So you have some skills as a graphic designer and feel it's time to begin charging for your design services. But what equipment do you need? Graphic Design is a great profession because you really don't need that much to get started and you can always learn new things or techniques.
In this article I’m going to recommend some of the equipment I think you should have in order to get started
Computer
This is the most important gadget, obviously. Whether it’s a desktop or a laptop you'll need to make sure it has enough juice to run your design software.
If you’re going to be using the Adobe products like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign then I would recommend getting a computer or laptop with…
· Minimum processor should be either an Intel Core i5 or AMD A8
· A good graphics cards if you want to get all the features of Photoshop
· Having a decent amount of RAM will also help so aim for 16GB
· Plenty of storage and a good SSD (Solid State Drive) will greatly help your computer and programs load up much faster.
Design Software
The first thing I knew I needed was some quality design software. I had been using Xara Photo & Graphic Designer to begin with, which was a decent program albeit very limited to what you could do but I knew the Adobe products were the industry standard and if I was serious about improving my skills as a designer I had to learn them.
So I started paying the €12.95 monthly subscription for Photoshop and I remember playing around with it for the first time. Boy did it feel so complicated. Basic things like changing the size of your font or resizing images were so different to the Microsoft Office suite or the Xara products that I was so familiar with.
But I stuck with it, done a little bit every day and eventually got the hang of it.
I have Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator on my computer now and what I truly love about these programs is that you never stop learning, everyday you’re picking up new things.
Good Quality Smartphone
Not only are you going to need to connect with customers and the internet but also having a good camera will be invaluable for taking images of your designs and products to post on social media platforms. If you have a website then having an app on your phone will help you edit the information and write a blog post while out and about.
Portable Hard Drive
Please don’t overlook a good portable hard drive! It’s essential to back up all of your client design work. If something goes wrong with your computer or you end up deleting the wrong folder then you really don’t want to be starting from scratch. Having proper backups of your data is one of the most important things you can do as a graphic designer and could save you a lot of heartaches.
Quality Printer
You may want to order your designs from a print shop but it’s good to have a printer for the smaller jobs or just for making nice prints for your family or friends. I would suggest a good quality photo printer that can print up to A3+ size prints. These printers can hold thicker card stock and give off superior colours.