How to make money with graphic design

Graphic design is an exciting field of work, but making money in it on a stable basis can sometimes feel difficult. Starting a career as a designer is not easy, but it is definitely worth the effort, because at the senior or art director level, you can expect to earn a really high salary.

We spoke with designers from small but notable companies in the market that offer average pay and compiled statistics on salary levels. Read our study featuring several interviewees.

Today, we collaborated with Sophia Novakivska who is a part of DashTickets magazine team to discuss some of the most common strategies for graphic designers in the current market and talk about their benefits and downsides.

Freelancing

Freelancing is quite common in the graphic design niche for many reasons, but mostly because of the nature of the work itself. Lots of companies have no need to employ a graphic designer for the long term, which is why they offer some contract work. After all, if the only thing a business needs is a new logo, why go through the recruitment process? 

Image Credit: Alena Koval - Pexels

Freelancing has its upsides and downsides. First of all, it opens an entirely different market — companies that look for full-time employees exist in a separate space and nothing stops you from sending your portfolio to them while still working on other projects. Freelance work also offers a flexible schedule and enables young workers to build their portfolios. Finally, if your services become highly demanded, you can be your own boss and choose projects based on your personal preference while earning well. 

Admittedly, this is a rather rare situation and you shouldn’t expect it to happen. After all, freelancing has multiple downsides you have to take into account. First off, it is highly unreliable by nature, which can be tough if you struggle with making ends meet. It is also fairly crowded, and overcoming competition is very difficult. Finally, most freelancers cannot boast huge incomes due to the reasons mentioned above. 

Freelance graphic designers can earn between $15 and $150 per hour, with an average around $25 per hour, according to Sunsuiwah Canadian company. A typical designer works about 100 hours a month, which means the salary ranges from $1,500 for a beginner.

As a result, freelancing might be a decent starting point, an okay temporary solution when you’re out of work, or a high-risk/high-reward strategy for experienced designers.

Selling digital products 

Creating templates, fonts, icons, mockups, or printables can be a valid strategy when done correctly. While it promises a passive income that can even build up over time due to the increasing number of assets you create, it is also imperfect. After all, getting noticed is hard, there is no reliable income, and some of your creations may be seen as outdated after a certain period of time, losing their value entirely. 

If you feel that you want to try this route, we recommend focusing on a single niche and perfecting it. Making your name more noticeable in the wedding templates niche is going to be far more lucrative than working in several different niches since the audiences are probably not going to overlap at all, and your personal brand won’t be as recognizable.   

Working with agencies or in-house

Full-time work is the most stable employment option a graphic designer can have, and there are multiple benefits to it. Having a regular and reliable source of income alone is a massive advantage, but lots of companies also offer great learning opportunities and look impressive on your resume. Having an opportunity to not just showcase your portfolio to the next potential employer but also to note that another respected company valued your services is huge. 

As you can imagine, the main downsides mostly have to do with freedom of artistic expression and stricter schedules, although even that isn’t necessarily true for some companies. In short, we recommend sticking with full-time job opportunities, especially in times of economic uncertainty.

(Disclaimer: Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)