55 Responses to “How & Where To Get Paid Freelance Work While You’re Still A Design Student”

1. David Airey on Mar 27, 2008 said:

   Nice images, Jacob.

   Plenty of excellent resources mentioned, and once again, thanks very much for the recommendation.

   David Airey’s last blog post..Personal blog logo designs

2. liam on Mar 27, 2008 said:

   Nice tips, this is basically how I survived the past 2 years before I got a job.

   There’s quite a lot of work out there, it’s just a case of remembering that you’re just trying to build a portfolio, so the money isn’t always going to be a lot to begin with.

   However I strongly believe that its important to get working with clients, money and finding work as thats what makes you a good Web Designer, it’s not simply about just designing websites. Gaining experience with clients and finding work are skills that you can only really pick up the ways you’ve mentioned when you’re a student, so make the most of it!

   Just my thoughts

3. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Mar 27, 2008 said:

   What were you actually doing to survive Liam… I did mention a lot of things
   A little niche that I have been getting a lot of work in lately is Yellow Pages ads… I am sure student designers could do these things and get some cash on the side.

   Thanks.

4. liam on Mar 28, 2008 said:

   All of the above!

   I took time to learn Photoshop myself, then ended up on a 2 year Multimedia course.

   I read through a lot of tutorial sites, just so I could get a feel of the capabilities of Photoshop, even looking at tutorials I couldn’t actually see myself using again, just to get experience.

   I spent a lot of time doing jobs from forums etc, just taking on whatever work I could, just so I had something to show in my portfolio. But it also provided me with enough money to enjoy myself over the 2 years.

   I got experience working with some local companies just through friends & family, but it really opened my eyes. Meeting a client face to face is completely different to talking to them online, but a vital thing to get experience in.

   And it all payed off, by the time I had finished my course I had learnt so much on my own (out of the class) that they couldn’t teach me in school and every step that I took (and youv’e mentioned above)helped me get the job im in right now.

   My portfolio was full of work, all work which I had done for people online from forums etc. I had references, experience with face-to-face client relations, and ofcourse had the technical know-how and qualifications.

   I think the things you mention are perfect for a student, and there’s no better time to do these things then when you are a student.

   * Yellow pages ads, thats a great idea! I like that

5. Jim K on Mar 28, 2008 said:

   Great site. I’m co-founder of Brightegg. We offer designers the ability to sell their web themes on our site for a high commission. We also just rolled out our Private Label solution, which is a 100% brandable CMS for interactive design firms that want to sell a full solution, including CMS, hosting and email. Oh, yeah, you can make money! Learn more:

   http://www.brightegg.com/partners

6. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Mar 28, 2008 said:

   Ah Liam, that sounds really great, sounds like we are on the same track (except I am not really working on forums) . It is always good to hear other peoples feedback to how they got where they are. How old are you now?

   Thanks Jim for the info.

7. Rafie on Mar 29, 2008 said:

   I almost read this article twice (even sometimes I do). It’s a good one. In fact, it is very useful Thanks a lot! Should charity work be included to improve your communication and design skills?

   Rafie’s last blog post..What Do You See?

8. Jeff Fisher LogoMotives on Mar 29, 2008 said:

   When I was in college, over 30 years ago, I got plenty of “real world” design work right on campus. I got a job as the advertising designer for the daily college newspaper and got a great deal of project work from academic department offices and student campus organizations. I ended up doing a lot of poster, flyer and invitation design for many fraternities and sororities, as well. The projects and jobs are there if you seek them out.

9. Katia on Mar 29, 2008 said:

   Thank you for very useful information…even in Russia all your recomendation are very close to life…
   I m a student studing graphic design.Iasolutelly agree with many things you ve mention, espessially connected with portfolio…so now I will try to do my best findind a good work)))

10. Kelly on Mar 29, 2008 said:

    Jacob,

    Love this post. Blending and Comic sans do not count had me LOL.

    A long time ago when the Earth was green and I was in college (not that long ago, I went twice cuz I’m nuts that way)… anyway, about ten years ago I took most of my graphics work and one thing a prof said to me has always stuck out: “Don’t get hung up on the tools, because now they move too fast to worry. If you’re really good, it’s the ideas people will pay you for, and they’ll pay enough that you can hire somebody to do the execution work for you.”

