Being a freelance designer or running your own design shop is no picnic these days! You have to prospect clients, manage a team and vendors, and deliver great work against tight deadlines- all while balancing finances. One problem we hear over and over is that high quality images and graphics are expensive, but creating every asset from scratch for each project just doesn’t make sense. Designers face this type of trade off everyday, so we wanted to put together some simple suggestions to help you manage it.
Here are our Top 5 Ways to Save Money (and Earn More) with Your Design Business…
#1 – Stop overpaying for stock graphics!
Use a subscription base service so you can get more for what you pay for. Buying one image at a time can get really expensive, really fast. Instead, subscribe to a service that allows you to download as many clips as you’d like all for a low monthly rate. Like Netflix but for graphics!
GraphicStock.com offers a library of over 100,000 high-quality stock images, graphics, backgrounds, textures, icons, and more. Plus they are offering 7 Days of FREE Downloads for How Design readers.
#2 – Find online tutorials that keep you up to speed on the latest graphic design resources. There are tons of tutorial sites that focus on design and who also offer free online resources.
Lynda, Creative Live and Treehouse offer some amazing design-related video content that will help unlock your creativity.
#3 – Get involved on community sites and blogs.
This helps facilitate creativity and while getting advice from those in your same field. Plus you’ll find other money-saving ideas that have worked for others.
Dribbble and Behance offer great communities where you can explore postings for inspiration, or share your own work to get valuable feedback.
#4 – Use free Wifi
Some of your best work can come from your surroundings. Try working in a coffee shop or local library. You’ll save money on Internet use while also being inspired by what’s around you.
OpenWifiSpots.com is a free service that has a website and free app in the AppStore.
#5 – Get Organized
There is no silver bullet here, but it’s easy to lose track of what you’re working on with so many distractions in life. By organizing your thoughts and making a plan you’ll be able to stay focused and use your time effectively!
About Author
Founder
David Watson is the founder of DesignDrizzle and is a professional website designer for over 10 years. He has competence in creating visually appealing and user-friendly websites for all the clients. He likes to explore new and creative ideas for designing, photography effects and other inspirational subjects