How to Bid for Graphic Design Jobs

Graphic design bidding websites can be an invaluable tool for freelance designers. The sites connect freelancers with prospective clients, who post descriptions of the jobs they want done, then allow the designers to compete for the jobs through bidding. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge for freelance designers. Since bidding places the designers in direct competition, it is helpful to begin with a basic understanding of how the process works and what preparations must be made in order to be successful.

Things You'll Need

• Examples of your previous design work

Instructions

1. Put together a resume focusing on your design and other creative experience and education. As with other types of work, many prospective design clients will want to know what experience you have in the field. Since graphic design bidding sites use entirely electronic communication, create a word processing document in Word (.doc) or Rich Text (.rtf) format.

2. Assemble a portfolio of previous design work. This gives people an at-a-glance idea of the quality and style of the work you are likely to do should they hire you. Your portfolio should be a folder in your computer containing all of your previous designs in standard file formats (.jpg, .gif or .png). Different bidding sites allow for the display of portfolio examples differently; some may allow you to display all of your examples, while others will only allow for a few to be shown. For this reason, pick out a few of your examples that you feel constitute your best, most professional work. These will be the first examples you display on any bidding site, and if display space is limited, the only ones you display.

3. Decide upon the base hourly price you will charge for your design services. The amount charged by various graphic designers varies wildly, from nearly free to well over $100 per hour, but anything from $10 to $20 per hour is generally fairly standard. Charging too much may make your services prohibitively expensive to your potential clients, while charging too little can cause people to pass you by with the assumption that you simply aren't very good at graphic design. Striking the proper balance may take some trial and error, so be willing to reconsider your price if things don't work out initially.

4. Register with one or more graphic design, or general freelance work, bidding sites. An extensive listing of such sites can be found at http://www.allgraphicdesign.com/jobs.html. Note that, while many bidding sites are free to use, some require paid registration.

5. Check for new job postings frequently. Depending on the format of the bidding site, bids for design jobs may be displayed in chronological order to the prospective client. This gives the first bids placed an advantage over later bids, as not all clients will be willing to search through a long list of bids if they find a good designer right away.

References

• Graphic Design Jobs and Jobsites