    You mentioned that you’ve got to have computer skills, etc. I’m not arguing that at all, but would add:

    1. Idea skills will carry you farther, in the long run;
    2. If you’ve got those skills, find an idea person who’s sick of struggling, as I sometimes am on Friday afternoons. While you’re doing that execution work for them, watch. Learn to develop your idea skills.

    Having gone to school as a young’un and later, as an adult, I can tell you that the big difference was that people had forgotten how to put the keyboard away for a while, when I was the “returning” student. Sit with no computer, every day. The tools do not make you a designer; being a designer makes it worth knowing the tools.

    Love the links here, too!

    Regards,

    Kelly

    Kelly’s last blog post..What’s Hot Now: 39 Inspirations With Sticking Power

11. Kelly on Mar 29, 2008 said:

    Jeff,

    “I got a job as the advertising designer for the daily college newspaper”

    I did that too, only for the school magazine. Ugh what a job, plus they thought I should sell ads, too. Yuck.

    In high school (that was the stone age) I even did calligraphy for teachers to keep near the smell of ink and make a buck or two.

    

    Regards,

    Kelly

    Kelly’s last blog post..Leonardo DiCaprio Sent Me a Letter Today

12. Vinh Le on Mar 29, 2008 said:

    You make a good point about not being a static learner. I see some graphic design students that don’t go beyond what they have to do in class for homework and spend most of their time just goofing off playing odd flash games.

    And then there are some people who do a lot outside of their homework, but they have tunnel vision and focus only on the area they are good at, ie focusing on the programming side only. Great article.

    I’m a psychology major and I work in the systems department designing blogs for the university’s library. Oh yeah, I finished that list I been meaning to work on. Tell me what you think of it. Is it social media worthy?

    Vinh Le’s last blog post..25 Must Buy, Borrow, or Steal Books for Web Designers

13. modemlooper on Mar 30, 2008 said:

    Yellow pages ads and local flyers are an easy way to make cash. I have even contacted the people who put out those local ad booklets and they have referred me to potentials who want an ad but have no way to create them. I make from $100- $200 bucks for something that takes an hour or 2.

    modemlooper’s last blog post..Kuwaii Styled Food

14. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Mar 30, 2008 said:

    Rafie
    Twice eh? Sometimes I do that too, but not too often. Yes I forgot to add charity work in there, I will add that now. Thanks!

    Jeff,
    Thanks for stopping by again and for the add on Facebook. That’s a great idea about getting a job at the actual campus. We have a similar thing going so I might do that… the poster and flyer design sounds inviting however I do not think they would pay for that but who knows… I guess I’ll have to seek em out.

    Katia
    Glad to be of help. All the best.

    Kelly
    Haha well I am glad I could bring a smile to some

    The head of my design school said a very similar thing. It is not about the design, it is about the ideas. Usually people with the good ideas are in advertising… but graphic design is a form of advertising but in saying this if you do not have the computer skills to back it up, that is a short coming for you in the long run.

    Too bad about the college newspaper… making me having second thoughts about doing a bit of work for my uni.

    Vinh Le
    Tell me about it… I just think to myself how much money they are wasting just by sitting there.

    I had a look at your post actually before reading about it here, some ones I hadn’t seen before. I will put it in my best of March post coming up soon

    Thank you all for your feedback.

15. Rachel on Apr 3, 2008 said:

    Hi - Great article! Thanks for linking to allgraphicdesign.com I will stumble and Digg too

16. Dia on Apr 5, 2008 said:

    Thanks for this.
    I’m a confused sociology undergrad who spends her spare time playing with graphic design and dreaming about going to art school.
    The links are great. I’ve been half trying to find design forums and this was the little kick in the ass I needed.

17. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Apr 5, 2008 said:

    Hi Dia,
    You are welcome… all the best with it!

18. dennis on May 1, 2008 said:

    jacob, great web site. thanks for all the great info.

    while in college i was able to find a few web site clients by word of mouth and just telling people what i was studying. i charged like $20/hour and it gave me great experience dealing with clients.

    after i graduated i was able to land a job doing web design with an e-commerce company full time and i found the job on craigslist.

    dennis

19. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on May 1, 2008 said:

    Hi Dennis,
    You are welcome. Yeah word of mouth is the way most freelancers get clients. Even in the freelance report from Freelance Switch it said that references accounted for 80% of clients. All the best!

