It was a pleasure meeting with senior visual designer Chris Kent over Zoom in week 3 Friday’s class. Christ was an alumnus at SCCA in 2014, a creative and talented person who holds several degrees in Graphic Design, Fine Art, Publishing Arts, Air & Space Technology, and Automotive. I’ve followed his IG and really love his unique illustration style. As a first-year student, it was so helpful for me to hear Chris sharing his design adventure with giving plenty wonderful advice.
There are so many different graphic design work models that we could consider jumping into. For instance: Freelance, Business Owner, Contract, In-House, Corporate, etc.
After graduate I’m seeking to work in a creative agency and work part-time freelance at the same time. I want to be stable in salary after graduate so working in an agency would be my first choice. Working in agency we get pay by the number of hours we work. However, this is not my long-term goal, I love the freedom and the comfortability working from home. Maybe after 5-7 years, when I feel like I’m good enough, then I would switch to full-time freelancer.
Full-time freelance is a highly profitable way in graphic design. The biggest advantage is the ability to manage your time around other activities in your life. Managing your own time can be a great advantage if you’re good at it. A year ago, I thought I would jump right into full-time freelance after graduate; but after researched, I realized that this is not an easy goal for me to achieve. Guest speaker Chris Kent also took a big part of enlightening me. Everyone can do freelance but becoming a successful full-time freelance designer isn’t that easy. We need to have a good skill sets and abilities. Some of these are financial management, technical skills, marketing yourself, the ability to communicate verbally, be able to deal with pressure, collaborate with people across an organization, meet deadlines, and take criticism on the chin with a grin are skills that will keep your clients coming back for more. This is a serious business and requires strict discipline. Because this is freelance, if you do something wrong, this is your responsibility and only you bear it. it’s harder to manage clients’ expectations when you’re on your own and have a ton of works to handle.
Graphic Designers: The Pros and Cons of Freelancing vs In-House vs Agency (sketchcorp.com)
8 Skills Required for a Freelance Web Designer (alltechflix.com)
Working as a Freelancing Graphic Designer: Pros and Cons in 2021 (icons8.com)
Artisan Talent – 4 Essential Skills for Freelance Graphic Designers
