A Viable Career as a Freelance Logo Designer?
Is it possible to make a viable career as a freelance logo designer? If not a career, how about a period of just earning enough to pay the bills and mortgage or rent? Or if you are living at home, having shit loads of money to go out and buy designer type things, like two new Apple Mac Pro and 30″ Cinema Displays?
Or just taking drugs and getting drunk. Far be it for me to judge your lifestyle.
I can only speak from personal experience here, and limited at that. I have not long been doing freelance logo design, I guess I seriously thought about becoming a freelancer as a career several years ago. So at that time, I started planting the seeds for ImJustCreative.
It does take determination and patience
The last year has seen me work tirelessly behind the scenes to get IJC up and out there, even before I had a decent portfolio or any real clients to mention. I have experience with marketing, advertising, branding and of course, design. So these allowed me to really tap into the necessary veins to start the flow of information and news from the IJC heart.
It does take determination and patience
Way before I even considered taking on work, I was tapping into social media to start getting the IJC name out there. My web site has seen multiple revisions, shifting from one genre to the next, before finally finding its footing, as you see it now. It is a regularly updated design and typography blog, not to mention my portfolio.
This is my agency, my store front. The home page is my front door that’s always open.
The path to success
The key is to get yourself out there however and where ever you can. The saying that goes something like, “you can be the best and most gifted designer ever, but if no one knows you exist, you might as well not, exist.” From many years of experience, seeing other agencies fail at even the basic level of communication prevents me from making these fundamental mistakes.
Get yourself out there
I am out there, and I continue to get out there. Every day I spend time on Twitter, FaceBook and keep my blog updated. I have other strategies in place that will see the light of day soon. I have ensure that for at least one set of keywords, I come up in the top 1-4 results in Google. This has opened the floodgates, people now see me worldwide, and the logo proposals trickle in.
Much of my work right now comes via Twitter or Google.
Niché it
Right at the beginning, I decided to drop the multi-disciplinary graphic design title. Too much to focus on, too much to try and market and frankly, way too much competition. I decided to focus on logo and brand identity for several reasons. Easier to market and advertise, focusing on just logo design allows for a much easier path to getting picked up by Google and other forms of discovery.
Also, I just wanted to be able to focus my mind, my efforts on one area. I wanted to commit to logo and brand identity and nothing else.
Logo design is what I do, and people know it. There is no mistaking it.
Now that’s far easier to market than doing everything under the sun.
Be committed.
Doesn’t need to be said, but I will. I am utterly dedicated to logo design. I read, I soak, I collect, I digest everything to do with logo design and brand identity. I read volumes and volumes of books, subscribe to countless web sites. I surf for new inspiration daily. I think and dream logo design. Well, the latter may be slightly exaggerated, but it’s not far from truth. I wake up with ideas in my head, we all do from time to time.
So can you make it?
Well, I would say yes.
Things are looking good for me right now. I am pushing and pushing IJC. I am determined to make it a success. I still have a way to go before I can claim to be ‘paying my way’ but it looks promising.
My reasons for making this leap to freelancing are valid. I don’t want to ever go back to working for some narcissistic MD. I don’t want to be caged up in a poky studio that feels more like a battery farm. I want to have that ’so achievable’ work like balance. You need to have the right reasons to make it work. These reasons push me to make this a success. This is all I need to keep me on the straight and narrow. You need your own reasons.
If you don’t have valid reasons to take the plunge to freelancing, you will struggle. It’s not easy, but equally, it’s not impossible.
What has made it more manageable for me personally, is opting to find and work in that niché. That was a calculated decision for me.
Article Posted On: September 8, 2009 at 10.47 am
Written By
In Categories: Branding, Freelance Design, Identity, Logo design, Social Media, Typography, inspiration
A FEW OPTIONAL EXTRAS
If you enjoyed this post or website in general, then please consider signing up to the free ImJustCreative Newsletter (the bright orange icon). You can also find me on Twitter, Redux, FriendFeed and FaceBook daily, dispensing the latest in design, logo and typography news. If your choice of blog platforms include Tumblr or Posterous, then you can also follow my breadcrumb trails there. And the neat looking 'lightning bolt' icon is for my CargoCollective portfolio and the pink heart is for FFFFound.
34 Comments
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Well written, and quite inspirational! :-)
awesome, now im going to be a freelance logo designer!!!!
