Graphic design jobs and how to make money using graphic design

You’ve stumbled across graphic design and perhaps you are just starting out looking to learn a graphic design course before you cash in on gigs and client work or maybe you are fully trained already and you  looking to make some fast cash. If you are after ways to make money quickly the good news is that it is possible for you to start earning money online now. But if you are after long-term, more sustainable income-producing results, there are certainly ways you can make money online today. The truth is that making money online is not as complicated as most make it out to appear and if you can design you have the potential to earn. It does however require some discipline and some friendly advice on the way.

Graphic design is a creatively rewarding and enjoyable way to make a living that pays fairly well and the nice things are that it’s a career path that offers so many diverse disciplines like marketing, creative, digital, print offline, publishing, freelance work and  many more all there to be mastered.

Recent developments in the creative domain of graphic design such as e-commerce service sites like Fiverr and Etsy that cater for the client to find graphic designers has meant work is more vastly available. Several websites such as Freelancer.in, worknhire.com or  Upwork.com offers you a platform to be a show-off your creative flare and get paid for it! Feel free to check out our other blog page on Making more money as a graphic designer here.
The economy is becoming more digital than ever before and with more Highstreet retails stores closing the online space is ever increasing. The online presence of multinational corporations and even smaller businesses has meant that there is an increased need for graphic designers who in turn make money of these jobs. Corona pandemic lockdown has shown how resilient the people of the world are when it comes to communication and the internet. More online shopping, more zoom, skype and web surfing.  Think about it! Graphic designers are the creative masterminds behind each of these online spaces. They influence adverts and graphics around all around us every single day from food packaging in your fridge to the online magazines you read.

Testimonials:

Check out the following equation:
More online shops + businesses + online communities = more demand for graphic designers, web designers and UX-UI designers.

The job market is set to boom for the IT and creative online space which means that for those sitting on the fence contemplating a graphic design career there has potentially never been a better time. If you have not yet got the skill set required to operate graphic design software then think about either learning it yourself or for the sake convenience taking an online course under a one-to-one classroom environment.

Leaders in business consultancy Deloitte wrote in their 2020 edition of the digital economy that the world is undergoing a digital transformation.

So, what is the digital economy? “It′s the economic activity that results from billions of everyday online connections among people, businesses, devices, data, and processes. The backbone of the digital economy is hyper-connectivity which means growing interconnectedness of people, organisations, and machines that results from the Internet, mobile technology and the internet of things.”

Graphic design is the future

While there is some truth that robots and automation systems might be taking over our responsibilities (just compare train stations 10 years ago to trains stations today), but the good news is that graphic design is protected to a large extent.

Learning how to develop apps through web design and UX-UI or creating the latest advertisements with InDesign require real human input. Human input is needed to operate the intricacies of graphic design such as using colours, the emotions evoked on adverts by a human, the typography on the packaging or even branding ideas all things that machines could never do.

At Blue Sky Graphics we asked a few graphic designers some of the ways they earn their crust.

Graphic design jobs and how to make money using graphic design

 

Here are 5 ways to make money as a graphic designer:

1)      Work for a client but save the work they do not use and sell that as a template.

Not everything you design will be loved by your clients. Instead of letting those unused designs go to waste, cash in on them by selling your files on marketplace design sites. The main reason that graphic designers tend not to make huge sums of money is that almost every piece of work they create for a client is unique and (normally) bespoke. You are commission on a project and you then create that one thing and then move on to creating and selling another, but remember to save the work you do not use. Remember the saying one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure?

2)      Do some consulting. 

Consultants are highly valuable people and in need especially during times of economic downturn. If you have an artistic and creative talent you know other people in your field want, sell consulting services that teach other freelance designers how to duplicate your successes. A perfect example of someone doing this is a graphic design junior who has backgrounds in online marketing or freelance designing and offering their services to help other creative entrepreneurs.

3)      Printable wall art.

According to research analysts, the global home decor market is steadily growing by almost 40% a year. In fact, as long as people and companies will move and renovate spaces, decor like posters, canvases and wall stickers won’t leave the best-seller’s top. But the nicest part is that selling wall art does not mean you need to print and ship physical products. Instead, skip the hassle and offer downloadable print files, leaving the printing part to the customer.

4)      Printable party invitations, stationery and decorations.

There might never be a better time to use this trend to make passive income. Besides the chance to make money as a freelancer, selling party decorations also offers you endless possibilities to express yourself. Focus on a specific: theme (e.g. superheroes, disco, high tea party) and type of party (e.g. birthdays, christenings, weddings, bachelorette parties) There are no limits to your creativity and earning potential, so just pick a niche and go for it.

you can also go local with your graphic design skills and sell wedding stationery. The chances of this business succeeding are quite high—if weddings happen, there will always be a need for exquisitely illustrated wedding invitations. Selling wedding stationery is a comparatively low-cost enterprise that can be controlled part-time until it becomes lucrative. Use the downtime you have while furloughed and get creative today!

5)      Freelance on Upwork.

