at all you need your own website. Do not waste your time putting your portfolio on a 3rd party site or indeed putting your details on a bidding site. You may experiment with these sites and social media later. The first thing you need to do is to decide on your web address, register it and get a shared server or VPS server to host your own personal website.

Get clients to come to you so that you don’t have to go out and find clients. Start a self hosted WordPress blog and write about what you do.

A network

This is an added section due to a very useful comment I got below from Jonathan. You are going to need a network of people, other designers, photographers, artists, developers, etc., to help you. Sometimes it’s just great to be able to ask for help. So, join design forums, participate in relevant LinkedIn groups, leave comments on blogs and generally interact with people both on and offline to strengthen and expand your network. Help people and they will help you.

Jonathan’s comment below is a case in point. He has made an excellent addendum to this post and now we are connected. Thanks, Jonathan!

Clients

I knew I was forgetting something… clients are more-or-less essential to your business! The one thing that I can not stress enough is the value of keeping clients. More than half the work I do is for existing clients rather than new business. And a significant amount of new business comes from recommendations. So, remember, the best clients are the ones you already have.

All the clients I have (apart from recommendations from old clients) have contacted me from this website. Which is why I think it’s so important to have an active website that appears high in Google searches for a variety of keywords. Regular readers of this blog will know I’ve written about how to market yourself in this way.

Anything else?

I’m not going to insult anyone by saying the usual: “you need a thick skin, hard work, dedication and passion” – I assume you have all these in spades as you are reading this. And, to be honest, you’re also probably going to need a little bit of luck. But, don’t we all? People will say you need talent. But I won’t. For me, hard work, dedication and passion will beat talent any day.

So, is that it? Is there anything else you need to be a freelance graphic designer?

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

All graphic designers and people trying to create eye-catching imagery for print or web with have at some point used stock photography.

Stock photography negates the need for hiring expensive photographers can license individual photos for specific uses. The two largest traditional stock photography agencies are Getty Images and Corbis. They offer mostly photographs that have been shot by professional photographers. But these are still quite expensive for a freelance graphic designer as individual images can cost hundreds of dollars.

Meanwhile there are many alternative agencies like Shutterstock, Fotolia and, the one all my clients seem to know iStockphoto (acquired by Getty Images in 2006 although both businesses are kept visually separate). Since these agencies charge less ($1 to $20 per image) this is called sometimes called microstock photography.

However, hardworking graphic designers may need photographs as place holders or for different options to show a client before they have decided on a finished version. Who would want to spend money on something that may never see the light of day? This is where free stock photography comes in!

Here is my personal list of free stock photography sites.

• stock.xchng The best and most reliable for me. Some of the free images are large enough to use for print. Some are of excellent quality. Log in necessary.
• morgueFile I haven’t use them for long but I have found some impressive and large images here. No login necessary.
• FreeFoto Not fantastic. Email address required.
• FreeDigitalPhotos OK. Small web images only. No login necessary.
• ImageAfter I’ve just started using them but they seem good. You can choose the number of thumbnails viewable on page. Some nice large images. No login necessary
• indisain.com Annoying website in terms of usability but good quality large images.
• PhotoBucket Good, large selection. Small web images only. No login necessary.

Other sources of free imagery on the internet

Of course you can find images in the internet using Google image search, deviantArt, Flickr or Picasa but these images may be subject to copyright so please check with the owner first.

Also you can turn a photo into an illustration using Illustrator’s Live Trace function, Photoshop filters or by whatever other means. But, again, it will be always necessary to check the images’ copyright first!

I hope you found my list of free photo sources helpful. What do you do when searching for free quality stock photography?

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

Recession, credit crunch, slowdown – these are bywords of the moment and you would be forgiven for thinking that we’ve got to tighten out belts and prepare for hard times ahead.

The natural inclination for some businesses might be to scale back on marketing activities in an effort to save money. But, last week it was reported that two of the world’s biggest advertisers, Unilever and Procter & Gamble, would not cut their marketing budgets.

It’s been proved time after time that a recession (and let’s not forget we’re not actually technically in one yet!) is a time to increase your marketing budget.

Why? Because, in a downturn, the shortsighted companies will reduce their advertising spend allowing businesses that maintain or increase their spend to steal market share from them. Also, advertising space and marketing services may reduce in price so that the same advertising spend buys you more media.

One possible way to cut cost whilst increasing ‘share of voice’ would be to employ freelance graphic designers and marketeers rather than using an agency. Freelancers often outperform agencies in quality, price and timeliness. To put it bluntly, a freelancer could charge you £35/hour for what an agency would charge £150/hour. One client of mine recently commented that agencies seem to charge you for sneezing!

So, far from being a negative experience, the recent “bad” news on the economy may present us with an unparalleled opportunity!

What is your experience on the changes in marketing spend in your business?

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

Here are my favourite three blogs of people who, like me, are graphic designers and write about it on the internet. Firstly, from Romania, I really like webee design blog. Webee has really helped me out with his tips and encouragement.

Also a beautiful creative design blog by David Airey who has blogging help as well as design discussion. Lastly there is Creative Guy who has numerous mac and design tricks.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

And, while I’m about it, I might as well include some digital print quotes.

Here is the caveat: “Remember these are estimates and may be revised downwards if less than expected work is needed.”

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

Work from home. Use of house as business means that you can put some of the cost of home improvements and numerous other things to offset your profit and therefore pay less tax. Meet clients in swanky cafés. Try to get them to pay(!)

Don’t do colour lazers. Get your client to proof read from PDFs. They’re faster, look better and, of course, cheaper. If they need to see something on paper get a printer to do it as a sample. Buy a simple inkjet desktop printer that has a scanner, photocopier and fax (for under £100). If anyone needs to see proof of ID or certificate of incorporation you can scan it and send it by email. Email your invoices, estimates and contracts – everything – to save on ink, paper and postage.