Go for it…
Right on, Graham. I’ve been working for the past 7 months to get my freelancing business off the ground and everything you’ve said here is what I’ve found to be true as well. The ‘determination and patience’ point is the one that most aspiring freelancers fall by the wayside on, and is easily one of the most important parts of the equation.
I agree with the others, it is really well written, inspirational, and applies to us freelancers.
I’m just starting out in freelancing, and am finding it very hard to get myself out there. I’ve only been on Twitter about a month, and LinkedIn for about 2 months(actively). I’m getting myself out there to be the hardest.
I have the determination, patience, and drive to do this, and I know it will take time. I also live, breathe, read and study design daily. But, boy do I feel like the little fish in a big pond most of the time. Reading this article has given me inspiration, and it helps to know that even the bigger fish feel and go through the same things that I do.
Thanks for writing this! It’s a great article.
You are always right there dudette, glad you have your acquaintance. :)
I forgot to add that I agree with finding a niche as being really important too. There are so many designers out there, that you almost HAVE to find a niche.
Mine is intercultural and multi-language design. I’d love to hear about what niche others are in. :)
Good advice, and valuable encouragement for other freelancers. Choosing a niche is a very solid idea. Having passion for what you do is an important part of being committed, and it also shows when you talk about your work: to clients, to friends or anyone else.
The only reason I choose the niche was because I needed something more manageable in my life. After giving up a crazy career in a commercial printers, I wanted to be more in control of my life.
Keeping it simple is important for many areas of my life. Focusing one one skill has really helped things generally. Less stress and less confusion and frustration I find.
Fair Play to you Graham!
Nice article (again)!
Thanks for the continued support Richard, cheers pal.
very inspirational. thanks for the article.
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Great article, very well written and focused, although personally I haven’t decided to “niche it” I have been taking the rest of this advice, I’ve been putting myself out there and promoting myself as much as possible, entering contest, and recently I started submitting print work to magazines.
Yeah, it’s not for everyone. But personal reasons have meant having to keep my life more in check and more simple. being a multi service freelancer wasn’t for me. Too much competition as well.
This way for me I am considerably more in control of my work day… which also equates too less stress.
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Well said, really inspiring. I am a young web freelancer and I really took what you said about narrowing down what I do to heart. Thanks.
PS. I like the new design.
Great article, Graham! Keep it up!
Cheers, appreciate it.
[...] A Viable Career as a Freelance Logo Designer? [...]
Great post Graham. I do the very same thing. Also I would like to point out as a logo designer, the other projects just trickle down. I mean who needs a new logo or rebrand without needing stationery, new website, etc. to match. I find I am getting additional projects from my “logo” clients because of this.
Quite right, often other things do transpire from one job.
What is nice is when a previous client comes back for a nother logo, that’s really neat.
[...] A Viable Career as a Freelance Logo Designer? [...]
Hey Graham,
Thanks for opening up this space to talk about your career as a freelancer.
You made some valid points and you also inspired many of us to continue doing what we do.
Thanks.
It’s a steep learning curve, and it’s one that I am continuously learning daily. Always something else that pop’s up that needs attention.
Keep it in mind so you don’t make the same mistake next time.
Hi Graham,
Thank you very much for writing this article. For a while now, I’ve been trying to do it all, but I realize that branding, print, and packaging design are where my passions lie. I kid you not, I can spend hours looking at packaging, analyzing the pros and cons, and learning from it. And there really is something magical about revitalizing a brand, from their logo to their packaging. The before and afters, while tremendous hours of work, really shine and remind me why I design.
Thanks for giving me the nudge I needed.
Hi
Sometimes a freelance website is a good place to start – especially those completely new to online freelancing or even their “new” field.
I’d suggest Elance to start.
Juliet
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Good post, above all. Always stay in the game. Never give up. In any industry in fact, those who win are the last man standing.
Practice makes perfect (and more money too over the long term)
hihi, greetings from Singapore~ the above post is very helpful and insightful for me. I’m just starting out and has just gotten my first client for a logo design work and the CI package. I would like to ask for yout advice on the file formats which I should be giving to my client for the final artwork (e.g. .eps or .jpeg for the logo and .ai files for the letterhead and envelope)? Really appreciate if you could help to advice on it. Thanks a lot. =)
Thank you very much for these usefull informations!
Great post Graham. I saw your Twitter profile lots of time and you really became a known logo designer, and this is because of your great work. You inspire me.
Great post Graham, you cover alot of things that a freelance designer needs in order to succeed not just financially but creatively, maybe apart from the drugs! :-)
Nice article