Design opportunities ... or lack of.

Hi!

Firstly, I'd like to point out I am yet to enter the world of Freelance'dom, thus I thought I'd pick a few brains here and there. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

My previous employments revolved around pre-press production within scientific, academic and ELT publications, which will be my primary clientele when I eventually go freelance, although I've always had a very keen creative side, as such I endeavoured to teach myself Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks etc (over a few years).

My question is: is it possible for someone with NO design qualifications or design portfolio as such, capable of providing graphic design services? For example, would a prospective client wish to see previous work etc? Would they instantly dismiss me because I have no specific design qualifications?

Thanks

 

Your past work [quality] is what gets you future work.....you can make a living without qualifications [if you have skill] but without a portfolio it's a big ask.....

 

Thank you for your reply Glebe Digital. I've completed a great deal of (free) work for a close friend of mine with two website projects consisting of his company website and another being a property website (currently in production) in which I created both logo's and website graphics. Can I use such examples within a portfolio? Do designers simply present their portfolio of work through their own websites?

 

portfolio

Hi, mate!

I would advice you to make some personal portfolio, for example a site on thematics you love. Your potential customer just needs to see how you work, so it must not be a corporate portfolio, just show what you can and that's it. And to begin with, do not charge big price for your services, offer a competitive one or even lower. That's way you will get some corporate portfolio.

 

Thank you for your reply Paulinca :happy: I'll look into a website portfolio most definitely.