How Much Can You Make As A Freelance Graphic Designer (2024)

The graphic design industry is growing every year. This has provided graphic designers with many job opportunities working as freelancers or full-time employees. A good design is supposed to ensure that the intended message is communicated effectively.

Graphic designers apply visual hierarchy and page layout and use pictures and typography to ensure that the needs of their customers are met. They are supposed to display different elements in interactive designs that improve user experience.

There are many job opportunities for graphic designers. As mentioned above, they can work as freelancers or full-time employees. This provides them with the freedom they need to earn as much money as they want compared to most people in other professions.

How Much Can You Make as a Graphic Designer?

According to ZipRecruiter, freelance graphic designers in the United States earn an average of $58,437 annually as of January 2023. This is equivalent to $4,869 per month, $1,123 per week, and $28.09 per hour.

This is good money considering that you are working as a freelancer from home. You also get to control your own schedule and work when you want. Top freelance graphic designers are said to earn as high as $79,000 per annum in the United States.

Due to advancements in technology, almost every other business is building a strong presence online. This means that they are all looking for great graphic designers for their visual work. As a result, we are going to see more opportunities opening up for graphic designers in 2023 and beyond.

There will be a broad range of options opening up for freelance graphic designers, with tools making it incredibly easy and intuitive to get started. Here are some of the openings that can earn you top dollar as a freelance graphic designer in 2023;

1. Create Webinars or Workshops to Share Knowledge

The number of people learning new skills from the internet has been growing over the last couple of years. Chances are that you have also paid for an online course in the past year. So why not make money from your skill as a graphic designer?

If you have gained enough skills as a graphic designer, you can share your knowledge with other people through webinars or workshops. After creating content, sell access to the webinars, workshops, training material, or courses.

Even if you choose to introduce learners to the basics of graphic design, you will have helped a lot of people. There are different platforms you can use to sell your learning materials such as Teachable. This will earn you some money as a freelancer in 2023.

2. Sell Graphic Templates

This is one of the best ways for freelance graphic designers to make money in 2023. However, they have to make sure that they are designing outstanding templates for them to be successful. You can only succeed in this if you are talented and use the right tools to make your templates.

Fortunately, some tools make it incredibly easy and intuitive to get started. For instance, freelance graphic designers can get creative with BeFunky’s collage maker and quickly create collages for their templates.

These templates might be Pinterest graphics, invitations, posters, and ebooks, among others. There are different markets where graphic designers can sell these templates. You would be surprised at the amount of money you can make, especially from bloggers and small business owners who have limited budgets or time to create designs on their own.

3. Work as a Design Consultant

Working as a design consultant is one of the ways for freelance graphic designers to make good money in 2023. However, this requires you to ensure that you know your craft and are well-skilled in what you do.

Thousands of small businesses start every year. According to Statista, there were more than 800,000 businesses started within one year in the United States by March 2021. This number has been growing each year since the early 1990s, except during the great recession. 

Most of these businesses do not have the financial muscle to hire an in-house graphic designer. They rely on freelance graphic designers who work as consultants. All you need to do is offer your services and charge them on an hourly basis.

Platforms such as Fiverr, FlexJobs, and Upwork provide freelance graphic designers with a way to share their skills and source for jobs. You do not need to send applications or physically meet these business owners.

4. Sell Printables Online

Platforms such as Etsy play a crucial role for freelance graphic designers who want to earn money selling printables online. Businesses and even individuals are continuously looking for printables to promote their brands or pass a message.

Professionals such as teachers, managers, brand ambassadors, and many others use printables. Travelers and students are also known to use printables. They are not graphic designers and most of them do not want to hire an in-house designer.

So, how does selling printable work? Well, they are digital products. You do not have to worry about getting physical printables for your customers. All you need to do is to create your design and then send PDF versions once an order and payment are made. 

You will get a lot of money from this in 2023 since you do not have to worry about other costs, such as shipping.

5. Help Businesses Build Their Brands

Branding is one of the most important things for successful businesses. They need to ensure that their branding is not only unique but also outstanding to beat their competitors. Branding requires businesses to design merchandise and materials using skilled graphic designers.

However, new and small businesses do not have enough resources to hire a full-time graphic designer. This is where freelance graphic designers come in and is one of the quickest ways to make money from home. You can choose to provide branding packages or charge per service or on an hourly basis.

You might find yourself charging as high as $4,000 per branding package. This is good money considering that you are working for many clients. A branding package might include things like logos, fonts, color schemes, images, icons, and patterns, among others. These are items every other company needs for its online presence and branding.

6. Online Freelance Platforms

You have gone to school and studied graphic design. You have also done a lot of research, practiced, and honed your skills. You have a portfolio of your design work and are ready to start earning. Unfortunately, you are not getting jobs.

Should you quit and change your career path? No, you should not. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of online freelance platforms you can use to get jobs. The first step is creating a profile with your skills and showing what you can do.

Employers post jobs of all types on these platforms. Just head over to the jobs section and filter graphic design jobs. Look at the requirements and get a job that you can do. Keep doing this to build your profile and reputation.

You would be surprised at how much some freelance graphic designers charge on some of these platforms. Looking at Upwork’s graphic designers, you can see some of these freelance graphic designers charge more than $100 per hour. This is more than the average hourly rate for freelance graphic designers, according to Recruiter.

7. Create and Sell Stickers

Social media platforms have grown exponentially in the last couple of years. Going into 2023, we are even going to see more growth on some of them, such as TikTok. Users on these platforms are increasingly using stickers when creating content.

This opens an opportunity for freelance graphic designers. Using readily available tools such as BeFunky, Canva, or even Photoshop, you can easily make stickers for social media users. The only secret is to keep on top of what is trending on social media. 

Using platforms such as Society6, RedBubble, and Etsy, you can sell your stickers to users around the world. You can also design your online store using platforms such as WooCommerce or Shopify to sell stickers.

If you do not want to get involved with sending your stickers to customers, then you can think about dropshipping. This way, you will earn good money from your skills from the comfort of your home.