Does graphic design pay good?

I am interested in buying photoshop and starting graphic design in the BST section. From past experience, how good is the pay and how long does it take to "master" photoshop. Thanks in advance.

 

will love to get an answer to this from experts as I was also planning the same...

 

I would like to participate, hence I do not want to say I am an expert yet. But how long it will take to maste photoshop this is up to you completely and how many hours you dedicate to learning design.

Coming to the very first point ~ Does graphic design pay good? Actually no, while there are graphic designers that offer their work for really low rates, they make the competition impossible to some designers who would like to get paid for every minute they spend. It also depends on where you sell your graphic design services.

Anyone can get a logo for $5 ~ while I know sites charge $100 and $200 for a logo .. So do your calculations. How much you are willing to make, and are you willing to work more and get paid less, ...

 

yaa true

in my contest (link in sig) there are people who charge for logo just around 5 bucks and one charges $199!!

live example

 

Dealing online without a portfolio and depending on your english skills can be very low

If you have industry experience with an extensive portfolio with established businesses you can charge between $100 - 200 per hour, from people I know who have been in the industry for 4 years + (in real life not through DP)

 

Thanks for the responses. I will probably offer dirt cheap logos and designs until I get good at it, then I will create a portfolio site and gradually increase my rates. I think it would be much more fun than other freelancing work such as content creation however a mixture of both could be even better.

 

I have a frnd who is good at photoshop

I have asked him to warm up with PS and ones done then I will launch a website where we will sell PSDs and logos for real cheap rates..

I will handle the publicity (via my two blogs) and he does the designing work. Once we start earning some trust than we increase our rates..

lets see if things go as per plan.................

 

I tried this before however it did not work, I hope your site will be successful

 

If you are really good, graphic design pays well... There are always a lot of service buyers in freelance sites.

 

not successful????

please will you explain why it didnt??

it will help me a lot when I launch my service........

thnx mate

 

Freelancing in general can be a very good income if you ofer good services ofcourse it can bring good $$$

 

Don't do that. You'll make a small amount of money selling crappy logos for cheap but it would be much better to use that time to improve your skills. Crediting unprofessional looking designs to your name also makes you look bad and you don't want to do that. Depending on what field you'd like to get into (web design, blog design, album covers, etc) you'll need to practice at that style a lot. Rap music covers look drastically different from professional blog designs and that's why a lot of the companies with really high rates actually specialize in a specific field.

Here are some examples of top quality designers:
- designdisease.com ($2000-3000 for blog designs)
- imreallygood.com (~few hundred for album covers)
- kalikwestmediagroup.com ($1500 for myspace design, $10000-15000 for web design)
- moxiedesignstudios.com (not sure but looking at the quality of their work, probably around $1500-3000 for blog designs)
- flavamedia.net ($1500 for web design)

So yeah, you can definitely make a lot of money from graphic design, IF YOU'RE REALLY GOOD. If you're just looking to do it for fun and make some extra money, I wouldn't recommend it because it can take years to get to the level you need to be at. But if you're 100% serious about it, go for it.

 

sure there is, but I recommend you expand out to web design...

 

Graphic design is an awesome freelance field. Don't expect to get good pay until you're at a high skill level (which will take awhile if you practice every day). Also, talent is something you're born with, it's not acquired. I've seen more people who were awesome at design with no training, than vice versa...

 

And when you've mastered the offline market is alot more lucrative.

 

You can earn good money if you are very good and don't under sell yourself.

 

You should not start cheap and then go more costly.

That will build up a tacky reputation for you. You need consistant prices.

 

It is all about brand recognition and building a reputation for yourself. There is bad news though to make money at this you need to be good very good and mastering photo shop maybe easy but it doesn't guarantee the quality of work though.

http://www.millionairesdreamcourse.com The place to learn about building a real business

 

I think my main problem was the logos themself

 

"- designdisease.com ($2000-3000 for blog designs)
- imreallygood.com (~few hundred for album covers)
- kalikwestmediagroup.com ($1500 for myspace design, $10000-15000 for web design)
- moxiedesignstudios.com (not sure but looking at the quality of their work, probably around $1500-3000 for blog designs)
- flavamedia.net ($1500 for web design)"

Those are pretty affordable still.

"You should not start cheap and then go more costly.

That will build up a tacky reputation for you. You need consistant prices."

100% true! It's a myth on DP which highly cultivated by people who then sell your $10 logo for $100. Don't be a FOOL!