I thought it was about time that I
answered your guys questions about
graphic design my life as a designer how
I got into it so on and so forth
so I asked you guys on Instagram at for
some questions and I've narrowed it down
I've picked out the top asked question
and I'm gonna address those in today's
video if you are interested in graphic
design please do follow my channel not
follow subscribe to my channel because
I'll be uploading many more videos to do
with graphic design and yeah it's
something I'm really passionate about
and something I want to build my career
on so hopefully you guys can watch me do
that via these videos but without
further ado let's get straight into the
questions so a question I've been asked
a lot is how to build a portfolio so I
actually only really started my graphic
design portfolio maybe two years ago and
a lot of the stuff I had in there was
stuff that uni had asked me to make for
my course if you didn't know I went to
the University of Lincoln I studied
media production so I didn't
specifically study graphic design so
technically I'm not actually qualified
in it but what I did learn from my
degree is how to build a portfolio so
weirdly for me I didn't actually need a
portfolio to get onto my course so I
can't really advise in that but if you
are looking to kind of expand your
portfolio there's a amazing website
called brief box that we used to use
quite a lot lots of their briefs on
there are free so it's basically a
website you go on and it gives you kind
of briefs from clients you complete the
brief and if you want to you can submit
to their website for some feedback but
as a university student we used to go on
that website quite a lot find a brief
that we liked the look of and then
create it and then we got marked on it
so a lot of my early work for graphic
design were mock briefs they weren't
real they were fake clients and it helps
you kind of stick to a brief stick to a
set of ideas and try and make something
that fits what that clients wants another
question I actually got was is it
silly if you do fake briefs no it's not
honestly just do it if you see a
brief on the brief box or a similar
website that you like the look of just
do it and it gives you an idea
on how to kind of develop your ideas how
to go from sketches to the finished
product and I highly highly recommend
doing as many mock briefs as you've got
time for because it helps you develop
your skill set it helps you kind of
interpret briefs and it just makes your
portfolio look good so 10 out of 10 go
and do that the next question I got is
is your degree related to graphic design
mine wasn't but I want to get into
graphics so I briefly just touched upon
this no my degree is media production
and we do a little bit of graphic design
in first year and then the second year I
chose it as half of my degree and then
for the third year I chose it for my
entire degree but actually on paper my
degree is just media production so if I
went and applied for a job it doesn't
specify that I'm a graphic designer
it just says media production so
technically I'm not qualified in graphic
design and to be honest I don't think it
should affect what you want to go into
as a career because there are lots of
different avenues to get into graphic
design and really it is all about your
portfolio a lot of businesses I think
prefer someone with the creativity and
talent as opposed to a piece of paper
that says they've been to uni for three
years you know so just have a look
around there's different apprenticeships
there's different ways to get into the
industry but all in all talent and a
good portfolio I think is what comes out
on top for most companies what do you
charge or how do you figure out what to
charge so this is something I still
struggle with I want to look into
getting I think it's called an art
director basically someone who deals
with the pricing of stuff because I'm
really bad at this but in the meantime
I've been using a website called
nuschool
I'll link in the description it's just
spelt nuschool and they have a thing
on there where you can go down and
select kind of what the project is how
interested you are in the project how
much your hourly rate is roughly it
helps you work out what your hourly rate
could be or should be and then you go
down and it gives you an estimated price
for that particular project I kind of
like basing my designs off that but it
does differ because if it's just an
individual person so a small business
just setting up and someone like me I
guess I will charge them less because
they have less funds and
if I want to help them out you know
probably shoot myself in the foot but
and it's those little small
projects that have enabled me to get
bigger projects so you just kind of to
weigh up the options sometimes you can
underprice yourself it's if it's a
really cool project or something you're
passionate in or for a friend but
definitely don't leave yourself short of
money I recommend going onto that
website and you'll realize that you're
worth a lot more than you've been
charging or at least that's what I found
so I definitely recommend nuschool and
a lot of people always say to kind of
look at other graphic designers prices
but they're never public I can't find
them so if you have any advice for me on
how to charge please let me know because
I'm still trying to figure that one out
just keeping it real over here is it
worth buying a Wacom tablet so I will
get it for those of you that don't know
I use this it is a little drawing tablet
it's been very well used and loved as
you can probably tell and it basically
plugs in to my laptop and it comes with
this pen and you can draw on it and it
kind of replicates onto your laptop
screen this was the first like major
graphic design thing I bought I think it
was like 75 pound maybe less and it is a
million percent worth it this is what
allowed me to do all my commissions at
uni or my uni work this is basically
what got me at first or it helped a lot
so I highly recommend these I think this
particular model has now been
discontinued but I will link the nearest
one to it in the description because I
have tried out one of the other wacoms
and they are just as good so
highly highly recommend this someone
else actually also asked me about my
iPad pro is it worth investing into an
iPad pro to be honest it's not necessary
it was a bit of a impulse purchase via
my student loan I just really wanted one
and my loan came in so I got it don't
