Navigating the Freelance Realm

I first picked up Photoshop when I was around 11 years old and since then have been developing a range of creative skills and abilities. When I was around 16-17 I dropped out of 6th form and had 6 months or so to fill until I went to College to study Graphic Design at LCOA. I started searching for freelance design work, I designed and set up a website for myself and also got some business cards printed to help make this easier. I got plenty of help and support from my Dad who was working for a print company at the time which landed me some valuable work experience in a professional environment. I decided from those experiences however that I would much rather work for myself, or with a group of people who I chose, as it allowed much more freedom to focus on the areas I enjoyed the most.

Over the years I worked on a variety of different projects, attempting to set up a little design agency with a team of people who were passionate about creativity. However, I found this was much more challenging than I originally anticipated – there was a lot that I had yet to learn, but I’m not the type to give up.

Circular Element started off as a Youtube channel for dubstep/drum and bass, as that is what I was into at the time. You can see the channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/CircularElement – though the time and effort that was put in never really paid off and I couldn’t find anyone to help me keep it afloat. I decided to take the concept and ‘re-brand’ it as a design agency. Many different variations and styles of design were experimented with but I found that I was never entirely happy with it.

During these times, I was also trying to get my hands on as much client work as possible, however most of the clients/projects that came to me never really paid a great deal and I was putting a lot of my time into them, which could be slightly de-motivational and felt like I was being undervalued. Many times I was taken advantage of and never paid at all and made plenty of mistakes through this process which I have now learned from.

• Don’t charge a client less simply because you don’t think you aren’t worth it.
• Be confident in yourself, recognise the abilities that you have. This doesn’t mean you have to be big-headed about it.
• Don’t work with clients who are reluctant when it comes to talking about payment, or ones who don’t want to give anything upfront. 90% of the time, they are going to waste your time and you will end up not enjoying the experience.
• Know your stuff. Especially when it comes to print work. Bleed, margins, colours – all the technicalities. Otherwise you may find your clients are coming back to you not very happy with what they have received.
• Don’t worry about making mistakes, as long as you learn from them you will be absolutely fine. There is a learning curve.

I had been looking at Flat design for a few months at this point and decided that it was finally time that I gave it a go. Minimizing uncessary styles and effects in an effort to bring more focus to the ‘content’, both written and visual. It really is quite challenging to create a minimal design that still says a lot about who you are and what you do. From here on I have been preaching to people that “simple is best”. I was quite impressed with myself when I came up with these designs, but as usual I soon got ‘bored’ of them and decided it was time to leave Circular Element behind – it had given me a great opportunity to practice and refine my skills, as well as learn a lot about the industry itself. I was always going to get feedback from websites such as DeviantArt, Forrst and Huunie where a lot of professionals actively contribute to the design community.

A much older concept of the CE website, for comparison

Another project that I have been involved with is http://www.themebulk.com – however the relationship I had with the guy who set it up slowly deteriorated over the months. I was producing designs and templates, but he never got around to developing anything. I also helped him with the branding of it.

Some other clients that I have worked with include Webjet, which was quite poorly paid but again it was some good experience to have and more practice.

Here’s a concept where I implemented illustration skills with web design. I wasn’t really satisfied with the outcome, but at the time I thought I had done a pretty good job of it. The basic idea of the website is that it generated a random holiday destination for you and then linked you to buy tickets for it.

As well as some much older work from 2 years ago +

So you can see how my style has changed. I have learned that one of the most important things in design is how you present both yourself and your work. Whilst it is vital that you are your ‘self’, if you don’t go out there and make yourself heard there is very little chance you are going to find any projects or clients to take on. It can be quite difficult sometimes to build up the confidence in yourself, but the only thing that will ever hold you back is fear. Fear of rejection, death by embarrassment.. Whatever it may be. You have to step outside of your comfort zones in order to expand your personal and ‘business’ skills. As well, if you are presenting your portfolio in a ‘half-arsed’ manner, people will lose interest much more quickly.

Be open to feedback and criticism, take it in a positive way. Some people are going to drive you insane, I’m probably one of them, but you have to keep focused on the positives at all times in order to move forwards and progress. It’s good to have sources of inspiration, be it design, music, art… Personally, I’m always listening to something. Every now and then I will have a browse through sites like Behance to see what others are doing, but the majority of my inspiration comes from music. There will be times when you lack motivation to get up and do anything at all – it’s a lot easier to do nothing. But during those times especially, it will be greatly beneficial to put that effort in – because then you will know that you can do anything.