20. liam on May 26, 2008 said:

    In answer to the question you asked 2 months ago that for some reason I didn’t see I’m now 18. Most of my experience started when I was 15-16 so I had a good few years learning and freelancing before landing my full time job.

21. Irina on May 30, 2008 said:

    Hello thank you for your article. I will use it. However, I need to get some free work, not paid. How to get that? Great blog. I am a student myself in New York studying graphic design. You know anyone here bloging from sva? Hoping for a reply from you.

22. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on May 30, 2008 said:

    Hi Irina,
    Thanks for your enquiry and of course you will get a reply, I reply to all comments on this blog!

    To get free work unpaid the best way is to ring up local charity organisations and to just ask! Also try ringing local studios around your area and asking them. Ask and you shall receive as they say.

    And I do not know anyone from NY… but now I do
    All the best Irina.

23. Irina on May 30, 2008 said:

    Thanks anyway for your reply. How do you know so much? I know this is not taught in colleges, so how you not it? I guess from books. Another question. In a portfolio, presentation counts? You see I think it is not the presentation that counts, but the work that counts. Let me explain where my question is coming from. In my school, at the end of the year we have a portfolio review that features work we did during the school year. I brought my work in a sleaves. The responds from teachers was badly. They said that the work was badly presented and my work was poor. Now I am still confused. Why is this condsidered bad?

24. darshika shah on Jun 23, 2008 said:

    hi i am a commercial artist from india.plz let me know how di i find freelance jobs online and make money.

25. Sandie Sørensen (Denmark) on Aug 4, 2008 said:

    I wolounteered to do some work for the schools studentcouncil. I’m a student in medie-graphics=web and print in Denmark, and it hit me, that the students didn’t have their own place on the schools webpage to talk or showcase or whatever. So currently I’m ending my education in a firm, and on the site I’m making a “kick ass” website for my fellow-students. A website I hope will look good in my portefolio when it’s done.

    My collegues at work (where i’m a trainee) are all so impressed by my work, that they happily recomend me by word og mouth to anyone in their network who needs graphic work done. And I alway ask if I can showcase the work on my own homepage (which is still under construcktion). Often they say yes.

    Besides I’ve also made some brochures for Amnesty International (local). But they liked the brochures so much, that Amnesty International Copenhagen contacted me for more work. I think that pro bono work like that gives you an unpricable image, that is well worth the time spend on the job. Besides the non-profitted work can polish your selfasteem- and it is easy to take these jobs because the expectations are easily met when they don’t pay you to do it…

    (Pardon my french…)

26. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Aug 5, 2008 said:

    Hi Sandie,

    Thanks and well done on making the website for your students, a great idea. Also well done for volunteering your work for a good cause, people like you make the world a better place.

    Thanks for commenting Sandie and all the best with your career.

27. axe-arising on Aug 11, 2008 said:

    thanx for the tips. it will help me when i start school in a couple of days.

28. Jordan Joseph on Oct 29, 2008 said:

    Great list.
    Do you have a list of where to avoid looking for freelance design jobs? I scour CraigsList often but the % of replies I get is incredibly low, especially since my initial reply is more often than not a link to website (which I think is reply worthy), and an simple request for additional information regarding their project.
    Where do you avoid looking for work?

29. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Oct 29, 2008 said:

    Hi,
    I actually don’t have a list of where to avoid looking because everyone has different needs… ie. some people work for $5 for a logo.

    I actually don’t look for work at all personally, it comes through the blog which is handy my case however not for everyone, that is why I compiled this post. Good luck Jordan.

30. Aetoric Design on Nov 12, 2008 said:

    I started “freelancing” my senior year of high school, though I had been making web toons since my sophomore year and designing local show flyers since my junior year. I made my target market “bands with myspace accounts” and started advertising with a nifty poster I made that had a link to my design “website” (Myspace.com/AetoricDesign). I charged something like $30 for a shirt design and $10 for a banner. This gave me a lot of experience and taught me how to deal with bands. I got screwed in the pooch a few times, of course, and the request for free design was kind of disturbing. This all gave me a sense for the market, in a weird way. It’s funny to think that bands full of 16 year olds treat graphic designers the way so called “professional business people” do.

    I still do Aetoric Design (of course) and now it has matured a lot. I try to work out contracts with clients now and try not to do any heavy work for free (though I will toss younger starting bands a web banner every now and then).

