Potential LIP Business: Creative Designer
Photo by petitshoo
I’ve used the term “Creative Designer” to cover the range of professional designers that include graphic designer, web designers, t-shirt designers and more. The reason is simple…the advice is the same no matter what type of design business you run.
The design field is a highly competitive one with graphic and web designers ten a penny. How do I know? Because the husband, Jonathan, is a graphic designer and between us we also offer web design services - and in a very competitive market we still manage to attract clients even though these activities aren’t the focus of what we do.
There are a few prerequisites required for any of these businesses and these are:
- Design skills and qualifications (although formal qualifications are increasingly less important)
- A creative flair - it’s no good becoming a graphic designer if you don’t have a creative bone in your body
- The right software programs
- A powerful-enough laptop to allow you to run the software you need to
Setting Up A Creative Design Business
As with all other service-oriented businesses I’ve covered on this blog, designing isn’t just about using a scatter gun approach and seeing who will hire you. To stand out from the crowd, you need to be more strategic than that. Here are some things to consider…
Who is your ideal client?
Setting yourself apart from other designers in your field doesn’t necessarily mean providing something unique that no-one else provides; it can mean providing your service in a unique way, providing your services to a unique group of people or providing specialised services. Here are some examples that illustrate this:
Providing your services in a unique way:
- Offering quick turn-around times.
- Offering on-demand, round-the-clock support.
- Using collaborative design processes that allow clients to easily input (and visually show you) what they want.
Providing to a unique group of people:
- Servicing clients in a specific industry (health & fitness /automobile, personal development / home & lifestyle)
- Offering exclusive, referral- or invite-only services to a select group of people
Providing specialised services:
- Specialising in design for just one medium (posters / web banners / moving graphics/ website & blog buttons / magazine adverts / shop signs)
- Specialising in specific themes and styles (Bollywood, Art Deco, Old Movie poster style, Cartoons etc.)
Marketing Your Location Independent Design Business
If you’re on the move as a vagabonding designer, then the traditional marketing tactic of face-to-face networking is unlikely to be a viable one for you. The question then becomes: where and how will you find clients?
Like many other location independent businesses, marketing yourself online is the obvious answer. What this means for a design business is that your portfolio/website becomes even more crucial because it’s no longer just a back up to support your offline marketing, as a LIP it’s likely to be your main marketing tool. Here’s a useful post on building a killer portfolio.
Another option is to use freelance job bidding sites like Elance, Guru, or Get-A-Freelancer or check out the job boards on freelancing sites. There’s a lot of debate amongst more experienced designers on the merits of these sites but they can be a good starting point if you’re new in the industry. I recently wrote an article for Freelance Switch on how to win jobs on these sites.
Managing Design Clients
Trotting around the globe as a working nomad and servicing clients with exceptional customer care isn’t as hard as it may seem. The trick is to stay on top of the basics which include:
- Keeping clients informed of your movements and time zone changes
- Responding in a timely manner to prospects and client queries
- Letting clients know how best to contact you if your details change as you move around
- Being open to and asking for feedback and comments from clients about your customer service
Resources to help you become a (better) freelance designer…
This is the best freelancing blog around, Freelance Switch and particularly this post on the 101 Essential Freelancing resources.
A site dedicated to video tutorials on becoming more skilled in photoshop, PSDTuts
Design Reading Resources
How To Be A Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
1 Hour Website (includes template CD-ROM with professionally designed templates)
Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design
How To Be A Freelance Rockstar
Note: This post contains afiliate links.
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Comments
Sean - you’re right, internet connections are crucial and one of the first things we always assess before going to a new place. In the book it’s listed as one of the key criteria to confirm before deciding on any new destination as the connectivity is usually so important for LIPs.
Will be interested to see your “killer” portfolio!
Thanks for the article. I’m not a nomad, but I have moved from the states down to South America. It did force me to do all my business online, which is a solid step to becomming LIP.
I’ve found that internet connections can be an issue when traveling to some areas of the world. Before moving to a new location you may want to research connection speeds and service. Without the internet I’d be dead in the water as a business. Most of my communication is done via email. But as a web designer I need to ftp files as well. Skype is also important with many clients.
PSDtuts is great for photoshop. I’ve launched a blog that targets Illustrator, which is a really important tool for designers. Its used for illustration, logo design, and more. Its a tutorial blog and there are not as many resources out there for Illustrator. see aiburn.com. Thanks.
Making a killer portfolio is really helpful for an LIP Designer. A good portfolio is your number one sales tool. My current portfolio is professional, but not killer. This January I’ll be turning it into a killer portfolio.