{"id":1013,"date":"2021-02-16T10:42:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T23:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1013"},"modified":"2023-02-20T09:52:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-19T22:52:40","slug":"why-graphic-designers-and-desktop-publishers-are-embracing-the-gig-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/why-graphic-designers-and-desktop-publishers-are-embracing-the-gig-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Graphic Designers And Desktop Publishers Are Embracing The Gig Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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The ability to work from home is one thing; it has become a standard response to COVID-19, and many organisations are now going to allow their staff to work from home on a permanent basis. However, many others are eying off the next step \u2013 if you\u2019re working from home, why not also work for yourself? The question then is simply what work would you do? This is especially true of those in desktop publishing or graphic design, where the nature of the work already lends itself to self employment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The rate in which people are self-employed is increasing in the UK. In 1975, it was 8 per cent<\/a>. In 2019 it grew to 14 per cent, and while we won\u2019t know the data for the impact that COVID-19 has had on that rate, the job losses and recession will result in more people looking to freelancing, or the \u201cgig economy,\u201d as an alternative to employment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Is the \u201cgig economy\u201d good for me?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There are some massive benefits to working in the gig economy as a freelance graphic designer or desktop publisher. The first is that your job can be done remotely and from home \u2013 your clients will be long comfortable with working with remote graphic designers, so there won\u2019t be any pressure to be \u201con-site,\u201d nor will you lose any work if you can\u2019t be physically present. This also means that you can offer your services to clients anywhere in the world, and if there isn\u2019t much work available in the UK, you can establish a client base in the US, China, or any of the other big markets in the world.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While the gig economy has challenges \u2013 research suggests that a large percentage<\/a> of freelancers earn less and are under-employed \u2013 there are financial benefits to doing so too. If you can establish a solid base of clients, then you spread the risk, such that if one client ceases working with you, you will still have other revenue streams. In an uncertain market where people are worried about their jobs, this is a measure of security.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There is also the opportunity to set your own rates and significantly out-earn what you could expect in a salaried position. UK freelance rates for graphic designers range from around \u00a3150 per day for juniors to \u00a3400 per day for an experienced graphic designer. However, if you\u2019re able to establish yourself in a technical niche that is in demand (such as UX\/UI design), then you\u2019ll be able to command much higher rates.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\n Find Graphic Design & Desktop Publishing<\/strong> Courses with ICI<\/strong>\n <\/div>\n
Learn More<\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>

What do I need to step into freelance graphic design or desktop publishing?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Having a broad range of skills and capabilities within the graphic design space is a must for any freelancer \u2013 you don\u2019t want to be losing work because you\u2019re not able to meet a client\u2019s needs. Completing a qualified graphic design course<\/a> that will provide you with the foundational knowledge of printing, digital illustration, design and typography, web design, and marketing and design is a good first step. The chances are that as you establish your credibility in one field you will continue to specialise, but having the broad range of skills is a good idea when first establishing yourself as a freelancer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Next, you need clients! This is the challenge for many freelancers, and especially in the early stages the going can be tough. There are tools such as Upwork<\/a> available for you to share your portfolio online and prospective clients can search you out, but you\u2019ll also need to be more proactive than that, and really work to market yourself. One option is to reach out to graphic design companies to see if they have any excess work \u2013 for some that might have needed to downsize in response to the pandemic there might be some available for freelancers. Otherwise, start with businesses in the local area, and join any business networking groups. They\u2019ll often hold meetings and events that you can attend and start to pitch your services to other enthusiastic business leaders.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Should I just get a salaried job instead?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The greatest benefit to working as a freelancer is the sheer variety in the work. You might be working on a website design one day, a book cover the next, and laying out a programme for a theatre performance the next day. The nature of salaried positions is that you\u2019re working for one company, so the flexibility and variety isn\u2019t there \u2013 many graphic designers find that they lose the creative spark without fresh experiences.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It\u2019s a highly competitive sector, to be sure, though graphic designers are in a space where the demand for salaried positions is in decline \u2013 marketing agencies are doing fine, but smaller companies would rather outsource project-based tasks like graphic design than have someone on staff.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If you\u2019re good at what you do, however, and know how to drum up business and develop a stable base of clients, graphic design and desktop publishing is a textbook case study of how professionals can flourish in the gig economy. Given that you can work from home (or while travelling), set your own hours, let your passions fuel which clients that you work for and, most importantly, focus entirely on the creative side of the job without the mundane side of working within an office, most graphic designers find that they enjoy the freelance lifestyle.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Prepare yourself for a flourishing career in the graphic design sector by developing your skills and knowledge base. ICI offers comprehensive courses on graphic design<\/a> that will equip you with all the tools you need for this exciting and vibrant career.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ability to work from home is one thing; it has become a standard response to COVID-19, and many organisations are now going to allow their staff to work from home on a permanent basis. However, many others are eying off the next step \u2013 if you\u2019re working from home, why not also work for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-careers"],"acf":[],"blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gig-economy-graphic-designer-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gig-economy-graphic-designer.jpg",855,600,false]},"categories_names":{"20":{"name":"Design Careers","link":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/design-careers\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icieducation.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}