Start Your Own Graphic Design Business

Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success

• Publisher: Entrepreneur Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781613080757
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Small Business
• Index: Business

It’s time to make your mark in the world of graphic design. There’s no doubt you’ve imagined it—placing your name and logo on business cards, taking creative control and being your own boss. Why not turn your fantasy into reality? Whether you want to start a part-time graphic design business, a full-time operation or build a substantial company with a full staff of graphic designers, everything you need to get started is at your fingertips. Learn the basic requirements, startup costs, day-to-day operations and even what to do when things don’t go as planned. Industry experts and successful graphic designers share what they’ve learned and give you the motivation and priceless tips and tricks to help you reach success. Learn how to: • Discover your market and their needs • Choose a business environment that works for you • Create a business brand that gets noticed • Write a marketing plan that captures clients and creates referrals • Develop profitable client relationships • Set your fees • Boost profits by expanding your specialty or your business Combine your creativity with Entrepreneur’s expert advice—and design your own successful graphic design business today!

1

The Right Stuff

Graphic designers, or graphic artists, create, produce, or generate graphics and designs to meet the specific commercial or promotional needs of their employers or clients. They develop and make the designs for packaging, displays, or logos.

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The definition of graphic designer has blurred in recent years. Today, graphic designers work in multimedia, graphic design, visual communication, advertising, animation, web development, and so on. They often create, maintain, and expand websites as another aspect of the business.

Graphic designers use a variety of mediums to achieve a variety of artistic or decorative effects. As artists, today’s designer may use traditional methods, such as ink, paint, or charcoal on paper, to create a design. However, the majority use computers to create their designs.

Several decades ago, the graphic designer’s portfolio was usually a large black book or oversized binder. The graphic designers carried samples of their best printed pieces to show prospective clients or employers their previous work. Over the last 20 years, however, the portfolios of most graphic designers have become digitized. Their portfolios are now accessed via a website on the internet, a CD, or a DVD.

What Is Graphic Design?

Graphic design is visual problem solving. Using text and graphical elements, a specific message is conveyed. The goal of a graphic designer is to create designs and work that is pleasing to the eye. In addition, the finished piece should get the attention of its viewer.

But what you create can’t just look cool. Your designs have to work as well. For example, consider a restaurant menu. If poorly arranged, customers cannot find appetizers, and the restaurant’s sales of these items will diminish. If the beverage section cannot not be located or the prices are unreadable, patrons are not likely to order them. But a great design can entice the restaurant customer to order. As you can see from this simple example, a good design can increase orders and sales (and profits), or it can hamper sales and diminish the likelihood of profitability.

Graphic design is the art and process of combining text and graphics. The goal is to communicate an effective and efficient message with the design of text, logos, graphics, newsletters, brochures, posters, photos, images, signs, or any other kind of visual communication.

Employment Outlook

Among the five design occupations the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) describes in the Occupational Outlook Handbook 2006–07, graphic designers are expected to have the most new jobs through 2014. However, job seekers should anticipate keen competition for available positions. The BLS believes the competition will be intense because the work is attractive to many people. “Graphic designers with website design and animation experience will have the best opportunities,” the BLS says.

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Other Names of Graphic Designers

Graphic designer is just one name used to describe the person that creates graphic designs. Other terms include:

• Brand identity developer

• Content developer

• Desktop publisher

• Graphic artist

• Illustrator

• Interface designer

• Layout artist

• Logo designer

• Multimedia developer

• Visual image developer

• Web designer

In addition to these hands-on positions, there are also graphic designers who become managers and supervise the production of the design work. These graphic art managers, who are experienced graphic designers, serve in management roles. Some of their titles are:

• Creative director

• Art director

• Art production manager

Fun Fact

The late Phil Hartman, who became famous for his TV and movie comedy, worked as a graphic designer. He created the logo for Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

The BLS reports that a bachelor’s degree is required for most entry-level positions. The job applicant will need some sort of certificate or degree to land a job as a graphic designer in specialized areas such as multimedia or graphic design. However, an associate degree may be sufficient for technical positions. Other sources indicate that an advanced degree is not always necessary for employment. Experience and an extensive portfolio can often open the doors to employment, as either a regular employee or a freelancer.

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The Nature of the Work

Graphic designers (or graphic artists) plan, prepare, and create visual solutions to a wide range of communications issues. Designers decide the most effective way of delivering a message in various media. They work in print, electronic, and film media, using a variety of methods, such as color, type, illustration, photography, animation, and various print and layout techniques.

Bright Idea

Graphic designers also create signage systems, called environmental graphics. These systems are used for both business and government.

Graphic designers develop the final layout and production design of magazines, newspapers, journals, corporate reports, and other documents and publications. They produce all types of communications. They also create promotional displays, packaging, and marketing brochures for products and services, design distinctive logos for products and businesses, and develop signs.

There are an increasing number of graphic designers that work with developing material for the internet. Web pages, interactive media, and multimedia projects are now routine work for graphic designers. Rather than rely on a computer programmer to design the layout or look and feel of a website, a graphic artist creates the site.

Graphic designers also may produce the openings, including the credits that appear before and after audio-visual television shows, films, and movies.

