Today’s business owners know a great website is an important part of their marketing toolkit, and since this is your career you should have an awesome website yourself. While a great site is critical for a web designer, don’t depend on it as your only marketing tool.

Whether you are a novice designer or already have a good book of existing clients, gaining new clients is vital to the ongoing success of your business. Use these offline and online tips and tricks to find clients in unusual ways and keep your freelance web design business growing.

Disclaimer: Yes, these methods require some old-fashioned face-to-face communication. However, they are effective, especially when coupled with some new-fangled technology tricks.

Make a List of Your Centres of Influences

“My whats?” you say. Centres of influences are people you know whose standing or success in the community can influence the decisions of others. They are often asked for recommendations to other professionals. For example, doctors, dentists, real estate agents, accountants and lawyers.

The next time you see one of these fine folks, give them a business card and let them know you can help them set up a new website or spruce up the one they already have. Centres of influence can be a wonderful source of referrals to others who need your services.

Target Businesses in Industrial Parks

Drive to an industrial park and actually check out the businesses or stores. New businesses and those undergoing renovations make great web design clients because they are enthusiastic about their new ventures and want to promote them. Older, more established businesses may not even have a website, especially if they started before the internet! Make a list of five to ten businesses and contact them by email, phone or in person to offer your services.

Join Business Networking Organizations

Join a breakfast club where other small business owners discuss the joys and difficulties of running a business. Mingle. Make small talk. (Don’t shudder.) Offer to look at websites, and if you have time, use your mobile device to take a quick look right there. Give one or two suggestions and your card.

Research Resources Catering to Small Businesses

Look for classes, workshops or seminars for new businesspeople. Inquire about speaking to a class about setting up a website for new businesses. Better yet, offer to design a website for the resource itself. If they are happy with your work they are more likely to promote your web design services to the students.

Also look for programs offering municipal or federal funding to new businesses. Small business owners who have just received a grant from the government have money to spend on marketing, including a professionally designed site.

Local Restaurants or Coffee Shops

Seriously. Target establishments in business districts. Begin by looking at the website for the restaurant itself, and get in touch with the owner to offer your services to update or design the restaurant website. Ask to put up a poster, brochure, or leave paper coasters with your logo or QR code on them.

Tradesmen are Good Sources

As more people turn to the internet to find local tradespeople, these professionals need websites. Leave marketing material in building supply stores, lumber yards, plumbing supply outlets, and any other places you think they will hang out – even your neighbourhood pub.

Go Old-School & Print a Stack of Notices or Posters

Include a QR code leading to your website or a coupon for a discount on your web design services. Post these notices on the bulletin board at your local post office and business supply stores, where all the local entrepreneurs end up sooner or later.

Libraries Often Offer Free Talks on a Variety of Subjects

Contact the information desk at your local library and offer a half hour presentation on websites for businesses. This is your chance to speak loudly in the library without getting kicked out.

Pre-Emptive Referrals

When a client mentions a problem – for example a leaky faucet in the lunchroom, suggest the name of an area plumber you like and trust. Write the name and phone number on the back of your own business card. You are more likely to get a referral back or even get work from the plumber himself.

Ongoing Online Marketing for Web Designers

Not all of us are fantastically proactive and outgoing marketers in the real world. In that case, be proactive online, especially if you prefer to avoid or limit your offline marketing techniques.

Introduce Your Business to Online Organizations

For example, engineers, doctors, lawyers or veterinarians belong to professional national or regional organizations which grant them their licenses or designations to practice. They pay fees to these organizations which often have websites, newsletters, and blogs for their online readers.

Write a guest post for the organization blog aimed at the membership – something along the lines of “5 Things to Remember When Designing Your Veterinarian Website.”

Many entrepreneurs say “I’ll do my own website, thank you very much,” not realizing the work involved and expertise required. Soon they discover they are too busy designing bridges or neutering cats to worry about getting their websites up and running. They will read the post, think “yikes, I have to remember all that?” and decide they need a professional website designer.

Send Warm Emails to Businesses You Regularly Visit

Personalize the email so it stands out, and begin by pointing out a product or service you love. For example, ” I just wanted to tell you that your new butter pecan lattes are fantastic.” Mention you looked them up online to find something – (hours, other locations, whatever) and offer a tip or two to improve their site.

