Published by Nela Dunato on in Business, Graphic design, Tips for creatives
Starting out in any new career is hard. Especially nowadays, when you’re not only competing with other designers in your hometown, but those from all over the world! And it gets harder and harder to stand out as a designer every year.
But you do have a chance to make it, if you change whatever currently isn’t working. Let’s troubleshoot and see what you can change to advance your career.
1. You don’t have an up-to-date portfolio
This reason is number one even though it seems obvious, because it’s the most common issue I see (along with the next one) when designers complain they can’t get a job. Either they don’t have a portfolio at all and only publish their work on Instagram, or they have an outdated portfolio with work that isn’t that impressive, or they have too few projects in their portfolio (like 2 or 3).
By the way, did you know that if a visitor doesn’t have their own Instagram account, browsing your profile is frustrating because IG keeps pushing pop-ups that pester visitors to create an account? It doesn’t make the best impression.
A good portfolio sells your skills.
No matter how much experience you have, if you can’t show examples of previous work, it’s not enough. No client or manager is going to hire you without seeing what you’re capable of.
If you don’t have a portfolio and are not fully booked at the moment, your biggest priority is to create a simple website where you can publish your work.
Purchase a domain with your name, or a studio name you’re working under.
As for the platform you’ll use as a portfolio, the choice is yours. There are plenty to choose from. They all require payment to connect to a domain, but the prices vary, so decide based on your needs and budget. Here’s a few popular ones:
- WordPress.com (starts at 4 USD per month)
- Squarespace (more expensive)
- Adobe Portfolio (included in a Creative Cloud subscription)
If that seems too much at the moment, at least register a free Behance account and keep it updated.
If you don’t have a lot of time, just upload the graphics.
If you have some time, provide written information about your involvement in the project. This is especially important if a project was a collaboration with other creatives, so give credit to people who did the rest of the work.
Keep your main portfolio up-to-date, and add new work at least once a quarter. Delete old work that no longer reflects your skills or interests. You’ll be improving quickly over the first couple of years. Keep your portfolio fresh so that an older project doesn’t detract from the overall impression.
Only feature the kind of work you’d like to do more of in the future. If something was a one-off that you would not happily repeat again, don’t publish it.
But I’m too busy…
Work over the weekend if you must and get that portfolio ready. Fill it with only your best projects, even if it’s only 3 of them.
If you don’t make it a priority, you’ll never get it done.
2. Your work is just not good enough (yet)
I’m sorry to say this, but sometimes the reason you’re not getting any work is because you’re not a very good designer! No one wants to hear this. But it’s better to know the truth than to wonder why no one wants to hire you.
There are hundreds of thousands of talented and hardworking designers in the world. If you want a chance to compete with them, you need to be really good. A “meh” portfolio will not impress anyone.
Decades ago, a mediocre designer was able to get some work. Today, there’s so much free software, and so many cheap templates out there. Business owners can easily cobble together their own website, logo, business cards, or an e-book cover. Clients don’t see a reason to pay someone who can barely match the quality of these affordable resources, let alone exceed it.
And now we have to contend with generative AI as well. I’m not worried for myself, but I am worried for less experienced designers that will be affected the most as companies start embracing these solutions.
If a client is going to pay you, they need to see a clear difference between what you can do, and what they can get for free or cheap.
The same is true if you’re looking for a job. Your future boss wants to see the kind of work they’d be comfortable (proud even) to show their clients.
What are the solutions for this issue?
Keep learning
Designers never stop learning. Even after nearly 20 years in this industry, there are still many things I’m not that good at, so I keep finding information that helps me get better at it.
If you’re in your first few years of learning design, I suggest reading my Top 11 Easy-to-fix Beginner Design Mistakes (with visual examples + free checklist). I’ve written it primarily for design students and non-designers, but you never know, there may be a problem or two you haven’t noticed.
If you’ve been working for a while, look for more advanced information in the form of books, workshops, and courses tailored to your interests. I can’t tell you which ones because I don’t know what your interests and weaknesses are, but this works well with tailored critique (more on that below).
If you’re worried you may not be talented enough to pursue design professionally, read or watch Nela’s Art Chat ep. 11: Talent exists, but it’s not what you think + mixed media portrait drawing process
Practice on self-initiated projects
You may not be improving fast enough at the rate you’re currently working. You need to work on more projects to get through those early ones that will be bad no matter what, because that’s just what being a beginner is like!
You can follow tutorials and online classes to learn new techniques, or take part in online challenges, make pretty Facebook cover images for friends and family, design your mates’ concert posters for free, etc.
I normally don’t advise designers to work for free and take part in contests, but there’s an exception: if you’re still learning the craft, contests can be seen as an exercise in following a design brief. Even if your contest entry doesn’t get selected as the winning one, your reward is becoming a better designer than you were before this project. (Actually, you don’t even have to submit your work—especially if there’s an entry fee, since you’re only doing it for practice.)
Volunteer for a good cause
Non-profit organizations are always looking for people to help them with their promo materials. I’ve written about this in detail here: How young designers benefit from volunteering.
