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FREELANCE
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Every webmaster
will need images to complement their websites.
Every Internet
marketer will need images to enhance their products.
Every online
seller will need images to make their sales pages more attractive.
Every company
that has an online presence will need a logo to distinguish their
business from
the rest.
Therefore, you
see the continual and increasing demand for graphic arts on the
Internet. If you
have the skills to satisfy those
demands, then you can rest assured that you’ll have all the
work you need.
Creativity is
paramount for this work at home freelance opportunity. Often, you will
be given
total discretion to come up with an appropriate design, and so you have
to be
up to the task.
In the digital
world of the Internet comprises words and graphics. The old trite
saying, a
picture paints a thousands words, is true and that is why graphics are,
and
will forever be, a vital part of the information superhighway. If you
have the creativity
to come up with attractive
designs, as
well as the necessary skills to create and manipulate images,
preferably with
Adobe Photoshop, then you’ll find the Web is awash with
opportunities.
TYPES OF GRAPHICS NEEDED:
Headers – these are the images that contain
the website’s title, which can
be found in most niche websites these days. The usual dimensions f a
header is
700 pixels x 150 pixels.
Banners – these are images that Web
publishers usually dispatch to other
websites to promote their own pages, or to promote their products.
Banners don’t
have a specific size. It all depends on what the publisher needs, and
the space
that the banner partner can afford to provide.
eCovers – these are images that serve as
graphical representations of
reports and special reports. They can also be used to represent digital
covers
for software programs. There are action scripts which you can use with
Adobe
Photoshop to help you streamline the creation process. Or you can get
George
Sepich’s eCoverMagic, an amazing solution that will somewhat
automate the creation
of eCovers for a variety of purposes.
Sales page sets – this will include headers,
eCovers, order buttons and backgrounds
that will represent the product or package being sold. Since they will
be used
together, they should all share a common theme.
Logos – these images are distinctive
identifiers for certain businesses.
Other graphics – different online businessmen will
have different needs.
Sometimes, they’ll need some supplementary graphics for their
website’s
content. There are also times when they need diagrams and charts for
their
informational products. As a graphics provider, you should be versatile
enough
to satisfy your client’s every need.
What rates should
you
apply?
Again, you can charge per project, or you can
charge per hour. The
latter option is seldom implemented, however. You should have built a
high
level of trust with your client if you wish to take this route. The
usual
procedure is to charge per project. Be guided by the average price
range of the
projects below:
Headers go for as low as $20 to as high
as $50.
Banners go for as low as $5 to as high as
$45.
Ecovers go for as low as $30 to as high
as $100.
Sales page sets go for as low as $60 to
as high as $300.
Logos go for as low as $25 to as high as
$300.
Prices really
depend on the reputation you have established as a freelance graphic
artist. If
you have built a name for yourself as a graphic artist who consistently
delivers amazing work, then you can charge your clients a higher price.
For
beginners, however, it will be best to settle for lower priced projects
to
build your portfolio as well as your reputation in the industry.
The same
guidelines that apply for writing projects are also observed for orders
for
graphics. You are expected to surrender all the rights to the
deliverables as
soon as the transaction is completed. You may not claim ownership over
the
work, and often, you may not even claim the creation of it.
Most orders for
graphics expect a quick turnaround time, the reason? The packaging
concerns of a
particular product are at the tail end of the timeline. Hence, graphics
are
often ordered last, once the content of the informational product has
been
delivered and verified.
Just like
writing projects, you can initially look for work on the following
freelancing
websites:
Elance.com
RentaACoder.com
Online forums
for webmasters and Internet marketers are also great venues where you
can
advertise such a service.
SOFTWARE INVESTMENTS NECESSARY:
As a graphic
artist, you will be dealing with 5 main file types. These are:
1. JPG
2. BMP
3. PNG
4. GIF
5. PSD
Almost all these
file types can be opened by your default image viewer.
PSD files,
however, can only be opened by Adobe Photoshop. Adobe. Photoshop is the
industry standard when it comes to graphic creation. Most online
businessmen
recognize PSD files as a universal file type. Hence, investing on a
copy of
Adobe Photoshop is a must.
You may also
want to consider supplementary Adobe products, like Adobe Illustrator,
if you
wish to create images from scratch.
Other image
creation programs like Corel Draw offer more power, but eventually,
you’d have
to export their products into the acceptable file types mentioned
above.
DO’s
Use
OnlyRoyalty-FreeImages
With graphic
arts, you will have to manipulate original photos which you have taken
yourself, or existing photos available from other sources.
When using the
latter group, make sure that such images are royalty-free. Otherwise,
You risk
endangering the business of your client, as the unauthorized usage of
copyrighter photos will make him susceptible to damages.
Sources of
Royalty-Free Images with no restrictions:
www.mourgefile.com
www.flickr.com/creativecommons
www.imageafter.com
www.sxc.hu
www.picturestation.net
There is a huge demand for the skills of work
at home freelance graphic artists.
Visit
all the forums, advertise your services and ask for information on
where to
advertise your services or even contact webmasters directly. You will be surprised at
how helpful many
people will be. Be
somewhat cautious on
the forums and business networking sites because many people will want
to sell
you software or eBooks that make fantastic claims.
However, they are useful as an
information
and advertising source.
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