I grew up in a neighborhood with a high concentration of Filipinos, so when I came across this article on Team Manila I was immediately interested. It seems this graphic design studio has been open since 2001 and puts a lot of their efforts into nationalism, rather than focusing on other cultures they’re embracing their own. Be sure to check out the article!
First and foremost, if you’re thinking of joining the graphic design community it should be something you’re passionate about, because the competition can be so stiff, it’s important that this is something you really want to do. Oxidizzy has a great blog post on 8 steps to get into the graphic design industry, be sure to check it out!
These days there’s not a lot of money floating around, and most businesses are hurting but there are things you can ask of your clients instead of more money. You The Designer posted up 7, while I’ll list what I think the most important are.
Testimonials
Testimonials are great for your site, but only if they can be verified, if someone gives you and awesome testimonial but wants to remain anonymous, who’s to say you didn’t write the testimonial yourself? A link to the clients website should take care of this.
Designed By Links
When you design a website, be sure to ask the client if you can include a small link at the bottom of the page, often times even resistant clients will let you put a link up that may match the background closely, especially for a discount of some sort, or maybe you can offer to design free business cards, something simple, the link is worth it.
Logo Usage Rights
For your own website, it’s important to have a list of your clients, be sure to ask if you can use a client’s logo on your site.
Referrals
The best way to get business is by word of mouth, ask your clients to tell their friends about you, you can also offer incentives for every project you get based on one of their referrals.
I Heart Graphics 