    I really agree with the whole “do not just be a static learner at University” statement. Going to a community college (my family is far too poor to afford to send me to anything prestigious), I see way to many people doing the minimum and not really grasping the concepts. A lot of kids go in to college with what I like to call the “Pepsi Logo Mentality.” They think, “It’s so simple! Any idiot can do that!” without realize the time and effort that actually goes into a logo (you probably feel this more than most).

    Anyways, great article! Would love to get a response! *geeks out*

31. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Nov 12, 2008 said:

    Aeotoric,
    Great that you got experience at such a young age. You really should consider setting up a 50% deposit before you start working as that works as a safety net and lets you know that they are committed. Good luck!

32. Valentin Bora on Nov 24, 2008 said:

    I started experimenting on the web about 7 years ago, I was 12 years old at that time (if hard to imagine, it was the age of Dreamweaver 4) and I have been self-teaching ever since, buying books from Amazon every once in a while.

    I certainly agree to the fact that meeting with a client face to face, or even worse, getting hold of a phone number and being able to make the catch is very hard at first.

    I also agree that reference is the best way to get hold of new work as a freelancer, since you as a service are somehow credited with trust because of the client who referred you. I think that the best way to make sure someone will refer you is to provide excellent customer service. And that starts with fast availability = fast reply to e-mails, verbose and frequent updates on your work etc.

33. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Nov 24, 2008 said:

    Valentin,
    You outline some valid points and boy, Dreamweaver 4!

34. Lemur on Dec 10, 2008 said:

    Could you spare any advice for a High School Senior looking into starting design and not intending to go to college for design?

35. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Dec 10, 2008 said:

    I would start by learning the basics, a good book would do for starters. I would recommend Robin Williams ‘The Non Designers Design Book’. I would also do tutorials online and practice, read & practice! All the best.

36. Sanjay Malhotra on Dec 24, 2008 said:

    Hi,
    I’m looking for some freelance designing work.
    My core area is print production.

    Thanks,
    Sanjay Malhotra

37. Ian Hutchinson on Jan 2, 2009 said:

    It’s a bit of a hard press for me to get started. I’m only 16, so I’m limited on money to buy stuff like Photoshop (seems immoral to pirate it) so I’m stuck using open source stuff on Linux.

    Dunno how it’s gonna work out, but hopefully it should make some interesting results.

38. Jacob Cass (@justcreative) on Jan 3, 2009 said:

    Ian,
    You may be interested to know Adobe have student editions which are a lot cheaper, although you can’t use them for profit.

39. Jared Walker on Jan 5, 2009 said:

    Again, thanks for the article Jacob.

    @Ian
    A cheaper alternative to the regular version of Photoshop is Photoshop Elements. Or like Jacob said, student editions might be a way to go. I got my CS3 Design Premium through school for less than $200.

40. Rucha on Jan 15, 2009 said:

    I have read most of your articles and i agree with lots of things that you are saying.

    you are just too good to be true.

    Thanks alot for sharing your wisdom.

41. Kerttu J. on Feb 7, 2009 said:

    You are a true life saver. I just got the first so called design-jobs. These sites are going to save me. I just got some logos to design to my friend’s friend’s bands and some CD-covers to do. This really made my life easier, I probably would not have found those tutorial sites or forums.

    For now I work for free, just to gain experience, I’m only 16, so people almost expect that I can’t do a thing. But after I have build on my online portfolio sites, I will start to ask some money. Now I don’t have anything good enough to show, so I won’t charge. I’m only exited to get something else than just own things to do.

    Once more.
    Thank you.

42. Megan K on Feb 20, 2009 said:

    Thanks for taking the time to write this article! I found it very helpful. I am a design student, and I have been doing some pro bono jobs for my church as well as for the small business that my dad works at. I’ve been exploring different ways to start working more, and I found your tips to be extremely helpful. My biggest problem is compiling a portfolio, but thanks to my high-school art teacher, I’ve been tackling that problem. Thanks again!

43. Elle on Mar 23, 2009 said:

    Wow! First …I love this blog! its really helpful to me!
    Well im in my first year in college and i found a job! its to help poor children so i won’t ask for money yet, but thank you for this survival-guide haha THANKS!

44. ETM (@exceptionaltm) on Oct 30, 2009 said:

    Can anyone advice me on the kind of graphics and nature(whether professional or personal, mature or childish, abstract etc) to put in a portfolio? I’m yet to put my portfolio online coz I don’t know what to include… and vice versa.

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