I noticed x y z – I can make it better. If you change a and b you will increase your traffic. I can help you with this. Let me know. Be nice, and don’t tell them their website is awful, even if it is. Instead, focus on what you can do to help them improve the site. Keep your email short and friendly.

Ask For Referral as Part of Your Email Signature

“We value your business. The greatest compliment you can give ABC Design is to tell your friends, family and business colleagues about the services we offer. Thank you for trusting us with your web design needs!

Write a Guest Blog Targeting Specific Groups

You are probably sick of being told to write guest blogs, but you know what? It works, and it works better to specialize in a specific niche and market yourself as an expert in designing plumbing sites, or recipe sites, or landscaping sites.

Even better, target a specific professional niche of individuals that are likely too busy to nickel and dime you over your fees, such as architects, engineers, doctors, lawyers, dentists, investment professionals, and real estate agents.

Become an Online Authority

People want to deal with an expert. Build your reputation as an expert online and offline. Become active in forums and discussions around marketing and small business and entrepreneur issues. Open a Quora account and answer questions on web design issues.

Write in Your Local Newspaper

Okay, this may be offline, but it requires minimal face to face interaction. Provide a free weekly or biweekly column. It establishes you as a local web design business, and as a reliable professional.

Read your local paper (online or offline) for announcements about new businesses or other places that may need a website revamp.

Join LinkedIn Business Groups for B2B Sales Leads

They can be location-based or represent a niche or demographic you would like to specialize in. Join in conversations, provide thoughtful and insightful information as well as links to websites you have created (or your own website) when suitable.

Connect With Other Technology-Related Businesses

Web hosting providers, IT support businesses, graphic artists and content writing professionals all serve customers who are likely to need web design services. It is well worth developing a relationship with professionals in these fields as they can be an excellent source of referrals to new clients, as well as provide opportunity for you to branch out into other areas if you want to spread your wings beyond a career as a freelance web designer.

Provide Great Service to Existing Customers

How many of your clients are serial entrepreneurs, the kind of people who always have a new idea? More businesses mean more websites. Do an awesome job on the first one and you’ll have more work to come. Ask clients what they are working on, and tell them about new techniques, technology or other tips that could suit their new projects – Mobility First, anyone?

Ask For Referrals From Existing Customers

at the end of every meeting or interaction. Provide incentives for referrals that result in new clients, such as a discount on a future site upgrade.

Finished!

These are just a few techniques used by successful freelancers to find new clients and new work. Use them to inspire your marketing and networking techniques. If you have a really fantastic story of what works for you, please feel free to share it in the comments section!

The post How to Grow Your Client Base in Web Design appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

The field of web design is highly saturated, and that has created an extraordinarily competitive environment for those who are entering the field. Fortunately, you can put yourself at an advantage if you can gain real-world experience through internships, or if you can find other opportunities to work as a web designer while still developing and honing your skills.

Determining the Best Internship Opportunities

If you are a student, you are at an advantage. First, there is a good chance that your school has an internship program for students in your particular field. If this is the case, you can simply ask your advisor or department head what it is that you need to do to sign up.

If your school does not have a formal program, all is not lost. Ask your instructors or professors if they are aware of any local companies that are willing to take on web design interns. You certainly will not be the first person to ask, and if they can, the school staff will be happy to help.

Finally, don’t dismiss your school as a potential internship opportunity. After all, your school has a website that must be continually modified and updated. It’s more than likely that the people doing that job are other students, like you. Don’t be afraid to ask about internships or work-study opportunities within your schools IT department as well.

If you are a self-taught web designer, or you have learned web design through free learning websites such as W3 Schools or Khan Academy, you may discover that finding an internship or other opportunities a bit more challenging. After all, it will be up to you to find opportunities and make connections on your own.

On the other hand, your independent approach to learning web design can also work to your advantage. People love to help somebody that has worked to accomplish something on their own and has demonstrated the self-discipline it takes to complete their education independently.

