Let’s talk about the graphic design business. What is a graphic design and how to start a graphic design business in Nigeria and make it a successful one? If you are looking for a way to start making money online and offline, starting a graphic design company is a great idea in the sense that many people are actually looking for people that can help them design a flyer, logo, business card etc … That is what graphic design is all about.
1. Definition
what is graphic design? According to Wikipedia, Graphic design is the process of visual communication and problem-solving through the use of typography, photography, and illustration. Basically, as a graphic designer, your work is to design a logo, banner, business card, wedding invitation, billboard, ebook cover, photos, images etc…
2. Your prospects or potential customers
- Manufacturing companies
- Newspaper
- Publishers
- Advertisers
- Churches/Mosques
- School
3. How to acquire the skill
To become a professional graphic designer, you need a bachelor degree in graphic design or in a related field. This may take your years to graduate and finally start working. You can take some courses online if you are thinking of spending less time in the training process.
You can get some graphic design courses on Udemy or Skillshare.
If you don’t have enough money to buy courses online, you can as well get trained by following some youtube tutorials which is completely for free.
4. Skill needed or qualities needed
To become a professional graphic designer, some skills or qualities are needed:
- Analytical Skill: As a graphic designer, you should be able to analyze your works from the perspective of your customers.
- Artistic Ability: You should be able to make your design artistically appealing to your clients.
- Communication quality: you should know how to communicate very well with your clients, or other designers in order to determine their aspiration, get the right message or what they desire.
- Time management skill: Because you will be working on different projects, you need to know how to manage your time. Please, make sure you keep to the time that you have agreed on with your clients.
- Computer skill: Needless to emphasize, it is needed for your design.
- Creativity: As a graphic designer, you need to think out of the box if you want to stand out of the crowd.
5. How profitable would graphic design business be?
To answer the above question, let us take a look at how much money graphic designers are charging on a popular site called Fiverr. As you already know, a graphic designer does design logos, flyers etc … let us take a look at only these aspects.
Logo designers: On Fiverr, to get a logo, one does spend a minimum amount of five dollars. That is close to 2.000 naira and would take you less than an hour to design. If the logo is more complex, you can charge up to $200.
Flyer designs: A flyer on Fiverr cost a minimum of $10 which is approximatively 3650 naira.
Let say in a day you get five orders of 5000 naira each on average. That is to say, you will be making nothing less than 25000 naira a day. In a month you will be making around 750000 naira.
As a Nigerian, if you can be making 750000 naira monthly, you are already a big boy. Now, if you have some employees that can help you carry out this work, you can be making more than the amount stated above.
Of course, in the beginning, you may not be making up that amount but in time, if you can prove how well grounded you are in the field, you can be making millions monthly.
Vector illustrator: This kind of service used to be expensive. Depending on your client requirement, you can charge anything from 100 dollars per illustration.
6. Get a good location for your business
Working online is great, but getting a shop will surely scale your business to the next level. It will help you to get both incomes online and offline. Besides, getting a shop we help to easily get the trust of your prospects because so many people in Nigeria are afraid of an online transaction.
If you plan on training people for extra cash, getting a shop will enable you to have direct contact with your students.
While looking for a shop, put the following into consideration:
- Accessibility: Would it be easy for your customers to reach you easily whenever they need you? If yes, then you are on the right track of a good shop.
- The competition: How many graphic designers are already in your intended area? Can you face the competition?
- The rent: How much would it cost you to rent the place?
7. Another source of income from graphic design business
Graphic design business is not just limited to the services you are rendering, but you can also implement training. Because the demand for graphic designers is increasing on a regular basis, more people want to acquire the skill, so as a graphic designer, you can come into the equation by training more people in exchange of money.
8. How to scale your business
Every entrepreneur’s dream is to scale their business in order to generate more income. Remember, as a graphic designer couple with a large demand for your service, you might not be able to complete all the projects alone. That being said, you will need a qualified team that can assist you in carrying out your work.
With a qualified team, you can start making more than 500.000 nairas every month if you know what you are doing.
9. Equipment needed
As a graphic designer, you won’t need many tools. Have the necessary software and a good laptop or desktop will be sufficient to carry out your activities.
Keep in mind if you have a team, you will need more tools because they will be needed as well for them to work efficiently.
10. Register your business
The registration of your business is paramount if you want to operate legally without having an issue with the local authority. In Nigeria, you can register your business with the CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION. The registration comes along with so many benefits.
- You will be working legally
- Get trust of your prospects
- Get quick access to loan from Banks.
11. Promote your graphic design business
Having a shop is great, but not getting customers will be frustrating. If you want customers or more clients, you have to let them know you exist. How do you go about that?
- Get a website: List all sort of services you offer in your business on your website.
- Promote your business offline: You may need to advertise your business on television or other means of advertisement offline.
- Get your customers online: Before taking any action, many people do make some research online, use this opportunity to present your services to those looking for graphic designers online.
Conclusion
Starting a graphic design business in Nigeria is a great idea seeing all the benefits awaiting in the field. Remember, anything that has to do with a computer is technical and therefore not everybody will be good at doing the right thing. Prove to be the ideal person to your prospects and they will, in turn, recommend your services to others and that is how you can grow your business easily as fast.
