Skills of a graphic designer are highly sought on a wide range of creating designing. Although demand for graphic designers increased exponentially after internet explosion but they have existed all along. However, the popularity of digital media has renewed their status in the currently transforming market context.
Graphic designing is a method of communication where designers communicate their messages through images, fonts, color palates, space, stylizing etc. In India, graphic designing has grown as an industry in itself and turned out to become a multi-billion dollar industry, involving thousands of graphic designers.
Today qualified graphic designers enjoy very high demand both in IT sector and as freelancers. For those who know the worth of their salt, there is no dearth of work and projects even in this competitive environment.
Graphic designing is a career option that can help you launch a very successful small business as a freelancer.
About graphic designing business
Graphic designers are the creative people in the entire website development process. They are responsible for creating the look-and-feel of the site or application to make it aesthetic and appealing to users without sacrificing its functionalities. Front-end designers often play an important role in making a product successful. They design sites and applications that are user friendly and responsive. To start a career as a graphic designer one would need knowledge and understanding of the different aspects of designing including framework, HTML codes, fonts, images, styles; along with profound knowledge on the various graphic designing tools currently available in the market.
The growing demand for ecommerce, websites and mobile applications has opened more avenues for graphic designers allowing them to attain new heights of creativity.
Current market trend
Indian graphic designers enjoy huge demand from both domestic and international clients. Foreign clients prefer to outsource graphic designing works to Indian designers because they are talented and affordable.
The market size for domestic clientele has also increased significantly over the past years as reach of affordable internet connection increased. Currently, Indian IT and e-commerce industries are rising on high tide.
Level of competition
The level of competition is extremely high for freelance designers. They are in constant need to find new clients to keep the things rolling. As a small entrepreneur, a graphic designer is required to wear many hats. Aside from graphic designing skills, they also need to concentrate on network building, client management, project management, team building, resource management and marketing.
The future of graphic designing business
The future seems very bright for graphic designers working as freelancers. As more and more organizations are considering trimming down their resource capacity, it means more work for freelancers.
The graphic designing industry in India is already regarded as a multibillion dollar industry and is expected to continue to grow in 2014. Range of services offered by graphic designers is listed below.
- Website designing
- Application designing
- Logo designing
- Business stationary designing
- Social media pages designing
Who can start this business?
To start a business as graphic designer one would need knowledge and working experience in various aspects of designing in different environments. A thorough knowledge on different programming environments and designing tools are pre-requisite to launch a career in this field.
Skill set you need
Following is the set of skills that every graphic designer intending to run a successful business should possess.
- Creative flair
- Technical skills – knowledge of different designing tools
- Experience in different designing platforms
- People skills to manage relationship with clients
- Understanding of current market trends
- Competition and industry demands
- Good understanding of client’s business
- Business skills
- Resource management and project management
- Ability to put ideas into action
- Knowledge on different typefaces
- Communication – interpersonal and business
- Impressive portfolio
Level of risk
There is a certain amount of risk associated with it largely because of its dependency on global economic scenarios. Depending on current trends volume of work outsourced to freelance designers may increase or decrease. That is why independent designers always need to maintain a healthy mix of returning and new clients.
Investment
Depending on the size of the business, one may need to make initial investment of a few thousand rupees. It would include high-end laptop to support advanced graphic designing tools and functions, licenses of tools, website to showcase services and portfolio. If one needs to rent a space, then rent should also be included in investment.
List of infrastructure would include.
- Laptop or computer
- Internet connection
- Graphic designing and photo editing tools
Website building
Since most businesses conducted by graphic designers are through online a professionally designed website is a pre-requisite for their business. SEOTP offers website designing solution to small entrepreneurs at competitive rates as a part of their small business mentoring solutions.
Marketing plan
In this highly competitive environment any advantage over competitors remains critical to a business. Successful marketing campaign will help promoting a business across channels to allow it target its prospective customers better.
Off line–Conventional marketing plan can work as a supportive system for graphic designers. Off line marketing is still a great way to reach out to local clients.
Internet marketing–Digital marketing is a formidable tool in promoting your business across web platforms. Digital marketing comprises search engine optimization and social media promotion to help a business create a loyal brand of customers and target a larger audience group.