Many people with graphic design skills start by doing it as a side job. However, not everyone successfully develops the skill into the main career path or business. It takes more than technical skills to develop your side job into a career, and you can do it by slowly taking strategic steps.

How much should you get by being a full-time graphic designer? The average income for level one graphic designers in the US is around USD49,000 to USD56,000 per year. These numbers can grow when you develop your practical and soft skills. If you are consistent in building skills and portfolio, you can reach level five, with the average annual income up to USD120,000.

Here are several strategies you can start to grow a side job into a successful graphic design career.

Determine Your Personal Brand 

If your goal is to start a business, you must have a strong brand. It helps potential clients and partners to see what they can expect from your work. A strong personal brand can also bring your name above the other designers in a highly competitive field like graphic design.

For an independent designer, the personal brand is something people would see from the business logo and “About Me” section. It covers your philosophy, major inspiration, and other important points about your work in general.

Clueless about where to start? Ask these questions to yourself and compose your brand from the answers.

• What are your favorite design aspects?

This question answers the most obvious parts of your work: the visual characteristics. Design aspects consist of colors, values, spaces, lines, textures, forms, and shapes. Think about the visual style of designs that you are familiar with, and describe them in more detail.

• Which design areas do you excel at?

There are different types of graphic designers, and one person could master several. Inform your prospective clients about the areas you are good at so they know what to expect. For example, you may tell them that you specialize in commercial designs (packages, labels, logos), UI and UX designs, or character designs.

• What are your specific selling points?

Unique characteristics or selling points help distinguish you from other designers. For example, you offer a premium-looking design quality even for the simplest order. You can also offer personalized design styles for different clients based on their backgrounds, values, or personalities.

• What are your main inspirations?

Your main inspirations are parts of your brand identity. Even if you do not strictly follow the original ideas, noting the main inspirations will give your brand the “main color” of its identity. For example, your inspiration may be your favorite landscape or the traditional patterns of your cultural heritage.

• What are your vision and goal?

Finally, all good specialists or business owners have clear visions and goals. These things will be reflected your personal brand, making it easier for people to see what you offer. For example, your brand might be “introducing traditional arts/motifs into modern designs” or “providing stylish, premium branding materials for small businesses.”

Based on the answers, you can create a suitable business name or brand name, logo, and vision and mission. Strong identity and characteristics will make your brand stands out in the market.

Carve a Niche for Your Business

Beginner graphic designers or those doing designs as side jobs often work for general clients. However, if you plan to run a business or career path, taking up a specialization can be great. Specialization allows you to hone specific design skills that fulfill the needs of specific clients. You have opportunities to improve your fees or negotiate bigger salaries.

If you want to secure your business, you can try finding a niche market for your design skill. A niche market may have fewer customers, but they tend to be loyal because of the specific nature of your products.

Some examples of a niche market in graphic design include:

• Commercial graphic design for small businesses in a certain region
• Graphic design works for specific industries or field
• Specific graphic design types or materials, such as mixed media, large-sized projects like banners and posters, and fashion print designs
• Concept designs for artistic projects and media

Since niche markets can be risky, make sure you conduct your research. There must be demands for your work, and you should still have the flexibility to do other work. Remember, market demands and trends can change, and maintaining flexibility is a good way to secure your income.

Develop Convincing Portfolio

A good portfolio is your “weapon” to secure a client or climb up a design career path. The images you display on your portfolio are windows to your range and skill levels. Using a website and portfolio template is the easiest way to feature your works. With just a download, you can get a stylish template with spaces to upload your image files.

The question now: how to pick the best images to feature? What should you show in the portfolio? Here are some suggestions.

• Pick the Strongest Works

Regardless of your level and versatility, your portfolio should contain your strongest works. Pick around 10 to 20 images to feature on your portfolio, and make sure they describe your strength and design identities. Put the strongest works as the first five images. Remember, some clients are probably impatient or critical, and they may only flip through several first images to discern your skill and worth.

• Show Versatility

Versatility will help convince prospective clients about your abilities. Remember, many projects involve multiple works. When you show versatility, you assure your prospective clients that you have the ability to handle sophisticated projects. For example, if you are a vector designer who also dabbles in promotional marketing, show some vector arts that form unique logos.

• Work on Pricing and Contract Terms

Pricing and contract terms are important if you open your own business or studio. Make sure you get what you deserve, and avoid clients that think you should work for less. Here are some important things to remember:

• Never work for free or something intangible, like “exposure” (exceptions for nonprofit works)
• Create detailed contracts that cover the rights and obligations of both sides (you and clients) 
• Include payment terms in the contract and invoice, such as a 50 percent down payment or several stages of payment, in the beginning, middle, and end of the project
• Create minimum rates for your pricing based on market range, with extra charges for modifications (usually around 20 to 30 percent of the price)

With important things covered, you can demand payment without worrying about troubles like late payment and endless modifications. Inform your clients and announce on your website when you make modifications to the contract.