Whether you find opportunities with help from your school or on your own, your next step is determining which opportunities are best for you. After all, you want the chance to use your skills in practical ways. You don’t want to spend several weeks in an office waiting for somebody to give you something to do, and you certainly don’t want to spend those weeks as a glorified errand runner.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions about your role during the internship. Remember that the business you will be working with will get something out of this also. Here are a few questions you should ask of anybody that is offering you a position as an intern:

• What projects will I be working on while I am interning with you?
• Can you tell me anything about the technology I will be using?
• What percentage of my day will be spent on duties that are not related to web design?
• Which of the skills that I have developed will be used the most during my internship?
• Are there any new skills that I will learn while I am here?

Use the answers to these questions to determine whether or not you should take on any internship that you are offered.

Developing Professional Skills when Internship Opportunities Don’t Exist

If you are unable to nail down an internship opportunity that works for you, then you will have to create your own opportunity. The best way to do this is to step out on your own and offer your services to people that are willing to be patient with somebody that has a bit of a learning curve to tackle but is willing to work at a discounted rate.

Do some research, chances are you will find a few small businesses, churches, and charitable organizations that cannot afford to pay an established design firm to create and maintain their web pages. You may be able to negotiate a win-win situation with one or more of these entities to work on their websites for a small fee, and, most importantly, a reference. Don’t dismiss the idea of volunteering your services either. After all, it is quite unlikely that your internship would have been a paying gig anyway.

Marketing Yourself for Prospective Internship Positions

First, if you have not done so, go quickly to LinkedIn and complete your profile. If you have done so, but aren’t making connections, you may need to make some changes so that it is as effective as possible. Then, send custom invitations to connect with previous employers, the businesses with whom you are seeking opportunities, fellow web designers, and anybody else who you believe could be a valuable connection.

Whatever you do, don’t use the generic invitation that is provided to you. Take the time to write your own. Once you have done this, it is time to put together your portfolio. Use Dribbble, DeviantArt or Behance if you want to showcase the artistic side of your work, or GitHub if you want to demonstrate your coding skills.

It seems almost too obvious to mention, but you’ll want to take the time to create a top-notch resume and to write custom cover letters to each company that you are interested in.

When you are discussing your talents and skills with others, don’t forget to mention other talents you have that may come in handy. For example, if you minored in English, your written communication skills might be a positive if you are going to work with a company that wants you to write content in addition to doing website design.

Finally, make sure that you are always actively developing and improving your skills. If there is a tool or a language that can help you become a better, more marketable designer invest the time and money to master it. You’ll never regret having an additional tool in your arsenal.

A Few Companies with Great Internships

And finally, if you are confident in the marketability of your web design skill set, and are willing to relocate for a great internship opportunity, here are some well-known companies that you may wish to contact:

• Google – User Experience:
  If you are accepted into this program, you will work on projects using your web design or graphic design skills. The goal of these projects is to take complex processes and automate them for users. Interns tthat show talent and motivation will be given leadership positions on future projects.
• Facebook – Design and User Experience:
  If you intern at Facebook, you will play a role in taking research and information gleaned from customer feedback and finding ways to improve the look and feel of the Facebook interface and experience.
• Washington Post – Web Design:
  As a web design intern at the Washington Post, you could find yourself using your talents to help the News, Sports, or Lifestyle departments of the Post’s website. In each 12 week internship cycle, you will work on a variety of projects, and could even see some of your completed work displayed on the website.
• Vox Global – Web Development:
  Are you interested in politics? If so, this may be a good fit for you. Vox interns work to develop political campaigns through the use of multimedia and digital technology. These internships do require specific technical skills such as HTML, DreamWeaver, and WordPress.

The post Finding Internships as a Young Web Designer appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Some designers, regardless of skill level or experience, seem to always have the most interesting assignments that are creative, challenging, and highly paid, while others, who may have more experience, technical skill, or talent, get stuck working for peanuts on unfulfilling, low-level work.

Why is that? Why do some mediocre designers seem to always get the best jobs, while good, talented designers struggle in obscurity?

The answer almost always has to do with marketing. Every designer’s Achilles’ heel, marketing is nonetheless a vital part of freelancing success.

Today, I’m going to share some tips on how good designers can market themselves to exactly the kind of clients that will best suit their services.

