9 best graphic designing part-time jobs

What are the 9 best graphic designing part-time jobs?

1. Multimedia Designer
   
2. Film or Video Editor
   
3. Web Designer
   
4. Logo Designer
   
5. Brand Identity Designer
   
6. Creative director
   
7. Photo Editing/Photoshop Artist
   
8. Layout Artist
   
9. Email Marketing Designer
   

The road to success is pretty different for everyone. However, having some level of technical knowledge would open more doors for you to achieve your success. One of these skills is graphic design, which can be acquired by taking a bachelor’s degree in graphic design.

You wouldn’t want to dive into something that won’t have sufficient returns in this highly competitive world. Apart from getting monetary satisfaction, one should also be able to get psychological satisfaction. This means you should also enjoy whatever you’re doing. As a graphic designer, you have the chance to utilize your skills working both full-time and part-time. If you ever had another job taking much of your time, you can still make a decent living working part-time as a graphic designer.

But before all that, you may need to undergo formal training first. Others still succeed in the field without formal education, mostly through apprenticeship and online materials. But before you commit your time and money into studying graphic designing, you may want a better idea of what awaits you should you wish to make this your part-time career in the future.

What do graphic designers do?

Taking a career in graphic design is an exciting way of combining technology and art to pass a message. This is why, in the 21st century, graphic designers are in high demand from different industries that all need their help – to communicate with prospects and clients.

Graphic designers often work in the marketing & advertising niche, but you can find many others working in publishing, healthcare, and digital communications. These professionals help curate layouts and graphics for various products such as websites, books, user manuals, etc.

When choosing a good designer, a lot is taken into consideration as they must have extensive knowledge of certain aspects such as color psychology, image construction, font types, among other forms of artistic principles. In most cases, graphic designers use computer design programs to bring their imaginations to life.

There are also many approaches that one can take as a graphic designer: they can either sketch new designs or incorporate existing brand details to come up with an innovative design that appeals well to the brand’s image and target audience.

To become a graphic designer, you may also need to learn a few skills and have qualifications such as:

Technical skills 

• Branding
  
• Digital media
  
• Drawing and sketching
  
• Printmaking
  
• Typography.
  
• Understanding of audience targeting
  
• Computerized sketching abilities
  
• Proficiency in computer-aided design (CAD) software, such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Graphics Suite, and many more.
  

Other skills

• Effective communication
  
• Creativity and innovation
  
• Teamwork
  
• Time management
  
• Analytical skills
  
• Research skills
  
• Presentation skills

Understanding the workplace of a graphic designer

As a graphic designer, you have the opportunity to work in one of three work environments. Working as a part-time graphic designer is solely dependent on the option you choose. They include:

1. Working as an in-house graphic designer

As an in-house graphic designer, you are an employee of a firm that deals with a particular brand or related brands. In this case, graphic designers tend to be generalists who can handle the same company’s different creative needs.

Advantages of in-house graphic designing

• You get the perks of working in a traditional work environment: employee benefits, etc.
  
• A stable and steady paycheck
  
• Potential for promotions

Drawbacks of working as an in-house graphic designer

•  More rules, meaning that you will feel a bit restricted in your imagination. You can come up with new ideas but still adhering to brand guidelines.
  
• There is more communication, meaning you will most likely have to justify much of your work to your team and other non-designers
  
• As a designer, you need to be in an environment that encourages creativity. However, you may get employed in one that wasn’t built with the designers in mind. 

2. Working as an agency graphic designer

Graphic designing in an agency typically means that you’ll be coming alongside other like-minded individuals, getting the work done for an assortment of clients. The assignments often tend to be short-term or on a contractual basis. You’ll have the chance to bring out your creative side, but still, you may have to stick to certain company values and principles.

Advantages of working at an agency as a graphic designer

• You’ll work with other like-minded people, meaning there a higher expectation of design excellence.
  
• Diverse opportunities to advance your design skills
  
• Faster communication and understanding than when working with non-designers
  
• The daily work is within the realm of graphic designing – non-design tasks are rare, so you won’t be tasked with doing what you aren’t already able to.

Disadvantages of working at an agency as a graphic designer

• Less to no job security – agencies mostly hire design staff to match the projects or contracts that they have.
  
• You may get subjected to rigorous working. The settings of an agency are fast-paced. This means that you may have to occasionally work through the night to beat deadlines.

3. Working as a freelance graphic designer

The digital world has opened many opportunities for many people. Today, you can perfectly run a successful career without stepping outside of your home. Freelancing is one such way, and it is quite flexible that you can either work full-time or part-time.