recommend doing it that way but I have
actually got a lot of use out of it I
found it super useful for sketching
things I've made gifs on that I've done
a lot of commissions on there so if you
think it's gonna be good for your
business and you can afford it go for it
if it's something you can't afford right
now and you'd literally be making
yourself broke by buying it don't get it
because for three years I used my Wacom
tablet anyway just weigh up the pros and
cons
the tablet I use is the iPad pro the
original they've now brought out a new
one which is considerably more expensive
I'm not gonna lie I do want it but I
also don't want to bankrupt myself so
yeah the link to the one I use down below
if I can find it if not I will link the
most recent model I love it if you can
afford it definitely recommend if it's
something you don't think you're gonna
use too much I wouldn't bother just get
like a digital drawing tablet
like I just showed you any tips for
someone just starting out so tip number
one get yourself a little portfolio
website doesn't have to be a paid one
there are a lot of free ones out there I
think I really like Squarespace
originally I don't really remember I
used WordPress once upon a time but I
find WordPress really confusing so I
wouldn't recommend that but get yourself
a cheap little website even if it's just
one page and put on that website the
work you've done if you haven't done any
work like I said go on to brief box
websites like that and copy over copy
over and make briefs from that site and
then put them on to your own get
yourself a little Instagram account and
that's it really I say website and
Instagram I'd put it on your personal
Facebook that was one thing I did quite
a lot of I became known as the person
who can design logos so a lot of like
friends and friends and friends asked
for things designing like posters and
like wedding invites and stuff that kind
of thing and if you can afford to take
those jobs for a smaller fee than you'd
hope do it in the first few instances
maybe for the first couple of months
take some jobs on consider it for free
like a lot of people have mixed opinions
about taking on free work they say it
kind of de-values every other graphic
designers piece of work but if you're a
new graphic designer and you need the
experience taking on free work for the
experience is good because you're not
charging someone for something that's
kind of just kind of just starting out
you know like it's not going to be your
best work because it's one
of your first pieces of work so I did a
lot of free jobs mainly through my uni
like few jobs that uni came up they wanted
posters and stuff so I did that just
when you get approached by someone who
you know can afford it or who is
probably taking the piss a little bit
charge them
you don't want to be undermined by a
client your service and your creativity
has a value to it just because you're
creative doesn't mean you don't deserve
to be paid for it it's a very
sought-after quality so charge for it
but yeah tips for beginners get yourself
a website get yourself a little gmail
email addresses no need to pay for a domain
name just yet and direct yourself to
that just give yourself some time and
don't put too much pressure on yourself
if you obviously need to get a part-time
job alongside it do that I literally
lived breathed and dreamt graphic design
when I was at uni I didn't have the time
for it like I wished I did but those
projects that I did in between uni life
really taught me about deadlines really
taught me about client work and briefs
and stuff so just take on as much as you
can without kind of drowning yourself
how to get your first customers is the
next question
so I'd say reach out to friends and
family so I very rarely post on my
personal facebook but in the first
instance of me doing graphic design I
kind of shot it out there I was like if
anyone needs any logos or posters or
anything like that designing let me know
and a bunch of like old school friends
got in touch whether they had a budget
or not I kind of weighed up the options
and like I said kind of decided whether
it was worth charging or whether I do
it as a one-off like if my best friend
messaged me tomorrow and asked me to
design something for her and it was only
gonna take me about an hour I'd do that
for free cuz she's my best mate you know
way up but start off like that and then
slowly word-of-mouth usually helps you
out like I said use Instagram use
hashtags post on there and interact with
other designers as much as you can again
don't put too much pressure on yourself
to be like instantly wanted because it's
just such a it's such a saturated market
of designers and everyone has their own
little niche you just need to find your
place do those mock briefs and hopefully
that'll lead to customers coming your
way the final question is someone asking
what kind of software I use so I use the
Adobe Creative Cloud suite is that what
it's called
I pretty much am on Photoshop or
illustrator every single day I don't
really use the other ones anymore so
hopefully I can downgrade that package
now but that is an expensive system now
which really winds me up
let's talk about that in another video
and what else I use procreate on my iPad
and I use that's basically it I send
photos from my iPad to my laptop because
I have a Mac a Mac's not necessary at
all I've had that Mac for five years now
I bought it initially when I was a
photographer but lots of people went
through uni without Mac's and that was
absolutely fine I have the older version
of a Mac I think it's the 2015 MacBook
Pro so I love it it's done me well it's
lasted a long time I'm hoping that I
don't have to upgrade it anytime soon
hardware wise obviously have my iPad pro
and the Apple pencil the Apple pencil is
incredible like when you realize that
it's a hundred pounds for a pencil I
wanted to cry but after using it it does
make a lot of sense like I'd recommend
it I'd say to start off with what you
can afford don't put too much pressure
on yourself having the latest things
because I don't even have those so yeah
if you do have any further questions
that I've not addressed in this video
let me know down in the comments also
let me know what kind of videos you'd
like to see from me graphic design
related and I hope you've enjoyed this
video if you got to the end well done
you've put up with my babbling for yet
another video thank you so much for
watching guys and I'll see you soon for
another video bye