It’s All Sales

What’s the difference between a good designer and a great designer? Notoriety, of course. There are literally thousands – possibly millions – of designers out there whose talent and technical skills rival or even surpass those of the tiny handful of designers who are “well-known” or famous.

Are those well-known designers doing something especially different that the talented designer “misses?” Well, yes and no. We already know they’re not necessarily better designers – perhaps their style is more in line with current trends and thus they’ve gotten more recognition in recent years, but good design is good design.

Trends come and go, but a strong understanding of basic design principles will never go out of style. So how do these famous designers differentiate themselves?

If you’ve ever worked in an office, you know that the management positions don’t always go to the most capable or competent leaders, hard workers, and visionaries.

In my time as a corporate employee, I saw brilliant, talented, creative people get passed over for promotions and high-level work by incompetent, lazy, belligerent jerks – over and over again.

Why? Because the jerks knew exactly how to market themselves to their superiors. They knew what to say and how to say it. Every job is a sales job.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a lawyer, an artist, or a Sunday school teacher – we all have to sell something to someone. And we all have to make ourselves known to the people who can help further our careers.

This applies doubly to those of us who make our living freelancing, as there’s no framework or built-in networking platform vis-a-vis a corporate job.

Selling the Experience

Designers who compete for freelance jobs have quite an uphill battle to fight. They constantly have to convince potential clients that they’re the best person for the job, while simultaneously diverting the client’s attention away from the zillions of other designers out there who provide essentially the same service.

Now, I’m about to say something that might depress many of you out there who are hoping for a freelancing miracle.

The sad truth of the matter is this: the typical design client knows next to nothing about design, and couldn’t care less about your technical knowledge, years of experience, or brilliant design sense.

Yup, it’s true. They just don’t give a damn. You say you’re an award-winning branding manager who’s been featured in industry publications? That’s nice. Don’t call us, we’ll call you. Standards-compliant web developer? Eh? What’s that?

It can be extremely frustrating when a client simply doesn’t care about the work you’ve put into perfecting your craft.

I could be smug and suggest that you only work with clients who do care, but that would be pretty irresponsible of me. No matter how far up the freelancing ladder you go, there’s always going to be a discrepancy between what you think the client should care about, and what they actually care about.

The key to selling yourself as a talented, capable designer lies in the way you present your skills.

The first thing to go should be the idea that you can somehow convince a non-designer to care about the intricacies of design. You can’t. Save it for your fellow designers, and instead focus on the experience you can provide your clients.

Your technical skills and knowledge are not experiences for your clients – they are merely attributes.

Put another way, when you see a television commercial for a pizza shop, do you ever see the inside of the actual pizza kitchen anywhere in the ad (not the fake set meant to sell you on “authentic Italian cooking” or some such nonsense)?

Do you ever see what kind of knife the chef uses to cut the pepperoni and other toppings? Or the Serv-Safe certificates of the pizza-making staff? Of course not.

What you see is a delicious-looking pizza, complete with sizzling sound effects and mouth-watering, rising steam, possibly being paraded in front of the camera on a round dish by an attractive, young actor dressed up as a server or a pizza chef.

In the background, you might see a laughing group of diners seated at a table, pulling apart their pizza slice by cheesy, gooey slice. You’re being sold an experience, not a simple list of attributes or qualities.

If your clients are decent and treat you with a reasonable amount of professionalism, they’re going to expect that you know what you’re doing. They will take it as a matter of course that you have all the necessary skills and know-how to complete the job adequately.

A simple list of the things you can do isn’t going to impress them. You need to sell them an experience – the sizzle, not the steak, in other words.

Having a Backup Plan

You’ve probably heard of the recent business phrase “multiple streams of income.” It’s become quite a popular goal for business owners and freelancers, especially since the internet has become a powerful and simplified way to make multiple income sources a reality.

But you don’t have to be a fast-talking, greasy-haired entrepreneur wannabe to take advantage of this important idea.

Today’s economy makes it challenging for even the most established freelancers to stay afloat, and if your client base is too small, you could find yourself in real trouble if one of them stops calling.

Creating an exclusive niche for yourself is important, but it’s equally important to have a large enough pool that you can easily generate new business.