Freelancing could work for you when you have a diverse set of graphic design skills, but you are not into selling products. If you would rather try with different gigs (like social media post design, vector designs, video graphics, illustration, etc.), Upwork  
could be a possible source of income for you. With hundreds of jobs for each skill set, Upwork is the world’s largest freelancing website. Upwork allows you to source suitable jobs faster than you would on your own by matching you to suggestions that need graphic designers. While freelancing may not be the most reliable option for earning a steady income, it’s a great way to build a reputation and earn positive feedback. For example, you can try part-time freelancing while working on other side projects and use the assessments you’ve received on Upwork for future reference and bring new work. 

You can also have a look at our blog post on other websites for finding graphic design jobs online.

 
6)      Make money by doing simple gigs on Fiverr.

Fiverr is notable for very reasonably priced work and here it is about the volume. You will need to do a lot of work to make a half-decent sum but there are lots of
products offered on Fiverr, and not much is priced above £5, meaning the pay-out for designers is not big. Whilst it might not seem like much, it can quickly add up and there are plenty of examples of people making a really good living from the site. The key is to get a system in place which minimises the time spent on each gig.
You do not just need to offer graphic design as here you can offer services like social media posting and teaching to cook great dishes, voiceovers and short video clips for end users, companies or anyone really.

Our tip to profit even more from Fiverr for potentially far less work is to resell your gigs elsewhere on other platforms too.  Also, have you ever thought about selling merchandise? This has swiftly become one of the most popular ways to earn an income.

There are many sectors that money can be made with graphic design:

Comics and graphic novels
Creating and printing designs on:

  • T-shirts
  • Sweatshirts
  • Mugs
  • Tote Bags
  • Jackets
  • Tank tops

Printable colouring books
Freelance on Upwork
Business branding
Teach graphic design
Illustrate publications
Merchandise
Wedding stationery
Web elements and icons
Fonts
Instagram Highlights Covers
Emojis, stickers, and emoticons
Printable wall art
Printable party decorations
Premade 3D designs

What to expect in the future?

If you are a future graphic designer, the good news is with the cloud and SaaS there are various software options accessible to you- some of which require no subscription and this will allow you to work from home. You can telecommute or just work as a freelancer if you prefer.

Even companies with a limited marketing budget will typically need to employ a graphic designer for their firm because they know it pays to invest in good graphic design. Cheap design or those made by anyone using unprofessional graphic platforms with templates (Canva etc) often means inferior design. And inadequately or inferior designed graphics can be expensive to fix. I know you, readers, maybe thinking that this may sound counterintuitive, but without the know-how of a professional graphic designer using a template may throw a company’s branding into the bin for example.

Can you think of a strong company or brand that does not have a catchy or unique logo, brand identity and colour scheme or typeface? Probably not and so graphic designers in the future will need to continue to create a unique DNA that helps differentiate and promote a company. So long as companies exist (which, let’s face it- in the future does not seem that they too will disappear to Mars) they will be a need for graphic designers.

Graphic design is creative and requires human-led intelligence and ideas to respond to trends, tastes, and what has already been before and Blue Sky Graphics remains at the forefront of developing highly skilled graphic designers for the workforce. Being an online school places us in a unique position to continue to offer our students key essential skills for their future.

The future for graphic designers in the UK continues to look extremely optimistic with an increasing number of jobs on the market. The increase in automated technology and the digitalization of the modern world have made a market geared towards a competitive economy, with around 45% of jobs currently in the market set to become automated in the future.

There was a time when remote work as we know it was not even an option, because the technology simply did not exist. The uncertainty of the corona pandemic is another threat to traditional careers however our opinion is that this the field of graphic design is far more protected than other careers.

The Corona pandemic has proven just how adaptable and flexible successful graphic designers will and must be.

Get your creative juices flowing!

It’s wise for graphic designers to have a few different sources of income. It’s a profession well-suited to freelancing and requires skilful use of time management.

Now that you’ve seen the many ways to make money as a graphic designer, the next step is to pick the product or service and open your online shop. Then, start earning with graphic design. You have valuable skills that are greatly in demand – and the freedom to earn as much or as little from them as you like.

With so many worries in the world and the advent of the COVID-19 Corona pandemic many people have been asking about the future of graphic design.

First things first; graphic designers were needed many years ago, still needed today and will be needed in many years to come. While the demand in graphic design careers will be highly linked to the needs of the economy, in general, the reassuring thing to know is that robots and computers are not likely to take over in this field.

Every waking hour, most of us are inundated from the moment we wake up and check our mobile phone notifications, emails, apps and news with information from mobile phones, magazines, computers, Television, billboards and more. And as an evolving human race, our attention spans are getting shorter because of it. Images are the perfect solution. They have the power to communicate complex messages much faster than words can. Graphics design can help your business successfully transition into this new era of concise, high-speed communication.

Good designers do not see design as a job, but a lifestyle. There are many ways to make a lot of money either as a freelance designer, in-house designer, or part-time graphic designer and most of them require a tiny bit of effort to get them going.

We at Blue Sky Graphics estimate that with the competitive rise in online businesses and the digitalization of the world more graphic designers will be needed more than ever before which is encouraging news for anyone contemplating a career in graphic design.  It has been predicted that the rate of freelancers in the graphic design field will increase dramatically within the next 2-3 years.

If you need to somewhere to train come to the best online school around and feel welcome by one of our 16 specialist tutors. Find out more about our graphic design courses here.

Love, peace and creative flare from Team Blue Sky Graphics.

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