Graphic artists develop new graphic designs by determining the needs of the client, the message the design should portray, and its desired appeal to customers or users. They consider various factors in planning and executing designs for the intended audience, and gather relevant information by conducting and attending meetings with clients and creative directors. Graphic artists also routinely conduct their own research to help create the final designs.

As part of their work, graphic designers routinely prepare sketches or layouts—by hand or with the aid of a computer—to illustrate their vision for the final design. Graphic artists select colors, sound, artwork, photography, animation, style of type, and other visual elements for their conceptual designs.

Designers also select the size and arrangement of the different elements on the page, product, film, or computer screen. They create graphs and charts from data for use in a wide variety of publications. Graphic designers consult with copywriters about the text that accompanies the visual part of the design.

When their design is complete, graphic artists submit it to their clients or art directors for final approval. For some graphic artists, their work is completed at this point. Others may work with commercial printers by selecting the type of paper and ink and reviewing the proofs for errors before final publication.

Computerization and Automation

Today’s graphic artists do everything that yesterday’s paste-up artists (and others—such as typesetters and camera workers) did. There is much more to current graphic arts jobs than ever before. It is much more technical and far less mechanical.

Graphic artists use a wide variety of graphics and layout computer software. The days of using mechanical paste-up, or actually assembling type and illustration images onto boards with glue or wax to produce finished pages for graphic projects, are gone.

Today’s graphic artists work on computers to set type. They are highly trained and proficient in typography. Typesetters that sent finished type to paste-up artists are gone. So are the paste-up artists. This work has been automated by computerization.

The graphic artists of today also manipulate photographic and other digital images as part of their regular work. In the past, other technicians or artistic specialists working with large cameras did that image work. Now the graphic artists must make sure images print properly, look nice, and are appealing to the eye. Yesterday’s paste-up artists did little of this.

The computer programs that graphic artists use to create web pages or other interactive media designs are expanding and offer new features and capabilities. For example, computer-created animation is standard today. Gone are the days when artists would draw each film frame on a clear piece of plastic, commonly called a cell. Today’s computer software programs allow ease and flexibility in exploring a greater number of design alternatives. Combined with far less expensive computer hardware, the graphic artist’s computer tools reduce both design costs and the time it takes to deliver a product or message to market.

Fun Fact

Although it was called paste-up, graphic artists did not actually use paste, which was found to be unacceptable and unworkable. They actually used wax to place and slide type and graphic elements on the boards.

Other Considerations

Graphic artists sometimes supervise assistants that help work on parts of a project. Graphic artists who run their own businesses also may devote a considerable amount of their work time in developing new business contacts, evaluating equipment and space needs, and performing general and routine administrative duties. The need for up-to-date computers (both hardware and software) is an ongoing consideration for graphic artists.

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Working Conditions

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, working conditions and the places of employment for graphic artists vary: “Graphic designers employed by large advertising, publishing, or design firms generally work regular hours in well-lighted and comfortable settings. Designers in smaller design consulting firms or those who freelance generally work on a contract, or job, basis. They frequently adjust their workday to suit their clients’ schedules and deadlines. Consultants and self-employed designers tend to work longer hours and in smaller, more congested environments.”

Graphic artists transact business in their own offices or studios or in clients’ offices. Those who are paid by the assignment often find themselves under pressure to please clients and to find new ones in order to maintain a steady income.

All designers—no matter how they are compensated or where they work—face frustration when their designs are rejected. Sometimes, their work is not as creative as they wish and becomes more routine as they work on larger projects.

Graphic designers may work under pressure to get work done. This could mean working evenings or weekends to meet production schedules. This is especially true in the printing and publishing industries where deadlines are routinely shorter and more frequent.

Training and Other Qualifications

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says a bachelor’s degree is required for most entry-level and advanced graphic design positions, although it adds that some entry-level technical positions may only require an associate degree. In addition to training in graphic design, job applicants must possess creativity and communication and problem-solving skills. Graphic designers also need to be familiar and proficient with the latest computer graphics and design software. A good portfolio—a representative collection of examples of a graphic artist’s best work—often is the deciding factor in getting a job.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics described the formal education options:

Bachelor’s of fine arts degree programs in graphic design are offered at many colleges, universities, and private design schools. The curriculum includes studio art, principles of design, computerized design, commercial graphics production, printing techniques, and website design. In addition to design courses, a liberal arts education or a program that includes courses in art history, writing, psychology, sociology, fo...

Table of contents

• Additional titles in Entrepreneur’s Startup Series
• Title Page
• 1 - The Right Stuff
• 2 - Freelancing Graphic Designers Running the Business
• 3 - Designing Your Graphic Arts Business
• 4 - Getting Set Up
• 5 - Legal Issues
• 6 - Launching Your Freelance Graphic Design Business
• 7 - Marketing Yourself
• 8 - Rules You Cannot Break
• 9 - Expanding Your Freelance Graphic Design Business
• 10 - Printing and Reprography Service
• 11 - The Secrets of Designing Success
• Appendix A - Sample Contracts and Agreements
• Appendix B - Graphic Designer Resources
• Glossary
• Index
• Subscribe to Entrepreneur Magazine
• Copyright Page