Five Things Every Graphic Designer Should Be Doing to Promote Themselves

Your designs may be top notch, but even the best freelance graphic designer needs to know how to promote their services to win more business. To get more clients, you’ll need to make your design services known. As a freelancer, promotion is critical to master because most of the time you’ll have to do it yourself.

Here are the 5 things that freelancers should be doing to promote themselves.

How to Promote Yourself as a Freelance Graphic Designer

1. Create a Brand for Yourself

Before you do anything else, you need to brand yourself. This includes identifying your style, specifying the types of designer you are (e.g. print designer, web designer, etc.), creating a logo and more. Think about what makes your designs special, and why you design at all. Then translate that into your branding, whether it’s in your slogan, design portfolio, business cards, or anything else.

An established brand helps potential clients (and current clients) identify your business and understand why they should choose your services. Perhaps they identify with your values or find your style a perfect match for their business.

2. Create a Website

This is your “real estate” where you can get creative. We recommend creating your website on a platform that gives you traffic insights (e.g. WordPress). Your website is where you can take your branding to its highest level. Tell your story, show your designs, and make contacting you easy. Ensure that it is user-friendly and that it includes a quote form.

3. Promote on Social Media

Social media is also a great place to showcase your brand and drive traffic to your website. Many designers already use it, but make sure that you’re one step ahead by maximizing social media’s potential. First, separate your personal account from your business account to keep it professional. Many social media platforms also allow special features for business accounts, so be sure to take advantage of them.

Second, join groups—not just groups for designers but also groups related to potential clients and business partners. For example, if you specialize in designing for print, considering joining a print related group. Not only will you get valuable information that could help your designing process, but these groups could also hook you up with some good deals in the future.

4. Network at Social Events

Networking online is important, but so is networking in person at social events. These include not just traditional networking events but also job fairs, trade shows, conventions, and more. Attending in person helps build trust between you and your potential customers or business partners.

Networking events are especially important for graphic designers because your clients will often be people who are a little less tech savvy. That’s why they need your help. So instead of interacting with you on social media, they may feel a lot more comfortable talking to you face to face.

Tip: If you design for print, social networking events are a great opportunity for handing out printed samples of your designs.

5. Start a Blog

When you create a blog packed with informative content, appealing designs and unique branding, you demonstrate that you’re a knowledgeable professional who is consistently producing high quality designs. Don’t forget to use SEO to increase your online presence, so that those searching online can find you.

Having a blog also gives you more things to post on social media. Link back to your blog when you repost the content on social media. And finally, interact with other design blogs to expand your professional network. 

Promoting your graphic design business is a step that every freelancer needs to take, from branding yourself to updating your blog frequently. Make sure your promotional strategy includes at least these 5 tactics so that you can expand your client base and grow your business.https://store.printcafeli.com/blog/Print_Cafe_Blog.html 

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Four Exercises to Fuel Your Design Innovation

                     Four Exercises to Fuel Your Design Innovation

Even the most brilliant creators need new fuel from time to time.

If you’re feeling stifled or uninspired (or you just want to have fun!) consider some of these creative “sparks” from designer Jim Krause to ignite fresh perspective in your monthly routine.

Exercise: Make a puddle of ink. Blow the ink around using a straw. Consider layering different colors of ink and using different kinds of paper. To mix things up, repeat this exercise but start the puddle of ink on an existing picture—a landscape, a silhouette, a cultural icon.

Takeaway: Creating things that create themselves reminds us that art is fun and beauty can arise from unexpected places.

Exercise: Choose a subject and create 25 thumbnail icons that depict its message and its meaning. If that’s too easy, try 50 or 100. Start with basic sketches and transition into graphic design or photos. Consider different line weights, shaded and filled areas, or combinations of geometric shapes.

Takeaway: Forcing yourself to sketch the same thing in different ways can build and broaden your artistic muscle. The next time you work on a concept, fill a full page with icon sketch versions of it before you settle on your design of choice.

Exercise: When was the last time you took out a paintbrush? Still-life portraits are a tangible way to sharpen your skills, especially when you combine objects of various shapes and textures in interesting arrangements (think eggs in a bowl surrounded by glass spice bottles on a bustled cloth napkin).

Takeaway: Still-life paintings are like eating your carrots: they’re good for you and increase your appreciation of texture. Painting helps you learn to see forms and colors, which makes you a more effective artist in any field.

Exercise: Begin with a blank piece of paper. Make a mark using the media of your choice (India ink, acrylic paint, and toothbrush, sketching pencils, chalk). The next mark you make will be a reaction to the first mark. This can be a new mark, a line, shading, fillers, or finishes. The goal here is not to “plan” what you’re going to draw but to practice progressive art by following one element to another (like a group of people taking turns adding sentences to a narrative). Your goal is not to create a thing of beauty, but simply to flow. If the results are pleasing, that’s fine. If not, that’ s ok too. 

Takeaway: This exercise teaches the artist to rely on instinct: to react or flow rather than to plan and control. The best art can be born out of spontaneity.

Tend Your Roots

Creating is like breathing: it brings energy and life! If you only create what you’re “told” to do, you will stagnate. Tend your roots by cultivating the passions and interests that nourish your artistic core. As you pursue creative expressions outside your job or career, originality will flow in your profession as well.

Now that your designs are really singing, find high impact print options that won’t shock your budget. Want to talk cost-effective wow factors like thermography, high shine coatings, or alternative bleed options? Give us a call!
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