Get the Technical Skills Ready 

Once you launch your business or studio (or apply as a graphic designer), people expect you to have certain skills already. Technical skills are more than just using tools such as Adobe Illustration, Photoshop, InDesign, and photo editors. A designer must possess technical skills such as:

• Ideation

Ideation is the ability to create a concept based on ideas, input, and suggestions. Any designer must be able to create design elements like colors, lines, textures, proportions, and depths into visuals that depict the client’s goal.

• Design for Print

Designing for printed materials, such as banners, posters, stickers, and cards, are different from digital ones. The physical materials require designers to understand concepts such as crop, bleed, fold marks, transparency, and ink limits. Designers must also familiarize themselves with design effects on different materials, like various paper types, fabric, and plastic.

• Branding Concept

As a commercial graphic designer, you can expect to get a lot of orders related to branding. This means understanding elements of branding and how to convey the message through them. You must know the best way to combine colors, typography, shapes, and other elements to send the messages the brand owners want.

Develop the Soft Skills

Graphic designers work in a competitive and demanding field, especially if you run your own business or studio. Soft skills are important to maintain various business aspects and keep loyal clients. Some important soft skills for a graphic designer include:

• Time Management

A graphic designer is likely to work on several projects at the same time. They do not include other works such as learning new skills, working on documents and presentations, and other daily activities. Time management skill is essential to prioritize and finish everything on time.

• Communication Skill

A good designer must be able to communicate in a clear, concise way with clients. They must explain concepts and design goals and how these things contribute to the results clients want. Communication skill is also important in conducting presentations or negotiating with prospective clients.

• Creativity

Creativity is vital in graphic design works. You must develop unique, original ideas that describe the messages the clients want. This means digging through your knowledge, experiences, and references to generate new ideas.

• Teamwork

Designer jobs often involve collaboration with other experts or skilled workers. Depending on where you work or what project you handle, you probably have to work with sound designers, concept designers, artistic directors, writers, marketers, and many more. All good designers must be able to collaborate with different people and adjust to different team environments.

• Presentation and Public Speaking

Professional designers must perform various types of the presentation related to their works. Presentation is useful to deliver ideas and concepts and convince clients or investors to trust your work quality. Even if you mostly work in the studio, honing these two skills will give you professional advantages.

You do not need to be an “entertainer” when delivering a presentation or any type of public speaking. Just make sure to train your posture, intonation, enunciation, and the ability to deliver your ideas and messages in an accurate, concise way.

Important: Balancing Work and Life as Designer

Working as a graphic designer is stressful, and it multiplies tenfold when you run your own business or studio. Stress and work demands can cause exhaustion and burnout, which impact other aspects of your life in general. However, it does not mean that you cannot reduce the stress level and improve your work-life balance.

There are several ways you can balance your works as a graphic designer with other aspects of daily life. Try using these strategies:

• Set Up Work Hours

Setting up work hours allows you to create boundaries, both with customers and yourself. You must create a time window where you can do your work, communicate with clients, send and read emails or messages, and generally do work stuff. 

For example, you have 08:00 to 17:00 as the normal work hours (an additional one hour for overtime). This means you cannot be expected to contact (or get contacted by) anyone, answer the phone, and do any work stuff.

• Have a Specific Workspace

Even if you work from home, you should have a dedicated workspace. It helps get your mind into the work mood and reduce distractions. A dedicated workspace also creates a positive impression when you have to communicate via video call. Also, avoid working on your bed or anywhere you usually rest. Mixing working and resting spaces will distract you and reduce your sleep quality.

• Learn to Prioritize and Have Limits

When you still designed it as a side job, you were probably tempted to take as many orders as possible to earn money. Avoid doing this when you start designing as the main job or business. Being unable to prioritize and say “no” will result in burnout and stress, not to mention a negative impression because you cannot finish your workload on time.

Make sure your pricing term is adequate, so you do not need to take all orders just to earn a little money. Accept orders if you think you can get good offers from them. Do not hesitate to limit slots once you get potential earning possibilities. Use the rest of your time to recharge, rest, and keep your body and mind healthy.

Running a business or career path as a graphic designer is challenging, especially if you start it as a side job. Develop your graphic design skills by following this guide to growing your side job into a lucrative career.