Technology is changing with every second and there is no doubt that it is advancing only. The speed at which technology is advancing is affecting the designing sector also because the whole designing world of today depends on high technology in both – software and hardware.

Famous and well known designing software making company Adobe is making the changes in technology on regular basis, a large part of designing world is based on Adobe and that is the reason behind the fact that a graphic designer should always be updated with the latest updates. Now question arises is that why there is need of regular change in designing sector and the answer is simple to keep the freshness in market and keep the competition more tight.

One major reason behind regular updates in designing technology sector could be a strong fight between the designing software making companies. Yeah, you are right that Adobe do not have any close competitor in the sector but there are certain places where Adobe lacks and there are certain places where some other companies perform well. The companies like Corel are giving a kind of tough competition in certain areas and that is the reason behind Adobe to make regular updates.

It might be possible that the newer version of your designing software do not have huge big changes but it can have slight amount of change which could be done to remove the negative points of previous version. You can take the example of iPhone 4, it was a blunder and it was expected that Apple will introduce iPhone5 but that didn’t happened. Apple introduced iPhone 4S by just making some slight changes in iPhone 4 and removing its back points. So if you expect that a newer version of software will be always bringing you a whole new interface then think twice on it. Moreover, sometime graphic designing companies use to change their whole basics and that changes the whole software, Adobe do not use to do it as they are stitch to adding more comfort level to their basic versions. The thing I am talking about is that sometimes companies getting lower in competition use to change their product entirely to get back in competition and that can cause you to learn that software again, mostly companies use to avoid this and this use happen only when company use to be on line of death.

Another reason behind change in designing technology is to comfort you more. Every newer version of any software will come with more comfort level because companies are monitoring the market and they are making the designing more easier in their latest products. This is important because of many reasons, first could be that it save a lot of time – work which used to take hours in previous version use to get done in few clicks in newer version. Second reason could be that it opens the mind more widely, easy to use interface with latest widget allows designer to perform new design tasks easily. Third reason could be that it keeps the competition between the graphic designers more tight as everyone will have to get a newer version to remain updated and have to learn it and amplify its new tools.

Change in technology can change your entire way of working with designs. A new software can come up with entire new interface and can make you re-think over your designing strategies.

Thinking of making career in graphic designing? You think that you are creative enough to do graphic designing job? If your answer is “yes” to both of the answers then this article is for you. Actually, this time I am not going to discuss need or do & don’ts of graphic designing, what I am going to tell you is that difference between a regular designing job and working as a freelancer.

Talking about regular 9 to 5 job is something which is very common. 90% of students passing graphic design program use to look for any stable and regular designing job. All you need to get a regular job are creativity, software knowledge and graphic design portfolios, yeah I said it right and what I mean is that there could be many kind of graphic designer portfolios like Digital Portfolio, Handy Portfolio, CD Portfolio or Flash Portfolio. Now what does a regular job mean, it all means that you will be working for a designing company or agency and your work will be to design per day tasks for the company, you will not be having any rights on your design and you have to work for contracted amount of time daily. Regular job comes with lot of restriction in graphics and design but it is said to be as the safe option for livelihood as you get a fixed amount of salary with possible incentives. In regular job, the hike in salary depends on many terms like your contract note with the company or your performance or in many cases it only happens if you change the company.

On other hand, a freelancing job is all about the fact “you are your own boss”. There is high competition in this field but still most of designers do not recommends it. Freelancing work have its own good and bad points. If you want to get in to freelancing work then please keep in mind that patience is key, you may know get any project in first few month (people who use to get uses to be lucky), this is because of simple reason that job providers uses to look for contractors with more ratings and at initial stage ratings uses to be zero. Talking about freelancing do give us the feel of working free from restriction as you don’t have report anyone and you don’t have to sit on single chair for day’s long period of time. If you think that you can get a constant amount of money out of freelancing work then I will advise you to think again because there is no guarantee of work as you may get project this month and maybe there is no project for next month. Freelancing is for those who think that they have ability to take risks and make a business out of it, if you don’t think that you can do this then simply don’t do it.

Freelancing is one of the fastest growing industries of today time and experts say that this industry is not going to end in far future. Both, small scale and big scale companies are outsourcing their graphic designing work to freelancers all over the world and reason could be many. One of the major reasons is great work at low cost. Question arises is that how to get a good graphic design freelancer for your work?

If you will ask any people around you about hiring freelancer then they will simply say you to place your demand on freelancing sites like “freelancer.com” or “elance.com” but what after that? Once you will place your demand then you will receive uncountable number of applications for your project and you will have to select one from them, here comes the big question of which one to select?

