Finding Freelance Work in Graphic Design

So you’re looking for graphic design contract jobs, but you don’t know where to get started. Where can you find the work? And why should they choose you?

Contract graphic design jobs are an excellent way to earn money while working entirely from home. Today we’ll be looking at how you can find freelance work in graphic design, where to send your portfolio, and some examples of what contract work might look like in practice.

Graphic Design Portfolios

Rule #1 of any creative job is to focus on the portfolio. With graphic design, you want to really tailor it to the jobs you’re applying for. Don’t just try to be an all-purpose graphic designer. As tempting as it is to cast a broad net, trying to appeal to everybody usually just means appealing to nobody.

Instead, get specific. What styles of graphic design do you do best? What kind of materials will you be producing? What type of industry do you want to work in?

Graphic design is a huge discipline. Being great at making posters for your friend’s band doesn’t prove that you’ll be good at making packaging for children’s toys or awareness leaflets for a local charity. When working on pieces for your portfolio, you need to think about industry, intent, and format. What are you making? Who are you making it for? And how will it be presented?

Remember to keep your portfolio lean. Three excellent examples will always beat twenty mediocre ones. Don’t keep old work in there just to fill it out. Putting low-quality work alongside your best pieces tells employers that you don’t know the difference.

Finding Freelance Work

The path to finding freelance work depends a lot on your experience level. If you’ve worked in graphic design before, then you should absolutely start by leveraging that. Use professional pieces in your portfolio, speak to your network about potential gigs, and present yourself as an established designer who’ll be able to provide excellent quality without question.

If you don’t have experience, then don’t panic. Neither does anyone else when they get started, and freelance work is one of the most common places to get started in this industry. Just make sure you’re putting your best foot forward with that portfolio, and you’ll be able to find some interest.

But where should you look for that interest? Social media and job listing boards can be a great place to find gigs – especially if your portfolio is easy to link – but for graphic design, nothing beats word of mouth. Go to local events and talk with local business owners. Get your name out there as a reliable designer who provides good value.

Don’t just contact businesses either. Local design and marketing businesses sometimes have more work than they can handle or require a specialist skillset they don’t have in-house. If they’ve seen your work and they like what they saw, then they might pass something your way.

Graphic Design Contractor Jobs

Before we wrap up, let’s take a look at some examples of graphic design contractor jobs in practice.

A common example of a freelance graphic design contract is brand identity. Mid-sized businesses and startups often outgrow their branding or need to change over time to match the current market. These businesses can’t afford to have an in-house graphic designer on hand, so instead they contract out the overhaul, hiring you for the length of the work.

These gigs involve everything from logo variations and colour palettes to setting typography guidelines and defining a brand’s visual style. They generally take a few weeks to a month to complete.

On the other end of the scale, you have something like digital UI/web graphics. These jobs tend to be billed hourly but can go on for months or even years at a time, particularly if you’re working with a SAAS company whose product requires regular iteration and redesign.

The one universal in freelance graphic design work is that there’s no benefit to positioning yourself as a generalist. If you were running a small company with several people on board, then that might fly, but as an individual operation, you’re always better off pitching to a very specific niche where you can show detailed knowledge and experience.