One thing to note is that, as a beginner, you can never really know exactly how to do something unless you learn how to do it or practice it. To put it in sweeter words, your interpretation of your creativity is limited by your skill. You can have wild imaginations and in your head, there are so many amazing ideas but you just don’t know exactly how to put them on paper or in photoshop. So now, for you to express this creativity, you have to learn that skill and practice it to become more and more competent.
2. Watch Tons of Tutorials
You should spend as much time as you can studying concepts and watching tutorials on sites like Lynda (Now Linkedin Learning), Skillshare, Udemy and more. Of course, not everyone can pay N6,800 or $14 for a 1-month subscription, a platform that works without fail is YouTube. You see, there are 2 major things you’ll almost always do when you’re on your design journey, I believe not every designer can claim to know everything so one thing you will and should be doing is heading on to Google and searching for solutions, like How to create noisy drop shadows and special effects like that and one thing to note is that Google is the biggest search engine, YouTube is the second biggest search engine and YouTube is owned by Google. Some of the results you find on Google will lead to video tutorials and creators on this website can teach you for free.
3. Getting Work Done
As a graphic designer when you’re first starting out, if you’re not directly employed you definitely need to do some work for as many people as you can to grow your income or work on as many projects as you can and because design is very subjective, you have to live with the fact that well you might not be good enough but that’s okay. If you can and I think you should, when you’re starting out, you’ll want to make a bunch of free designs or lower-paid projects you can learn from but you have to make sure it’s meeting the needs of the patronizing party aka the client. Don’t take any feedback personal, you have to accept that you’re just starting out.
4. Join Freelance Websites
There are now many websites online that can help you get work as a freelance graphic designer or just a freelancer. You can earn as much as $500 or more per project for something you would normally do for a very small amount due to the standard of living. Sites like Fiverr, Upwork, 99Designs, and more help freelance designers connect with clients. You would need to really understand the platforms, make sure you read the rules and regulations, or terms and conditions.
5. Being Reliable & Efficient + Have the Right Tools
It pays to be reliable as a designer and meet the clients' demands wherever they are. This means you should also have the right tools to succeed as a designer. A Good Laptop (Core i5 and above), Software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, Sketch), Stylus or Design Tablet (Wacom), a fast Mouse. Make sure you deliver value to the clients and make sure it's what the clients want. Make sure that when you give your designs, you thoroughly explain the designs, explain why you added a button, why something was special about your design what you did right and what you did differently. It's true that this makes the changes to your work much less, it makes the client trust your judgement more and it overall makes your workflow smoother.
6. Understanding Clients
Understanding your clients involve studying their brand wholly, understanding the assets, the colours of the brand and the meaning of the brand. Make sure you know what they want to achieve with a certain design or project and see how this design you’re tasked to create is going to solve a problem for them. Research is very key at this point and the last thing you want is to be the designer that delivers something other than what they want. You won’t get far if you rush the process so take your time to understand every single aspect before putting the mouse on the pad or grabbing your stylus.
7. Asking Clients for Work (Just Ask)
Try to ask your clients if there’s any other thing you can create to help. This might sound cliche but for real, JUST ASK… if you’re tasked with designing a web page, for instance, you can ask if they want a mobile version designed as well. If he asks for an app design, you can ask if they have developers and you can partner with maybe a friend of yours who can develop and you can share a commission. Asking for more work and also asking that the client recommends you can really help you get far. Recommendations can help you get from $500 a month to $1,000 a month to make that much per every single project.
8. Understanding Money & Payment
Two of the questions people have asked a lot is how much to charge or how do you charge and what platforms did you use. With regards to how much you should charge as a freelancer, you can start small but always give value and then on the next project you can test a higher amount, then a higher amount, then a higher amount. Add more services you’re delivering and charge for it. This is exactly what has worked. You can start with 5,000 Naira per design here in Nigeria, go up to 500 dollars per design online, test $1,000, test $2,000, 2500 you get the idea, With regards to the platforms, most freelancing platforms charge a percentage of how much you charge your client, that’s how they make money. A common payment platform for graphic design freelancers that pays directly to your Nigerian Domiciliary account is Payoneer.
9. Market Yourself
One way to grow your income as a designer is pushing your designs out there, market yourself. This is where you want to grow your business and market what you have to offer. A very good way is to join portfolio and showcase websites like Behance which is a very dope place to post your designs and sites like Dribbble. Not only are these websites super dope for inspiration, but you can also post there and you never know, a client might like your work and hit you up to hire you. Dribbble was an invite-only platform that has a way of letting people know you’re available for work. You can also leverage your social media feed like Instagram and Twitter to put valuable design content and your own work to build sort of a portfolio, that way you’re getting access to a larger audience even from your circle.
What are your tips for growing your income as a graphic designer in Nigeria? Comment below
Can you recommend the best place to learn graphic design in Lagos?
Darkmode64: I totally find it appalling how Nigerians have commonized this skill because design industry isn't regulated like other fields. No thanks to softwares like Canva, professional designers are sidelined while quacks smile to the bank. Companies would employ someone who is a graduate of chemistry for a design role over someone who actually studied design. Clients will also treat freelance designers like sh*it because they are vulnerable somethings like ethical considerations, job security etc
Gone were the days when people chose graphics design because they were skilled at it. But these days, it's a "means of survival" for many.
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Sheriman: Everybody want to be a graphic designer in Nigeria. Especially all these amateur 2K designers that have saturated Nairaland.
I mean... How can professional logos go for as low as 2k?! This validates my initial comment about commonizing design skills. All they do is churn out grotesque designs. Some even charge 10k for web design, Lol.
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I search for this name after watching his video few days ago but didn't see it. Looks like he spelt it wrongly. If you have direct link to her channel, you can please share
CapitalBank: I search for this name after watching his video few days ago but didn't see it. Looks like he spelt it wrongly. If you have direct link to her channel, you can please share
Check her out on LinkedIn Learning. The spelling is correct.