Freelance graphic designers are responsible for more than just the design work itself. They are tasked with marketing their services to potential clients, maintaining client relations, bookkeeping, invoicing, etc. Such a role calls for more than just the technical skills of a graphic designer. Self-discipline and dedication are the two most important things to consider.

Advantages of working as a freelance graphic designer

• Flexibility to work from anywhere, as long as there is internet connectivity
  
• You have the creative freedom and flexibility to work on the projects that you want and inspire you.
  
• You can tailor your working schedule depending on your everyday lifestyle. This can help you to work as a graphic designer part-time while still keeping your day time job.

Disadvantages of freelancing

• Working in solitude. You won’t have coworkers, as you’ll be handling all the work by yourself.
  
• Apart from handling the projects by yourself, you also have to do the hunting and bidding for work; projects will not just land on your desk.
  
• The pay is quite unreliable and varies from month to month, the workflow, etc.

As you can see, working as a freelancer has a lot of other perks that make it appealing to many digital-savvy designers. Apart from the freedom that comes with it, one has the option to make this a part-time job while keeping their main or day jobs.

However, there are so many fields in the graphic design world that you can pursue that might not go so well with a part-time worker. For a part-time job, you need to handle tasks that may not eat up your time but still making you that extra cash.

To make it easier for you, we have compiled a list of nine career fields you can focus on if you wish to work part-time as a graphic designer:

9 graphic design jobs you can do part-time

1. Multimedia animator or artist

A multimedia designer makes use of art, sound, and technical design skills to come up with videos or animated images. They design complex graphics and animation by using computer or modeling programs. There is the aspect of story development and the visual impacts that the content will have.

Moreover, such professionals are tasked with creating sketches, plans, drawings, scale models, etc. They also design the props used on set, among other tasks such as directing the set assistants regarding design interpretations and other technical production matters.

As more brands and companies continue to increase their online video presence, the demand for graphic designers with a knack for motion graphics or animation skills will continue to soar. If you have the imagination and creativity needed to develop new concepts and ideas, then this route is for you to take.

2. Creative director

A creative director helps in coming up with the creative vision of a project. These professionals ensure that the overall aesthetic and cohesive look of the final results are in line with the initial goals and plans. A creative director will be in charge of a creative team that often consists of copywriters, graphic designers, artists, photographers, etc.

A creative director’s work is to ensure that all the team members are working together in harmony to deliver the project within the stipulated time and to the client’s satisfaction. Moreover, creative directors may also be tasked to handle the budgeting of a project.

Besides having advanced knowledge in graphic design, creative directors should also portray leadership and good management skills.

Being a creative or art director mostly entails supervisory work, meaning you may not have to do all the heavy lifting yourself. This gives you the freedom to have this as a part-time career, which you can easily manage, as long as you plan your time accordingly.

3. Web designer

Web designers play a vital role in web development. They help in creating the layouts and graphics for the website pages. Besides that, web designers are also tasked with the navigation design and structure of a website.

Thanks to their extensive knowledge of graphics and color psychology, graphic designers are better positioned to make decisions regarding the type of content that’s best placed on the website, such as the graphics, navigation buttons, etc. They also ensure that there is continuity from one website page to the next.

To remain relevant and competitive in today’s digital world, all businesses are required to have a functional website. This means that the work of a web designer won’t go obsolete any time soon. As the need for web designers continues to be in high demand, so should you also take advantage of this opportunity and become one. Good knowledge of graphic design would be necessary to land your clients, more so if you’re working part-time.

4. Logo designer

If you are planning on opening a business today, the first thing to do would be to consider its branding. The key thing that comes to mind is the main symbol, or visual representation, that consumers and other people would use to identify your company. This is the sole purpose of a logo.

In layman’s terms, a logo is a graphically sketched symbol arranged in a unique way with a distinct shape, design, and colors that best represent a company. It’s not just a business that might require a logo – organizations, products, services, and agencies might also need a unique brand identity. Companies continue to spend lots of money on updating and implementing new logos. This is mostly done to remain relevant to their cause and to appear modern and innovative.

Logo creation doesn’t need to take you days to come up with a working concept. All that this career path demands is your creativity and keeping up with modern design trends and patterns. This means that you can work on it during your free (personal) time after your day job.

5. Brand Identity Designer

A brand identity designer has a more intricate position than logo creation. Even though logos are used as the ultimate visual representation of a brand, it is often more than just that. A company’s brand identity can be integrated into all its elements and materials such as media advertising, promotions, business cards, stationery, etc.