Follow design blogs to raise your aesthetic standards
There’s a fine balance between obsessing with other people’s work and living in an isolated bubble. Being aware of what’s going on in the design world will improve your work just because you’ll be exposed to new kinds of visual language.
Stop looking at poorly designed work (supermarket catalogs, most lawyers’ business cards, most self-published books) and instead look at high-end packaging and wine labels, posters for theater shows, and bestselling traditionally published book covers.
My favorite design blog is Brand New because the author provides critique on the featured projects, so not only do I get to form my own opinion about the designs, but also learn from someone who has a much deeper knowledge of typography. Membership is only 20 USD per year, and it’s the most affordable specialized design education you can get.
Spend more time polishing your final work
If you have plenty of experience and still feel like your work falls short when compared to other designers with the same amount of experience, it might be because you’re rushing to finish your projects.
Deadlines exist for a reason. If we didn’t have any, perfectionism would prevent us from finishing anything. However, we shouldn’t sacrifice attention to detail. It’s a highly important skill all designers must develop.
Maybe you’re rushing because your clients or employer need you to churn out deliverables faster. I can empathize, because my early jobs were like that. I didn’t put any of the work I did during that time into my portfolio, since it didn’t represent what I could do when allowed more time to experiment and refine. If you’re in this situation, it’s even more important that you do self-directed or volunteer work where you control the timeline.
If you’re rushing just because you want to get it over with—do you even like design? Are you getting bored with the project and just want to move on? If so, then I don’t have good news for you. If you want to join a higher tier of professional designers, that’s only possible if you apply the same amount of dedication that we all do.
Submit your work for critique
If someone can identify weak points in your work, you can focus on them and improve faster.
Experienced designers may offer a quick “design critique thread” on social media, or give video critique on YouTube, Twitch, Discord and other platforms. They get a lot of submissions so it may take a while to get your chance.
Other designers may offer paid mentoring, which guarantees that you’ll get your critique when you need it. I offer design critique and portfolio reviews as a part of my Individual Design Mentoring service.
3. You don’t charge enough
This sounds counter-intuitive, especially given the popularity of cheap services like 99designs and Fiverr, but great clients are skeptical towards cheap services. When they see a low price that’s not congruent with the market rates, you look like a beginner.
Of course, before you raise your prices you have to make sure that your services, client experience, and branding are aligned with the fees you want to charge. I wrote about this in more detail here: 5 things you need before raising your prices.
Also related: If you love your work, charge more
4. You have a poor reputation
I regularly recommend my colleagues to prospective clients when I’m too booked to do the work myself, or I don’t want to work on a specific project. I have a list of contacts, and depending on the clients needs, tastes, and what I perceive might be their budget, I recommend one or two that might be a good fit.
I deleted people from the list after some friends I referred to them told me they had a bad experience. (They didn’t respond to emails or phone calls for weeks, and missed deadlines—after getting half of the payment in advance.)
I know life gets messy and complex, and it’s even worse if you have chronic physical or mental health issues (don’t I know it). But at the very least keep the client in the loop and give them as much notice as you can when you see you’re not going to make the deadline. You don’t have to tell them all your personal problems, but they have to know there is a problem and that you’ll need more time.
If it’s not an urgent project, clients will be understanding, but only if you contact them and tell them you won’t make it in time. Ghosting them is the worst thing you can do.
The main reason why clients find it hard to trust a freelancer or an agency is because they, or someone they know, had a horrible experience with another freelancer or agency.
If you’ve burned multiple clients, don’t complain when you run out of work. A damaged reputation is very hard to recover. Same for employers—word in design circles gets around, and you can be absolutely sure that your potential future boss has sent out probes to learn what working with you is really like.
A bad word of mouth can only be overcome with strong, positive word of mouth.
You need to go above and beyond for all of your future clients so that their voices overpower those who were unhappy. No slip-ups from now on, only professionalism and pristine work ethic. And don’t promise anything you’re not 100% sure you’ll be able to deliver.
5. You never get out of the house
Besides being unhealthy, never leaving your home is also bad for your business. (People who are home-bound due to a disability or illness are the only ones that get a pass.)
Selling services is easier in person than over the internet.
I know marketing gurus are trying to sell you that social media advertising or marketing funnel training, but the competition online is humongous. It might have worked for some people, but before spending money on that training, ask yourself:
- Do they have the same business model as me? Are they selling high-end creative services, as opposed to video courses or group coaching programs? Did the program work well for creatives in similar fields like illustration, photography, web development?
- Did the people who have had success with this method have a significantly larger audience than me?
- Did this method work at a particular time when social media and blogs were less saturated with content? (Marketing methods in general get less effective over time.)
There are folks who’ve had success selling their services through Facebook groups, Instagram, webinars, Dribbble, SEO, newsletters, UpWork, YouTube, etc. For many of them it happened before millions of people flooded the web with their own services and content. Those who got an early start are still reaping the benefits because of the momentum they’ve built. It will be much harder for you if you’re starting today.
