Working In Graphics

Hope this is the right area to post this. If not sorry.

With you all doing graphics, Im guessing at least some of you are going to work in graphics in your own companies.

I'm trying to get into the whole business side myself but have no idea at all how to go about it. I've got a basic portfolio of my work but because I havent been able to do any yet for companies alot are dubious about working with me.

What I was hoping you could tell me is how you got into it. How you go about getting work basically.

I mean any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

I admit I'm still learning but I just want a few projects to be working on to help my portfolio/ get some money.

Thanks Again.

u have to have your own site, thats a must for an online reference, i suggest u put up some flyers for your services also.

Do some free work for a few companies and add that to your portfolio.

Thanks for the information you've given to me.

Anything else anyone can add would be welcomed.

I do have my own site but I'm currently smartening it up abit, and tweaking it to look more proffesional.

Thanks again for your help.

i haven't gotten any work yet and i'm looking for suggestions just like you.


The website is definatly important and so is the working for free. I think that even if you have a real nice portfolio companies will be hesitant to hire you unless you have work experience. But, they might get you to do a few things for free.

I know that from my dad's experience. He wanted to be a school photographer in college but they already had two guys they paid. He offered to work for free and they let him. He eventually got the job and the other two lost theirs cause he did better work.

I'm hoping all the advice is true so I've offered my services for free. Also make sure your site(once it's finished) has been submitted to some search engines or something that'll get it out there. Key words "free graphic work etc."

you guys wanna hear how i got my first job?

doing exactly this. i used to make alot of layouts for nothing, just templates i guess, and this one guy contacted me and well, now we're business partners and just finished our second project together and i think we just signed a contract to do work for them on the site for the next 12 months (he does all the business negotiating, etc, so i am not 100% sure just yet what's going on)

just thought i'd share, but yea, this may sound redundant, but having your own site is a must if you are looking for work. you might also want to place ads in papers, or read the classifieds for jobs that are available in the field you wish to work. just some things i thought might help.

i'm in the same situation, my portfolio is hopefully going to help me get into university, i'm also offering my services for free until i have some qualifications (some real jobs etc) i think exchanging links with some of the well known design sites will help too, make youself a mini gif and mini logo, they're used a lot

I got a legitimate contract to do a Real Estate team's Website without even having my own website, logo, business card or even a legitimate portfolio. All I had was a couple of mock-ups of a site I was doing for free for a photgrapher friend of mine. I showed them to a guy I work with who showed them to his dad (without my knowledge) which ulitmately led to a contract to do their Website with payment in full, up-front. And not for $100 or $200 or even $500. And to boot, I had 3 other Web design firms and a freelancer I was bidding against.

Am I a lucky bastard? Maybe, but I truly believe it's about selling *yourself* as much as or even more than selling your work. Getting your foot in the door to talk to a prospective client is half the battle, but once you are in there, how you sell *yourself* is going to make all the difference. You can be the greatest designer in the world with the most impressive portfolio seen by mankind, but if you don't understand the client's needs, really understand their business, brand and image, understand what makes them unique from their competitors, and be able to really *connect* with them, they will $hit-can any proposal you give them.

Now that I am in the same boat as you guys (but with far less experience), I believe that a Website *is* important as are business cards and a brochure either on CD-ROM and/or full color paper. But none of that is going to do you any good if you don't know how to conduct business in a businessman's world.

I could ramble on even more but I have written a small book as it is. I can hear some of your snoring already!!!

cool. thanks for the info

ok, now to contradict everything that's been said... ;)

free work...to be honest, be REALLY careful. i have pretty much yet to benefit much from free work, and i've been screwed by it on most occasions (and that includes "if you do this we'll give you this project" projects as well). if you want to do free work to build up your portfolio then talk to some charities and non-profits and work with them. most reputable companies wouldn't take work for free anyway, and you just might make some contacts thru that non-profit that could lead to actual paying work. musicians and local bands are another good source for doing sites that can be kinda fun, and that might also lead to album cover, poster, etc.

be honest with yourself, how good are you? do you go to a good corporate site and go "yeah, i could do this" or even "i could do this better"? if not, why would a company hire you to do their site? would you ask a guy who had been reading about cars for a few months to do maintenance on yours, or hire a person who just started watching Bob Villa remodel your kitchen? are you expecting, after playing with photoshop and dreamweaver for a few months, to be hired to design a website?

so maybe you're not good enough, what do you do? keep practicing to start, create projects for yourself. design a mini-site for that new car that you love, or an experimental personal site just to test your design skills (something like atmosphere comes to mind). how bout a site for your favorite band, or maybe you could redesign that album cover you didn't like. the possibilities are endless. also, if you're up for some reading that'll actually improve your design check out Visual Literacy: A Conceptual Approach to Graphic Problem Solving for some design exercises (and solutions from other students) that'll push the way you think about design and give you a classroom-ish kind of experience.

hope that helps...

chris