All these can be curated with a similar touch and feel. Brand identity design plays a key role in customer retention, as they can now identify with the brand. This can act as the strongest marketing tool for a company as its values, and strategic vision becomes a consistent image that consumers can become familiar with.

Although many companies prefer to maintain consistency in achieving their company goals, this may not be a regular job that requires an in-house graphic designer. Instead, most of these companies outsource the work either to an agency or a freelancer to help them create suitable brand designs for the images they wish to convey.

6. Photo editing/ photoshop artist

It will be wrong to leave out photo editing as one of the careers you can do part-time with a degree in graphic design. As part of your training as a graphic designer, one of the things that you will work with is photo editing software. Such tools enable a photoshop artist to crop, manipulate, or color-correct the photos.

As the use of social media continues to increase each passing day, the need for quality and unique images to be posted by both individuals and brands continues to rise. Furthermore, some companies depend on taking high-quality industrial photos that ought to be well-edited before being published on their platforms.

As you can imagine, there are many careers that proficiency in photo editing techniques can get you. Moreover, this is something that you can do for only a few hours or even minutes a day, enabling you to make a little cash on the side.

7. Layout artist

Did you ever wonder why you might find a particular magazine easy to read while you find another not pleasing enough? Well, that is all the work of a layout artist. Such an individual designs the structure and layout of text and images in a format that is aesthetically pleasing for print media. They include flyers, brochures, magazines, posters, CD booklets, etc.

One of the main roles of a layout artist is to ensure that the images and text are well arranged in a way that is pleasing to the reader’s eyes, directing them in the right flow. Even though the majority of opportunities for layout artists are found in public relations firms, advertising agencies, or magazines, there is still a strong demand for freelance layout artists.

8. E-mail marketing designer

With many brands having the opportunity to reach out to a larger target audience, more and better ways of reaching out to them are being tried out every other day. However, email marketing still remains one of the most successful marketing and outreach methods to potential and current customers. Companies have the opportunity to talk directly with their clients through curated lists and customized messaging.

However, to reap the benefits of this marketing method, you need to design a good converting copy. To ensure that a brand’s identity is well-conveyed through their e-mail marketing campaigns, many companies prefer to get a graphic designer that is most conversant with creating e-mail marketing copy.

Luckily, this is one job that you can easily do part-time without spending too much time on it, as long as you have a penchant for digital trends and best practices.

9. Trainer / Lecturer

This is probably one of the last things you would expect to have seen on this list, right? Well, becoming a trainer or teacher after getting your accreditations as a graphic designer is one of the best career paths that one can take and work part-time.

Sharing the knowledge that you have with others is an excellent way of giving back to society while still making some money off it. You can decide to become a tutor, meaning that you can train upcoming graphic designers through tutorials or providing them online materials. You can also lecture at a local school, either virtually or physically, soon after getting off your day job.

Conclusion

As you can see from this post, the graphic design world is so versatile that your imagination can take you almost anywhere. There are many career paths that you can take, working either in-house or as a freelancer. If you’re looking to progress your career while still working on your day job, you can check out some of these graphic design jobs that you can work part-time. Happy designing!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Must a graphic designer know how to draw?
A: Now that computer-based tools are available, the ability to draw is not as important as a good sense of design. This means that you don’t necessarily have to be good at drawing or making sketches on paper to become a graphic designer. However, knowing how to draw or sketch could be an added advantage to a graphic designer, more so if you are planning on specializing in fields such as illustration.

Q: What do I need to become a graphic designer?
A: To become a successful graphic designer, you may need to combine technical and practical skills with an artistic and creative approach. This is also an ongoing exploration, so the learning of graphic design is a never-ending process. Did you know that you can easily become a graphic designer without having any formal education?

Q: How long does one take to become a graphic designer?
A: Graphic design basically depends on how creative you are and how fast you grasp the workings of the CADs (computer-aided design software). You can go for a short certificate or diploma course that can take you at most two years or a degree course that will go for at least four academic years. To improve your chances of employment at top positions and companies, you can go for higher learning, such as taking a master’s course.

Q: Are graphic designers’ skills and job responsibilities the same across the board?
A: In general, there are basic skills that are necessary to become a graphic designer. Some of them, such as understanding color psychology and using CADs, are applicable across all boards. However, some fields are generally different from each other, and once you specialize in one area, you may not interact with the works of another specialization in your career.

from Bawabba Blog https://blog.bawabba.com/freelance-graphic-design/9-best-graphic-designing-part-time-jobs/