It’s a great time to be a freelancer in the graphic design industry. You can work from anywhere and at any time, while setting your own schedule. There are many benefits to being a freelance designer, but there are also some cons that come with it as well. One of the most common complaints is lack of skills when it comes to certain projects or tasks that may arise. We have compiled a list of 11 skills every graphic designer freelancer should have!
Hard skill for freelancer graphic designers:
When it comes to the technical skills needed to become a professional graphic designer, you should be aware that there is a lot to learn. You can’t expect to be a great graphic designer in just a day or two. You have to put the work and time into learning your craft, so you should get started right away! Having technical skills is one of the most important things that every graphic design freelancer needs to know how to do well. Technical skill sets include knowledge working with programs such as:
– Digital Typography
Typography is all about using fonts to communicate ideas. Graphic designers should be knowledgeable in this area, because they will need to use different types of typography depending on the project that needs to be designed. If you are not familiar with digital typefaces and how they work, then it could impact your design process by adding more time for trial and error.
– Color Theory
Of course, color is an important part of graphic design. Every graphic designer needs to know how colors work together and the impact they have on people who are viewing your designs. This will allow you to create great visuals that get your ideas across in a way that sticks with them long-term.
– Design Software
Every graphic designer should know how to use design software. For example, Adobe Illustrator is used for vector graphics and Adobe Photoshop is used for digital images that are rasterized or bitmap based. Their usage really depends on the type of project you are working on. For example: if you are designing a logo you’ll want to use Adobe Illustrator or a vector-based drawing tool. Social media profiles can usually be created in Photoshop with custom graphics made from scratch, while brand guidelines might require InDesign for laying out templates for business cards and other marketing materials.
– Image Editing
Another important skill that every graphic designer should have is image editing. If you are working with vector graphics, then Adobe Illustrator will be the best program to use because it allows for easy manipulation of shapes and lines. However, if you are using images or photographs without any sort of drawing involved, Photoshop will work better in this case.
– Branding
Every graphic designer should also have a solid understanding of basic branding guidelines. This is because many small businesses will want to maintain consistency throughout all their marketing materials, including letterheads and business cards as well as logos. InDesign can be used for this purpose since it allows you to arrange text boxes on the page with consistent margins and spacing between each element.
– UI/UX
You should also be able to create clean user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designs. This is because many graphic design opportunities will want you to turn their wireframes into visually appealing layouts that are easy for the end-user to interact with. Here tips how to become UI/UX designer by self taught.
Soft skills
There are many other soft skills you need to be aware of, such as time management, project planning, communication and collaboration skills that will help you become a highly sought after graphic designer who can get the job done right without any problems.
– Time management skills
This is important because graphic design projects can take up a lot of time, especially if you are working on your own. If you don’t plan out how long each project will take and how much work it entails before starting, then you could end up spending too much or running late for deadlines.
– Project management skills
Another soft skill that’s important to have is project management. This will help you manage the time and process of each task, which helps with scheduling work accordingly. Project management skills can come in a lot of different types such as Collaborative planning tools and Work breakdown structures (WBS).
– Communication & collaboration
As with most skills, the more you use them the better you are at doing it. Practice how to collaborate and communicate with different people by working on projects for friends or family that may need help designing something they’re passionate about.
– Sales & Marketing
One of the most important skills to have is knowing how to sell yourself. This means understanding what sets your work apart from others, and showing it through visual storytelling on social media or by sending out proposals for jobs you are interested in getting paid for.
– Networking
As a freelancer, networking does more than just get you job opportunities. It also gives you the opportunity to share ideas and learn from others in your community.
Conclusion
As a graphic designer and freelancer, you know that your skill set is important. You need to be able to create the perfect layout for any project – whether it’s an infographic or ad campaign. But as we all know, skills are only useful if they can actually get used! That’s where Artmeet comes in. Our platform provides freelance designers with opportunities of their own so they can work on projects no matter how big or small while still working at their best on every piece of design work by giving them access to high-quality resources like fonts and stock photos on our marketplace. Join us today and start growing together with Artmeet!