Being a graphic designer has been one of the greatest challenges of my life. I never thought how it would be when I finished my master’s and today I’m certain that it’s an utter battlefield. My career started mostly in Dubai as a freelance graphic designer. The market for us is huge there because a lot of companies, and even people, look for low cost and high quality solutions. I’m european and that played really well for me there. But each time I would get a client, it was a struggle. To negotiate, to make them sign an agreement, to make the terms of the budget viable for both parties and the list goes on. People living in Dubai are natural negotiators so everything had to be negotiated – even if it was just 10 dollars. But this goes for the most cities I’ve worked as a freelancer. Then comes the meeting part, where you have to hear over and over again that what they want takes 5 minutes to do. News flash people: it doesn’t. It does not. Really. We don’t do a logo in five minutes, we don’t do a six page brochure in a week and we definitely don’t design a website in a month. There’s a lot of research, sketching, drawing, analyzing and actually doing. I’ve heard that countless times. Then, comes the sampling, the one graphic designers hate the most. Clients love to ask for free samples to see what we’re worth. Another news flash: we shouldn’t be allowed to do samples. We don’t sample a doctor, a lawyer or a personal trainer, even if we don’t stick with them, we have to pay for the first session. It breaks my heart having to do samples for a client when I should be paid for them. Finally comes the paying part, which is always overly complicated. I have a basic rule – learnt the hard way – I only start working the day I get the first half of the payment and only deliver the project when the final payment is done. This goes a long way because you have to be paid for whatever time, effort and work you’re putting into the project. If the client backs out, you are guaranteed to have at least half the payment. It’s a complete jungle out there and we have to be patient, protect ourselves and be tough!
Stay tuned for a post with my professional tips to survive being a graphic designer.