Hello fellow designer! I see lots of posts around here asking how to find work and get your foot in the door as a graphic designer. I figured that I would share my experience on the matter.

*//*Note I am by no means an expert in any of this. I am simply sharing my experiences*//*

So a little background about myself. I'm currently 21 years old about to graduate college and I specialize in brand identity and front-end web. I have had 2 internships and I'm on my second part-time job at an agency.

So I assume most of those reading are currently freelance. I am going to cover pretty much how I go about getting freelance clients and how I got internships/jobs

Starting with freelance work. I have found that doing work locally was a big thing that helped bring in clients. I did this by verbally talking to people. If I saw something that could be fixed, a menu at a small restaurant for example, I talk to them about the design and how I feel it could improve and how that would benefit them. This is done respectfully. While this method brings in a few hundred dollars here and there it's not super sustainable but it's good side work. It's a good way to start off and getting comfortable working with clients. If you plan to move forward into freelance It it super important to establish yourself as a brand. I think for this it's good to have a web presence, social media, and showcase some work that you are proud of that was effective.