Keeping up with your marketing efforts, even if you can’t currently take on the new work, will ensure that you always have prospects lined up just in case one of your current clients falls through.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask your current or past clients for referrals. Generally, people are happy to spread the word about freelancers who have done a remarkable job.

And as a bonus, you’ll widen the net of clients who are similar to those clients you’ve already worked for, since people tend to talk to their friends in the same industry.

The post How to Attract the Right Clients by Focusing on a Niche appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Freelancing is basically being self-employed and not committed to any one company or firm. You’ve heard those seemingly perfect freelance stories. Some designer quits his jobs and starts freelancing – and now he’s making more money than he was while at a firm. All the while travelling the world and working for himself. Not to mention he gets to choose what kind of work he does.

However, there is no such thing as perfect – and freelancing is no exception. While the above paragraph might make being a freelancer out to be an ideal gig, it has its drawbacks. And some of these can be deal-breakers for you.

So should you freelance? Let’s weigh-up the pros and cons:

Pros of Freelancing

1. Choose When You Work

When you don’t have to come into an office each day, you can really be in control of your time. You get to choose when you work. You’re working for yourself, after all. Are you a morning person that wants to stop working at lunchtime? That’s cool. Or are you a night owl that loves to sleep in? Go for it. As long as you get the work done, that’s all that matters. When you freelance, you get to choose when you work. Or at least be more flexible with your schedule (with the few exceptions that involve time-sensitive clients).

2. Choose Where You Work

Since you’re not reporting to a stationary office every day, you can choose where you do your freelancing work. Whether it’s at home, at various cafes throughout the cities, or traveling—or even moving—to different cities, it doesn’t matter. Like with being in control of your time, as long as you get the work done then it doesn’t matter where you’re located. When you freelance, you get to choose where you work. Or again, at least be more flexible with your location (if you have location-sensitive clients).

3. Choose What You Work On

The biggest drawback of working for a company or firm is you usually don’t get to choose what projects you work on. You design based on what clients are brought to you. But when you are a freelancer, you find your own clients. Thus, you get to choose what you work on. Notice the pattern? Freelancing is about choice – freedom.

4. Potentially Make More Money

If you have the drive in you, you can stand to make more money freelancing. You’re not throttled by working for someone else. You can take on more clients or more projects than if you were working for a company or firm. And more quality work equals making more money.

5. Fire Bad Clients

Similar to #3, if you get stuck with a bad client while working for someone else, you either suck it up or quit your job. And there goes all of your work and income. But with freelancing, each client is a separate source of income. So if you come across a bad client, you can freely fire them. Why waste your precious days working on something that’s annoying you? Drop that client like a bad habit.

Cons of Freelancing

1. Incoming Work Isn’t Guaranteed

At a company or firm, assuming it doesn’t go out of business, you’re pretty much guaranteed work. You come in, there is always work for you to do, and you’ll never be at a shortage. As a freelancer, since you’re finding your own work, it’s never guaranteed. Sometimes opportunities can be plentiful, and other times there could be less.

2. Inconsistent Monthly Income

With inconsistent incoming work comes inconsistent monthly income. Some months you can be rolling in a steady stream of quality work. Other months your clients might not need you, or you don’t find enough work. And your income suffers as a result.

3. Potentially Make Less Money

A continuation of #2. If you aren’t finding quality clients, you could potentially make less money than if you were at a company or firm. Ditto if you’re lazy. If you aren’t a self-motivating type and need someone else to kick you in the butt, then with freelancing you could potentially be making less money than at a company or firm.

4. You Have to Find New Work On Your Own

With freelancing, you don’t just spend time creating, you also need to spend time finding new clients and work. At a company or firm, the incoming work is taken care of for you. You just need to design and that’s it. (However, if you absolutely hate finding clients but still want to freelance, one remedy is partnering with someone that can find work for you – a designer manager of sorts.)

5. You Have to Do Your Own Accounting

Similar to #4. At a company or firm, you don’t need to worry about accounting. You design, you get paid, you pay yearly taxes, and that’s it. Not so with freelancing – since you are your own company, you need to handle your own accounting. (Again, if you hate accounting then you can use software to make it easier or hire/outsource to someone that can do it.)

So, Should You Freelance?

So is freelancing ultimately worth it? Yes. Yes it is. You won’t get a wishy-washy “it depends” answer here. If you’re considering it, then you should freelance.