Don’t buy Apple monitors. OK, they’re pretty but there are others that are just as good and half the price.

Don’t buy anything new. Secondhand computers are like secondhand cars – much better value. I’m running everything on a couple of souped up G4′s I got for £200 each. If one breaks down I can use the other. Work is backed-up off site by my website host. No need to spend money on the latest software. Wait for them to patch up the bugs. Use old versions of software as long as it’s compatible with the system you are using.

Don’t use Getty. Buy monthly subscriptions to shutterstock.com or other royalty free photo libraries. Download as many images as you can.

Remember the CS versions of Adobe Illustrator have a live trace tool which can re-draw any image in vector form which you can present as an illustration negating the need to commission.

Get webspace. I have secured thousands of pounds worth of business from my website, host many more and store all my work – all for under £100 a year!

The only other thing I’d spend money on is Christmas or birthday cards for clients. It’s the single best way to ensure repeat business.

Don’t get greedy. Reflect all these savings in the price you charge your client. It’ll be worth it in the long run, trust me.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

I would advise anyone who wants to make money and find more work to get blogging.

I was encouraged to get a WordPress blog by a friend but I didn’t really realise what blogging was at first. I thought, what’s the point of writing “I woke up this morning, had breakfast …”? I really only started taking it seriously in November 2006 about two months before I started to get results.

There are plenty of ways to make money from your blog from advertising but that’s not what I’m discussing here. And, personally, I find blogs that are peppered with adverts really ugly.

Blogs are, for me, a great way to find work and make contacts through searches. But, because of the illogical and secretive way search engines in general and Google in particular work, you will never know how to be top of the list on certain searches. So the trick is go for every conceivable search you can think of.

You should write about what you know. Write about your work, your way of doing things, practices that other people might find useful. What sets you apart from others.

Take me as an example. If you search for “freelance graphic designer” on Google, I’m number 22. That’s the third page. Not so good. Even worse is “London graphic designer”, number 68 on Google. Pretty bad. However, one day someone – now a client of mine – wanted a PDF newsletter designed in InDesign so searched for “freelance InDesign London”. Guess what? I’m number 3!

How did that come about? Because I wrote a blog discussing PDF design, newsletters and InDesign amongst other things.

My point is I never would have guessed that someone would search specifically for that. It was only by writing about the nature of my work that I got work! And it is the blog that makes that process so easy.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

Here are the sort of people I am looking for: print designers, web designers, interior designers, artworkers, photographers, illustrators, copy writers, copy editors, Flash specialists, Photoshop re-touchers, PHP, HTML, CSS coders, video editors. Anyone, you know who you are.

I need your name, contact details and a brief description of your skills so that I can contact you when the need arises.

I don’t necessarily need CVs but work samples or something, like weblinks, that show me what you do would be great. Or, if you have PDFs or other attachments to show me, email them to rob [at] robcubbon.com.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

Independent freelancers often outperform agencies in quality, price and timeliness.

To some the word “freelancer” may have a certain stigma of a maverick who ignores rules and misses deadlines. In reality freelancers have usually been around the agency block already and know their stuff. Nobody starts work as a freelancer.

There used to be advantages in employing large agencies for big jobs. Economies of scale, strength in numbers, experience and access to resources were benefits of the big boys over a lone ranger. Nowadays, this isn’t true. All a freelancer needs is a computer and broadband.

Now large files can be moved around quickly, huge jobs – series of billboards, brochures, books, presentations, videos, websites – can sit on secure servers anywhere in the world. The designer has the work on his computer at home so in the unlikely event of data loss there is always a copy. Viruses are unheard of as well – it’s a Mac thing.

If the scale of the job is too much for one freelancer they can simply call on someone else to help. Files can be downloaded from the freelancer’s FTP site and uploaded when finished. Every freelancer has a network of contacts each with their specialities.

So what of using an agency? Well, the design agency or consultancy have their premises to pay for and add to the bill. They also have directors, account managers, senior creatives and junior designers each with their own ideas, spins and interpretations to confuse the message. They also have attitude, and can be full of precious personalities with an “us and them” relationship with the client.

When a client enlists the help of a creative freelancer they are creating a one-to-one relationship with a professional. They now know who to phone or email about the project and will get a quick answer without getting stuck in the corporate maze of finding the right department. Last minute changes to a job before it prints or goes live are quicker and cheaper with the freelancer.

Also the freelancer has his reputation on the line with the job and it means so much more to him than to individuals in an agency.

I’m doing a colour 120 page A5 booklet for my client, Accenture, at the moment and they are very happy. But when they asked the previous agency to amend things slightly they were met with tuts! Incredible! In my opinion, the client is always right. It has to be that way.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

I’ve also been very impressed with their design guidelines, typeface and logos that were set up by Wolf Olinns a few years ago. Elements of Tate design can be seen on my main design page.

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.

In WC1, hiding in between the Islington’s Lloyd, Wilmington and Granville Squares is Framfab LBi, Europe’s largest web agency, where I’m working now, in a building that used to be a school. And it actually feels like a school. The staircases, the rooms, the panelled headmaster’s study, the canteen, they are all frighteningly familiar.

But this is not the strangest thing about this place. I am shown to a desk and a computer, as normal, but in a room where the other people around me (many of them freelancers) are working on different projects. So none of us here actually knows anyone else in the room. No music, either. All you can here is keyboard-tapping, mouse-clicking and the occasional sigh. Now I know why people used to say that Londoners don’t know their neighbours!

This is an article from Rob Cubbon

Please download your free copy of How to Market Yourself Online a PDF eBook which contains all my best tips on internet marketing, social media and blogging.