You’ll need to have a stellar portfolio and a very strong unique value proposition (more on that later) if any of your digital marketing efforts are going to work.
My proposed solution?
Build a long-term digital marketing platform while looking for local clients in the short term.
Yes, start writing that blog today. Yes, publish that podcast or a video show. Yes, chat with people online.
And go to that local small business meetups. Attend conferences and workshops. Visit gallery show openings. Invite a local colleague whose work you admire for a drink. Become a familiar face in your local community.
Being an introvert is not an excuse. You don’t have to do this every day or every week, but if a month has passed and you haven’t met a single new person in a business setting, you’re not trying hard enough. Crowded events can be exhausting for neurodivergent people prone to sensory overload, but that’s not the only way to connect with people. Intimate gatherings with like-minded professionals are just as effective.
If in-person is not possible, video meetings are fine.
Post-lockdown we all got used to online meetings. I worked with people I’ve only met online for many years before that. I’m not saying it’s not possible. But you have to be proactive about it.
- Join online communities that have a live video component, especially if there’s an opportunity to introduce yourself in front of other participants.
- When you meet someone on social media that you really like, ask if they’d like to meet for a video chat.
- Participate in webinars, classes, and other learning opportunities that have an interactive component.
These are not sales meetings, but “getting to know people” meetings. Trust me, when they need your services, they’ll get in touch.
6. You don’t have a strong specialty
Most designers start off as generalists, and that’s fine. You don’t know what you like until you’ve tried it! But if you’ve been working professionally for over 3 years and still don’t have a specialty, it may be time to decide on one.
I shared my own experience of narrowing my service offerings here: Pruning my services garden – doing better by doing less
I already wrote a whole article on 3 ways service based businesses can specialize, so I’ll just point out a few important things:
- Even if you specialize in one or two things, you’re still allowed to do other things! You just won’t advertise everything you’re doing publicly.
- As you focus on your specialization, your skills will improve much faster in your chosen area. If you try to improve everything at once, it will go slower.
- People who come to know you as the “logo designer” or the “book cover designer” will remember you when they encounter a project that’s perfect for you.
- Other designers with a different specialty will refer clients to you, because you’re not their direct competitor.
7. You’re selling to the wrong crowd
If I got a euro every time I found a “designer specialized in helping creatives”, I wouldn’t have to work anymore. And the funny thing is, I did it when I started my business as well! But while this audience may work for some designers, in my experience it’s a really tough crowd to cater to.
Here’s why I shifted my focus from “creatives” to “consultants”:
- Creative professionals are likely to DIY their design. They’re curious and confident in their aesthetic sense. (Some of them tend to overestimate their design skills.)
- They often undercharge for their own services and products, so they have smaller budgets than other professions, and might even be shocked by your prices.
- Most creatives I’ve worked with were disorganized and kept changing their priorities, which isn’t the issue I’m talking about right now, but it has been an important factor in my decision.
Maybe your audience are not creative business owners or artists—perhaps it’s some other thing like life coaches, mompreneurs, personal trainers… Whoever your ideal client is, look at them critically:
- Are these people willing and able to spend serious money on original design?
- How much do these people value design services?
- Do they have a need to launch a project soon?
- Are they connected with other businesses who are a good fit for my services?
If you’re not sure you like the answers to those questions… Try shifting your target audience and see if that helps.
If you’ve identified one or more areas of improvement on this list, that’s a good thing.
It means you have a chance to make it better!
If you don’t recognize any of your challenges and you’re doing everything in your power to find clients… I’m sorry. It may not be because of anything you’re doing wrong.
- New businesses take time to start working. It took me 2–3 years to start getting a steady stream of clients and building a waiting list. From what I’ve heard, this is pretty average among freelancers.
- Economic crises are a thing. Lots of us had a difficult time during the first lockdown. Depending on where you live, you may be subject to market forces beyond your control. Try expanding to an international market. It doesn’t have to be in English—any foreign language you speak can be an asset.
- Unconscious bias, sexism, racism, ableism, ageism, and all other -isms are a thing as well. I’m not saying this is the reason you’re not getting work while other people are, but combined with other factors, it may make things harder than they should be.
It will take some time to see the tide turn. But if you’re passionate about design and want to make this work, I hope you persist and see an upturn in your situation soon.
If you want to improve your skills, portfolio, communication, and work satisfaction, design mentoring may be for you.
If you’d like to talk to someone who’s been living in the trenches of agency design jobs and freelancing for many years, I’d be happy to offer my support and advice. I was a top-rated design course instructor for 3 years, and I’ve also been mentoring creative business owners in collaboration with several start-up incubators.
I’m now offering limited spots for a 3-month 1-on-1 mentoring engagement.
Learn more about design mentoring
Related reading
- How to get clients to see you as an expert
- Nela’s ultimate list of 36 freelancing tips
- 12 uncomfortable truths about doing creative work for a living
- How to encourage constructive design feedback (video)
More content like this:
How young designers benefit from volunteering
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