Of course, you have to be driven, confident, and independent. You should be willing to take matters into your own hands. (So it really does depend, huh?)

But the benefits of being in control of your time, location, and work you do is worth it alone. That’s true freedom right there – something we all desire as human beings. Add to that the potential to make more money—totally up to your drive, of course—and the pros of freelancing outweigh the cons. Just make sure you aren’t lazy and find actual work for yourself.

So if you are already freelancing, even if just on the side, then let this be confirmation that you made the right choice. And if you haven’t been a freelancer yet, give it a try – you’ll be hooked by the freedom and control you gain.

To recap, here are the pros and cons of freelancing:

Pros:

1. Choose when you work
2. Choose where you work
3. Choose what you work on
4. Potentially make more money
5. Fire bad clients

Cons:

1. Incoming work isn’t guaranteed
2. Inconsistent monthly income
3. Potentially make less money
4. You have to find new work on your own
5. You have to do your own accounting

The post Is Working Freelance Really Worth It? appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

We spoke with dozens of hiring managers and recruiters while building our Design Career Bootcamps, and they all confirmed that a strong, well-thought-out portfolio site can be just as important as the projects that comprise it! But if you’ve never created your own portfolio website before, how do you structure it so that it will wow any potential employers?

In this article, we’ll share a few of the lessons we learned while talking to industry professionals so you can build a unique portfolio site that showcases your work beautifully, is easy to navigate, and impresses employers.

Choose the Right Projects to Include

First things first — before you build your actual portfolio website, you need to have enough portfolio projects to populate your site! When you’re deciding what projects to work on, spend some time thinking about what types of design interest you most as well as what sort of role you’d like and what industries you want to work in. Whenever possible, focus on building projects that match most closely to the type of career you want to build.

Unless you’re truly hoping to be a design generalist, you should try to focus on building up deep expertise in one or two areas of design and showcasing those projects most prominently in your portfolio for relevant jobs, while also showing a few projects that demonstrate your breadth of abilities.

Logically this makes sense – someone recruiting for a web designer role wants to see that you have the most expertise in web design, while also being able to incorporate other elements of design into your work!

If a recruiter lands on your portfolio homepage and sees projects that match the role you applied for, you’ll be much more likely to land an interview than someone who shows one example of ten different types of projects.

The Selected Works of Yianni Mathioudakis

Show Real World Work

Recruiters love to see real work in portfolios. Theoretical projects are great and will generally make up the bulk of your portfolio if you’re early in your career, but being able to showcase a project you’ve built yourself and then launched into the world or delivered to a client is a great way to stand out from your competition.

Here are a few ways you can get real world work in your portfolio early in your career.

• Real Clients: Finding real clients might seem daunting, especially if you don’t think your work quality is high enough to get paid for your services. If that’s the case, you can consider offering your services pro bono to local businesses or nonprofits you find online. While it’s not something you want to get into a habit of doing, offering your services for free early in your career is a great way to get real client experience, which ultimately should help you get more interviews!
• Side Projects: If you have ideas for side hustles or web projects you’re interested in working on, we highly recommend doing so! A real world side project, like an online course, an ecommerce business, or a newsletter, shows that you have a desire to utilize your design skills outside of your 9-5 and have a love for solving problems and building things.
• Theoretical Projects: If you have ideas for cool design projects you want to work on, that’s also totally fine. Just be sure that your project ideas are solving real problems and that you follow the proper design process when working on them. It can be tempting to dive straight into Sketch or Illustrator, but employers want to see your entire process, from research all the way to user testing and iterating on their feedback.

Having real work in your portfolio (whether it’s a side project, client work, or a project you came up with to solve a real problem) shows that you’re able to work within the type of constraints that you’ll experience in any job.

If you want to work on real client projects or want some help coming up with ideas for projects that solve real problems, you can check out our Portfolio Starter Kit which includes over 30 projects as well as real client projects you can work on with nonprofits and startups!

Present Case Studies, Not Just Visuals

When you’re putting your projects onto your portfolio site, it can be tempting to only showcase the final polished designs. If you visit a social sharing design site like Dribbble, you’ll be overwhelmed by thousands of colorful and vibrant designs.

