Do Graphic Design Work at Home
With much of today’s graphic design being done on computers, it is just as easy if not easier to do this work at home as it is from the office. The ability to set up a quiet working space at home where you can concentrate on the work at hand instead of having to deal with hustle and bustle of an office is a great plus. As a graphic designer working at home you might be working as an independent or you might be telecommuting with your office. Either way working from home has the advantages of being able to:
- Set your own schedule to be more flexible
- Decrease transportation costs
- Decrease child care expenses if you have young children
- Write a portion of your house of as business expense comes tax time.
- Work quietly without disturbances
- Take breaks as needed
- Make adjustments any time of day or night if a brain storm comes to you
If you are working at home and telecommuting from your office it would be well to have a video camera attached to your computer to increase efficiency. That way you can act almost as if you were in the office. You can show your work and communicate with others more effectively. No matter how great our technology becomes, there is always an advantage of being able to talk face to face with someone else in order to improve communications. Once you have completed a project you can then count on the use of company equipment to produce your finished product.
If you are working at home as an independent graphic design artist then the webcam might not be quite so important. However, it does mean you will likely to need to have more money invested in equipment to produce your finalized work. Either that or work out an arrangement with a printing company to run your proofs and make them into the various sizes of displays you might need.
Another thing about working form home as an independent is that you will need to take responsibility for your own advertising as well as for any snafus which might occur. These are things that would be absorbed by your employer if you were telecommuting.
When it comes to advertising you might want to make use of on line ads, yellow book ads, as well as newspaper ads from time to time. In the end though, the quality and punctuality with which you put out your work will lead to word of mouth business as well as repeat business from satisfied customers. Customers are often willing to pay a premium if they know someone is going to come up with top notch productions and do so on time.
Another way of advertising your work at home enterprise is to set up a display at events such as street fairs, swap meets or other community gatherings. If people like what they see there is a good chance they will turn around and do business with you. So get your product out there in public view.