How to Become a Freelance Graphic Designer?

Published: April 20, 2024

Freelance graphic designing is a great career option. You get to work on your terms, you get to choose your clients, and it’s all good.

But is becoming a freelance graphic designer as easy as it sounds? Not really.

As a freelance graphic designer, you’ll have to wear different hats:
A visual storyteRefined Designing Skillsller,
Master of colours, lines and designs,
Be your own boss, but network like a pro,
Manage your own finances,
You’re your own CEO.

As a designer, it’s probably too much for you to handle, isn’t it? A professional graphic designer must create everything, from posters to logo designs. As a freelancer, you must also handle a significant part of your marketing and branding.

If this excites you, start establishing your career in the industry. I, Kate, established a graphic design agency, BrandVillage, in 2014 to help the booming design industry of Melbourne. Today, we stand as one of the leading graphic design and branding experts with my excellent team.

Planning to learn and offer professional graphic design services in Melbourne, such as experts like BrandVillage. Let us help you understand how you can become a freelance graphic designer.

Tips to Become a Freelance Graphic Designer

Becoming a graphic designer, especially a freelancer, is taking a huge leap. Well, it’s all worth the shot. If you plan to establish your career in this sector, these are some tips that might help:

Be Creative

If you’re not creative, establishing a career as a freelance graphic designer can be difficult. Graphic designing is a creative career. You need to channel creativity daily so that there’s no monotony in the project.

Don’t feel you’re creative enough? There’s always a scope to learn. You can always polish your skills if you have that creative learning streak. This is your first step toward becoming a freelance graphic designer.

Refined Designing Skills

Refining your design skills entirely depends on your learning and experience stage. For example, if you’re a beginner, you must start from scratch. Alternatively, if you have a basic graphic design idea, you need to upskill.

Either way, refining your skills is extremely important as a freelance graphic designer. This helps refresh your older knowledge about design and also allows you to pick up a few new tips and tricks. Moreover, the graphic design industry is constantly changing. Thus, upskilling also means staying updated with the latest graphic design trends and graphic design software.

Join a Course

We encourage all freelance graphic designers to join a course. As a freelancer, you will need a lot of guidance along the way. The courses will help you learn and prepare for the journey ahead.

Joining a complete graphic design course can help you foster a newer approach. These courses will teach you about the industry and help you learn portfolio management. Thus, you will know how to establish your career successfully in the field.

Learn the Graphic Designing Tools

What is a graphic designer’s biggest strength? Their knowledge of the tools. Graphic design freelancers need to be well-versed in advanced design tools like InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and more.

The workings of most of these tools are taught in the online courses only. But we recommend trying them on your own. Self-teaching and learning from the internet can be of great help. Dig into the tools and keep practicing to polish your skills. You must know the functionalities of each aspect of the tools on the tip of your fingers. The more you practice, the better you become.

Build a Portfolio

Every graphic designer must have a graphic design portfolio. Whether it’s a freelancer or an agency like us, the portfolio is the best proof of our work. It’s a great element to be flaunted. So, why let it go? As and when you keep doing the projects, keep adding them to your portfolio.

You won’t get any work as a freelancer if you can’t show impressive work. Want to work with your favorite company in Melbourne? Send them a portfolio. All the freelance graphic designers we’ve worked with ensured to take a look at their portfolios. A portfolio makes it easier for the clients to choose who they want to work with.

Charge Your Services

Whether you charge per hour, month, or project is up to you. We recommend charging for your services on a per-hour basis when you’re just starting your career. When you become seasoned, you may move to charge per project.

We strongly advise freelance graphic designers to charge every month unless it’s a retainer client. It’s best to price your services based on what you offer the best.

How Do You Onboard The Best Clients As A Freelance Graphic Designer?

As you start expanding your freelance graphic design career, make sure to onboard new clients.

• Networking and job portals can be excellent sources for landing freelance graphic design opportunities.
• In fact, many freelance graphic design opportunities for Melbourne-based individuals are available on LinkedIn, too. You need to filter the job sections to find them.
• You may also request a referral from your existing clients. Most freelancers manage to get new clients via referrals. Never hesitate to ask for a referral, whether it’s your old clients, friends, or families.
• You may also start posting regularly on social media, adopt email marketing, or run paid ads about your freelance services to get new clients.

Freelance Graphic Designer Salary in Melbourne

On average, a full-time graphic designer’s salary in Melbourne is $65,000-$80,000 annually. The prices of freelance graphic designers in Melbourne, however, vary depending on their skill set.

We’ve worked with numerous freelance graphic designers on our journey to establish BrandVillage as a leading graphic design company. Some charged monthly, others charged hourly.

In Melbourne, the freelance graphic designer (average) earnings are as follows:

• $61 per hour
• $69,500 per year

Invest and Automate Your Business

Being a freelance graphic designer in Melbourne is about investing, learning, and automating. As a freelance graphic designer, in most cases, you will be the one-man army. So, never hesitate to shy away from polishing your skills.

The graphic design field is huge and vast. So, the more you expand, the more opportunities will open your way. Around 70% of freelancers can onboard two to four clients at once. Thus, you need to focus on streamlining your design and onboarding clients.

If being a one-man army takes too much of your time, consider automating it. We’ve had the opportunity to work with some excellent freelance designers who automated their tasks, allowing them to deliver them on time.

One suggestion is to always invest in your graphic design skills and tools. Your skills and knowledge about the tools are the two most important assets of your freelance career. The more you polish these two, the more clients you will land.

Final Thoughts

Becoming a freelance graphic designer may seem like breaking mountains—it’s not. As long as you’re ready to learn and hone your skills, you will shine as a freelance graphic designer.

You’re a designer, not an artist. The difference speaks for itself. Never kill the urge to learn, especially when you want to succeed in your graphic design career. If you want to establish your career as a graphic designer and need some tips, contact us. We’d be more than happy to help!