There’s a lot of great design work on sites like this, but even more work that was created just for the sake of creating something pretty, with no thought around the context for the design. However, recruiters want to see more – they want to see your process, your problem-solving abilities, and how you actually arrived at the final design deliverables.

Remember to present projects as case studies on your portfolio site. In general, this means that you should start by outlining the project, including the problem you were trying to solve and what your approach was.

Then show the final deliverables mocked up to make the viewer want to keep reading. Then dive into your process, showing early concepts and wireframes, outlining any challenges you faced with an explanation for how you solved those challenges. Finish with the final work nicely mocked up into relevant digital or print locations.

The eBay Design Case Study by Ephraim Joseph

Now, Let’s Build Your Portfolio Website

Your portfolio website is your best chance to make a lasting impression on potential employers and clients. Before diving into the build of your actual site, be sure to create or polish your personal brand identity.

Do you have a personal logo? Do you have consistent typography across your website that matches your personality? A strong personal brand that is consistent across your portfolio site and resume can make your site more memorable and help to differentiate you from other junior designers.

Start by looking at the portfolio sites of famous designers to understand how experienced creatives showcase their own brand. Look at their personal logos as well as their use of consistent color and typography across their websites. Take note of elements that you like and start to jot down any ideas you have for your own branding.

A few sites to look at are Dribbble, Behance, and Twitter. Then go through a normal design process that you’d follow for any branding project, from moodboarding and ideating to sketching and diving into Illustrator to refine.

Next, it’s time to actually start to build your site. If you’ve got coding skills, coding your own site from scratch is a great idea, but in general, we’d suggest using a platform like Squarespace or Figma, which feature dozens of amazing portfolio templates. Once you’ve created an account, follow these tips to build your portfolio:

Your Homepage

Make a strong and distinctive first impression! Most recruiters and employers will spend 5-10 seconds looking at your portfolio before deciding whether to seriously consider you. The homepage of your portfolio site should clearly showcase who you are and what your specialties and abilities are. It should also be visually appealing and clearly show that you are someone this person should take note of.

Next, make sure any work that focuses on your target role or industry is showcased front and center on your site. Remember, first impressions are important so ensure that you showcase your best and most relevant work on your homepage! Showcase a portion of the final designs to entice them to click through to the full case study.

Make it easy to navigate. Any recruiters navigating your site likely only have a minute or two before they have to make a decision about you. Have a persistent navigation bar that makes it easy for them to get to any page of the site.

Have a clear order to your layout. Be sure projects are grouped by type. Make it as easy as possible for a recruiter to get an idea of your strengths and review relevant projects.

The Personal Portfolio Homepage of Irina Ponomaryova

Your About Page

Have a clear and unique About page that showcases your background, strengths, current role, and previous employers. Let your personality shine through and try to make it as memorable as your work itself. After all, employers are hiring you for your skills but also want to hire someone who will add a unique dynamic to the team and will bring new ideas to the table.

Make it incredibly easy for visitors to contact you, via a simple Contact page or form, as well as links to your other social channels. If a potential employer or client stumbles on your site but can’t get in touch with you, then all of your efforts to craft a memorable site go to waste.

The About Page of Sebastian Petravic

Your Projects

Like we mentioned earlier, showcase your top projects as comprehensive case studies. Your goal should be for any potential visitor to completely understand all of your design decisions and have a clear view of how your final designs solve the original problem stated at the beginning of the page.

They should also be able to understand what your role on the project was and with whom you validated your designs.

Your Personality

Recruiters look through dozens, if not hundreds and sometimes it can take more to stand out than a few well-thought out projects. So whenever possible, don’t be afraid to make your portfolio site memorable and even a bit quirky or out of the box.

You could add a blog where you write about your interests and opinions on current design trends (or link to your Medium page if you have one). You can also showcase interesting passions or side projects that have nothing to do with the job you’re applying for. Whenever possible, add color or hover state animations to your nav bar or footer.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with your portfolio site. As long as your work is easy to review, your site is easily navigable, and you go into the appropriate amount of depth on each project, showing your personality is totally fine!

