Offering Services? Specialize or Die.

Thought I'd share a couple of observations on offering services online.. I come from a graphic design / digital art background, however Im sure these musings could be applied to other arenas such as web design and copywriting etc.


Specialize or Die..

I started freelancing at the age of 14, creating event flyers for local Drum n Bass nights. Photoshop wasn't that prevalent back then, and even fewer people knew how to use it. Without an internet connection, I'd do the work and the clients would drive to my house and pick up the files on a Zip Disk!!

I lived in a rough council estate in the UK (much like the 'projects', american friends!) - looking back it was pretty funny operating from my dingey bedroom - but the demand was there. Word of mouth brought me more business, and it was a pretty good education in dealing with clients, revisions and all the other shenanigans that go along with providing a service. For the record, I was paid less than peanuts lol

At that point, just being able to operate Photoshop at all was a specialised skillset, so the work came in.

Jumping forward to the here and now, everyone has a copy of Photoshop, and everyone (..and their dog) are now 'Graphic Designers'. Barrier to entry is non-existent - the common mantra spouted on WF at any given opportunity is 'Go to Fiverr!!' We could engage in a long discussion about the lack of design intuition, formal education, typographical skillset, layout etc. etc. - but a cheapskate marketer will not care about these things. All they care about is getting their $5 graphics.

The market is saturated my friends. Designers are now fighting like hyenas for scraps of 'logo-work', desperately eager to win the affections of the lowest bidder. An ugly landscape!!


How to survive as a service provider in this agressive environment? Specialisation. Do something that isn't provided by 150Million other 'Designers' on the planet.

During my tenure at university, I observed who went on to succesfull careers, and who went on to unemployment. Across the board, the specialists won. One guy was an illustrator, he is now an accomplished product designer. One guy was an After Effects expert, he is now one of the leading music video directors in the UK. One guy done nothing but photomanipulation - he is now a cover artist for some of the biggest horror authors on the planet (that's me!!)

Im afraid to say that the bulk of 'business card and logo designers' didn't go on to greater things.. these services are now available to next to nothing.

Now let me take a moment to state that there is still a sizeable market for 'pure design' - but you really need to be at the apex of ability in this arena to score with big corporate clients. I have a handful of buddies who charge £1000GBP+ for a full logo service, and they are phenomenal at what they do. Having a copy of Photoshop and a 'bit of an artistic streak' isn't enough to compete in this arena.

I don't particularly enjoy working for corporate clients, or doing logos and the such, so I don't do it. My own specialism is digital fine art. It pays less, but Im kool with that because there isn't many people that can do it. How many folks get to wake up and create biomechanoid creatures or post-apocalyptic wastelands for their living?


Niche Down

As with site creation, the key to make it in the current climate is to 'niche down'. Is there a specialism that you can capitalise on that isn't being done by the bulk of the designer community? Here are a couple of different approaches that may strike a chord with you:

• Cartoonists. If you have good ability in natural media, this is an area where you can make crazy bank in the marketing scene. Transcribing your creations to vector would also be highly beneficial, as cartoons / mascots / charicatures are hawt right now.

• Motion Graphics. Why not side-step the banner design game and enter the world of After Effects. Bespoke motion graphics is a high demand biz, and not everyone has the hardware to deal with it. Potentially more pie here for anyone willing to learn this exciting skillset.

• Digital Artists. This is the domain where I live Publishing is experiencing a huge renaissance, both online and off. Believe it or not, there are many clients outside of the (cheapskate) IM scene, willing to pay a fair price for custom art. If you are able to create bespoke concepts beyond 'slapping a few stock pics' together, then this can be a lucrative field as well. Beats doing crappy ebook covers for $5 (lol).

• UI Design. This is the biggie in 2013. A lot of folks I know who could have taken the route of 'bog standard designer' are now in the User Interface / Experience realm, and are probably the most financially succesfull of all of us. I cannot stress how huge this area is right now. If you're new to the game, give this some serious thought and start whilst you're young (or have the energy to learn!).

Each one of these disciplines require a lot of work to master, but once in you have a much better chance of bringing in regular gigs at a fair price.


I really do feel for those battling it out in this biz, I hope you don't take offence on my stance. These are honest observations, if one of these pointers can get someone on a more lucrative pathway, then it's all good to me.




Conzz


SurrealPSD.com