First of all, while placing your demand please be specific about what you want and give as much details as you can, this will make freelancer to go through your listing and will make him think that if he or she can really do your work or not. Now once you have received the application, you should ask freelancers for their portfolios, portfolios could be in any form like jpeg, pdf or flash. You can also ask for online links of the work done by freelancers in past, this all will show you the capacity of which a freelancer is.

Next step is to go through all the portfolios briefly and select 3-4 of them; you can take help of some other people too in this work as this use to be most confusing task. Now, make a second round of interview for the selected people via mail if possible, this will help you to know better about freelancer. Many people use to skip this step because of less time but if you have time then this part should be done. The interview should be related to your project, should not be having any question outside your project because that will be total wastage of time.

This all will tell you that which graphic designing freelancer is best for your work, do remember to make the contract under some contracting agency only. Direct contact to freelancer could harm both parties. Graphic designing business is huge, be careful.

To complete a designing project a perfect planning is required or else project could be a big mess for any designer. Planning is a key for perfectionism and if you are a graphic designer then you have to do it daily no matter if you are in job under someone or you are running your own designing agency. Planning is king to complete project in perfect manner.
Question arises is that how to plan a project and how to complete it before the deadline. From my personal experience I can say that completing the project on end point of deadline always create tension and results negatively most of the time. I have seen many local agencies making themselves to zero just because of no planning.
Dividing the project into parts and giving each part specific time should be your very first step before starting the project. This will tell you that in what time you have to complete which part of project and you will be doing the job in that manner. Do remember that while dividing the project give some time in revision of project also and that should be in last, as in that time you can send the preview of design to client or your boss for approval and if there are some amendments then you can do it easily in that revision time.

You should be keeping the budget factor in mind while planning any project, budget should not be getting over the amount you are getting from costumer or your boss or else you will have to pay it by yourself. If you are running your own agency then budget is major thing for you as you have to keep project is such a budget that you can also get your revenue out of it.

Sharing the parts projects with team should be done in nice manner. If you have a team of designers to complete the project then do keep in mind that you have to give each member some part of work in which he/she is perfectionist and you have to keep eye on them and have make them complete their work on time.

If project includes the website graphic design work then you have to give that part a special reference as it uses to be one of the most demanding factors of any project. Graphic design business basically depends on print and web designing and both should be given equal importance.

There are many more points to be keep in mind which will discussed in later posts but for now keep a note that you have to use your graphic design art in best possible way and without planning that couldn’t happen.

It is not a long back story when people were not having even a single idea of graphic designing as a career and its scope, the work related to graphic designing and other related fields uses to be outsourced to some limited or outsider companies or agencies. But the time have changed now as we have seen huge growth in this field and we can feel that the demand in graphics designing is not going to be slow in far future. This is only the reason behind more and more students selecting graphics designing as their career. I am here to tell you some important things you should keep in mind if you are thinking to take your career in field of graphic designing.
CREATIVITY the one and the only key thing which plays very important role in a graphic designer’s life daily. So, before thing about graphic designing as career do think about creativity in you for about hundred times, think our the fact that if you have creative mind or some strong creative sense in you or not because if you are not creative by mind then graphic designing is not for you and you will waste your time in course of graphic designing, moreover you are wasting your time reading this article. And if you think that you are creative and can get more out your creative skills then you are most welcome in world of graphic design art.

Now as you have decided to get in to the world of graphic design art, you have to decide that which college or institute to join. To be very frank, the degree and diploma in this field do not matter at all but you do need them for the formality of certification. Research out your local area and make the list of colleges/institutes providing the graphic design course. Do research about these colleges, ask the seniors or pass outs of the colleges about the college as they are the only one who can tell you the inside story of the college. Do deep research work and then only select any one of them.
One major thing you may have to decide here is that what is your exact goal, you want to go in print graphic design or web graphic design. Print is for all the print designing which comes across us in daily life whereas web graphic design is all related to web designing and it’s elements. You could chose the both but that do requires more time and more efforts.
This is important now, keep in mind that almost all of the designing colleges do not force their students to attend classes regularly and that is the plus point for the designer. They can consume this time by getting in to the internships or trainings as there are many graphic design business agencies out there who use to hire internees/trainees and give them field exposure. This way you will be completing your course will also be getting experience in the field.
Now you have done training and have completed your course, you have two options. Firstly, apply for jobs in different companies and start giving out interviews. Secondly, start your own graphic design business. First option of getting a job is quite easier then second one as all you have to do is to appear for interview and start working for some company and get paid monthly whereas in second option you have to do it all yourself. In your own graphic design business you have to do all from promoting yourself to completing the business but the fact is that it is hard at initial stage and if you make some struggle then it could make a future life a lot easier.