Congrats! You now have a fully built out portfolio site that is structured to showcase your work as well as possible while also speaking to your personality and unique value prop. Your portfolio site is a living showcase of your design career, so remember to keep it updated with your newest work and ideas.

The post How to Structure Your Portfolio Site to Land a Design Job appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

To help get you started, here are some great websites for finding freelance work in design, web development, or other closely related creative fields.

WP Hired

If you are a WordPress guru, WP Hired is an excellent site for finding freelance jobs in a wide variety of WP specialties. You filter your job search by region and job category, and search for gigs by keyword. Job categories include design, SEO, copywriting, migration, plugin development and more.

Redditors for Hire

Redditors for Hire isn’t specifically dedicated to design and development freelancers, but there are many gigs posted there that fall into this category.

One of the most desirable things about this subreddit is that the participants do a great job of policing themselves and one another as far as what listings are appropriate or not. This means fewer bogus jobs to filter through. If you join this subreddit, you can browse freelance jobs or put yourself out there as available for hire.

Krop

Krop is a website that contains listings of permanent, temporary, contract, and freelance positions. They focus primarily on creative, design, and technical. Many of the freelance jobs include user experience design, web development, art direction, graphic design, and other jobs related to marketing and media. Visitors can drill down through the available jobs to find ones that are in their region.

iFreelance

iFreelance lists available jobs in a variety of specialties, not all of them related to design or technology. However, in spite of casting quite a wide net, this website is definitely a serviceable one if you are looking for a creative, tech, or design job.

HexiDesign

If your talent leans more towards the creative side, HexiDesign might be a great resource for you. Businesses and individuals post projects that include logo design, business card design, wedding branding, stationary design, and even the design of small websites.

LocalSolo

Local Solo curates job listings that are in your area. However, you can also search for jobs all over the world. A quick glance at their job board as of this writing shows job openings for WordPress developers, graphic designers, photographers, business analysts, copywriters, web designers, and more.

Guru

Guru is another website that features jobs in a variety of categories. However, like many freelance job boards, most of the work offered is in the areas of web design, software development, design, art, and multimedia. Employers offering jobs may pay by the hour or ask a fixed price for their entire project.

Freelancer

Freelancer is one of the larger and more popular clearinghouses of freelance positions. They offer a wide variety of jobs, and there is almost always something available to people who are seeking design and development jobs. Be sure to sign up for their email newsletters, you’ll get lots of great information including access to premium content.

Working Nomads

A digital nomad or location independent worker is somebody who intentionally seeks out remote positions, usually freelance, for the benefits of lifestyle flexibility. Nomads are able to work virtually anywhere in the world that they want, as long as they have an internet connection. Working Nomads serves up a constantly updated list of freelance jobs in the areas of development and design.

Upwork

It doesn’t matter if you are freelancer looking for a few short term gigs to earn some extra money, or something a bit more ongoing, Upwork is definitely a website to consider. When you get work through Upwork, all pay is calculated, handled, and released to you from the folks at the website. This means that you don’t need to track your hours, other than for auditing purposes.

Craigslist

Depending on where you live, you may find a lot of freelance development, design, and media jobs in and around your city on Craigslist. If not, you have the option of exploring freelance jobs in other cities. Just be sure to stick with jobs that have been recently posted and to do your due diligence in investigating anybody you would be working with.

PeoplePerHour

People Per Hour is a freelance job listing curator that features jobs in a variety of tech and non-tech fields. You simply browse through the listings that interest you and send a proposal for the ones you want to pursue. The jobs available include logo design, app development, writing, and eCommerce.

Project4Hire

If you are a web designer, programmer, writer, graphic artist, or have other related skills, bookmark Project4Hire. You can bid on a variety of gigs, follow the bidding on other gigs, and find collaborative opportunities. This website has a global scope, which means lots of available gigs but also lots of competition.

99Designs

99Designs may not be for everybody. If you need reliable sources of income, and have established a presence as a designer or developer, you may be better off spending your energy elsewhere.

However, if you are new to freelancing, you might want to check 99Designs out. They hold design competitions that are driven by actual project requests they receive from companies. You pick the competitions you want to enter, create your designs, and receive feedback from the company in question. If they choose your design, you win the prize money.

The post 10 Sites for Finding Freelance Design Work appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.