1. We’ll Stop Freaking Out Over AI

Welcome to our annual guessing game of what the next twelve months will bring.

As ever, the design world isn’t isolated from the world in which it exists, so when events shape our lives, they impact our work, the work clients ask for, and the work that inspires us. According to Collins Dictionary, the word of the year for 2022 was permacrisis. And frankly, 2023 doesn’t look any less turbulent, with some good and some bad things already on the horizon.

Russia seems all but certain to retreat to Crimea and claim its objectives in Ukraine have been achieved; Ukraine may not accept that end, but it will probably be enough to end sanctions against Russia, which will significantly impact the economy worldwide. Brazil may have been forced to watch Argentina lift the FIFA World Cup, but it has a new (old) president and fresh hope for the survival of the Amazon rainforest. Crypto has weathered a series of storms (although there may be more to come), and historical precedence suggests the bear market has run its course; 2023 will see stagnation, with an upward trend taking hold toward the end of the year. The former Pope has died, potentially paving the way for the retirement of the current Pope and the election of a new Pope, bringing with it either renewed liberalism or renewed conservatism to the world’s largest religion. Oh, and the IMF thinks a third of the world will be in recession at some point in 2023; the UK and Russia already are, and policymakers in the US are looking nervous.

And that’s just the obvious. Of course, there will be surprises, too, because there always are.

Against this backdrop, designers must not only navigate a problematic jobs market but produce designs that respond to the needs and desires of their clients’ users.

How Did I Do in 2022?

Before diving into this year’s predictions, let’s take a look at how I thought 2022 would play out.

I predicted that 2022 would be the year of blockchain, with decentralized data storage taking over. Well, I got the decentralized part right, but not so much the blockchain aspect (feel free to tell me I’m wrong on Mastodon because I’m not checking Twitter anymore). I’ll call that half a point.

I said design would be positive, playful, and accessible. I think design did emerge from its obsession with corporate minimalism, but positive and playful? Unfortunately, I’m calling that a miss.

I said everything would be green. Again, that’s a miss. If there was a color for 2022, it was a pink-purple gradient.

I predicted hero text would replace hero images, and in the third quarter of 2022, that’s exactly the trend we saw; tick.

Finally, I suggested that illustration would adopt a grainy texture. Well, some designers did, but it was hardly a dominant trend, so I’m going to have to call that a miss.

So for my 2022 predictions, I scored 30%. Way worse than last year’s clean sweep. Let’s see if we can’t beat that in 2023…

1. We’ll Stop Freaking Out Over AI

By now, you’ve probably tried AI, freaked out, and Googled how to start a small holding in the mountains.

The truth is that AI is just a tool. And a good one at that. AI is really good at derivative work. But it’s entirely incapable of improvising, holding opinions, having an agenda, or thinking outside the box.

AI will not replace your job — unless your job is deleting the background from photos, in which case it already has. Since when did Stephen King get replaced by a spellchecker?

If you haven’t tried an AI tool yet, I’d encourage you to try it. It does the small repetitive tasks well.

2. We’ll Embrace the Real World

One of the reasons AI can’t be creative is that it doesn’t have the same number of input sensors we have. We can smell, hear, feel, and experience the world in a multitude of different ways.

Most of us spent a year in lockdown working remotely. Then rushed back to the office, only to discover that our teamwork didn’t actually improve. With the worsening economic outlook, big companies are looking to budget, and the simplest way to cut costs is to ask staff to work remotely.

When your commute is a five-second walk to the spare bedroom, you find yourself with more free time. Sure, you could probably learn Python, but wouldn’t you be happier learning to paddleboard?

As we open ourselves to new experiences, our design work will inevitably become more diverse and natural.

3. We’ll Reject Brutalism

It had a good run, but Brutalism isn’t a good fit for most UI projects. The trend of 2021–22 will vanish as quickly and as unexpectedly as it arrived.

4. We’ll Reject Darkmode

It has had a good run, and dark mode is a perfect fit for most UI projects. But we’re all kinda sick of it.

I hope I’m wrong about this one; not only is dark mode genuinely better for both your eyes and the environment, but the rich, warm blackness is the perfect antidote to sterile white corpo-minimalism.

Dark mode options are built into our OS, so it’s doubtful that it’s going to vanish anytime soon. However, dark mode as a design trend for its own sake is probably on the wane.

Typically trends come and go in symmetrical waves. Dark mode has been a dominant trend for years, so it should take as long to vanish completely.

5. We’ll Embrace Personal Retro

Every year we get the exciting job of guessing which decade the zeitgeist will rip off next. Will 2023 be the year of ’80s retro, ’90s retro, ’00s retro, or maybe (somebody shoot me) ’10s retro?

The retro trends we’ve seen over the last few years have been poor pastiches of their associated decades. If last year’s ’90s retro was inspired by the ’90s, it was a ’90s someone else was living.

In 2023 we’ll move beyond someone else’s ideas of what the past was like, to a personal vision of what came before. One in which the sunbleached colors of eternal Summers in the suburbs dominate.

6. We’ll Fall For Borecore

We’re all guilty of designing with our egos from time to time, and there is a tendency to hit users between the eyes with the biggest type, the loudest gradient, and the flashiest animation.

If you truly want to impress users in 2023, stop inserting pop-ups, adverts, cookie notices, and the other extraneous detritus that stops them from doing whatever it is they arrived on your site for. Impressing users in 2023 means clean typography, low-distraction art direction, and helpful content. Boring design just isn’t as boring as it used to be.

In 2023, the best thing designers can do for their users is get out of the way.

Happy New year! We hope it’s a good one.

Featured image by myriammira on Freepik

The post 6 Predictions for Web Design in 2023 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

2 janvier 2023/par Service comm.

10 Key Principles of User-Centered Design

Many firms’ design and development decisions are increasingly oriented toward human-centered innovation. Instead of rushing goods to market, these firms are using a user-centered design approach.

Design and development teams build high-performing digital products or websites that uniquely meet customers’ demands by concentrating on the user experience. After all, a good web design is helpful in boosting the business reputation or user experience.

This post will define user-centered design, discuss its fundamental principles, and describe the user-centered design process.

What Is User-Centered Design?

To create an enjoyable solution to a problem, user-centered design is a collection of iterative design processes concentrating on the user’s needs at each step. In UCD, the expectations, objectives, and preferences of the user significantly impact design decisions.

Additionally, users are actively involved in the entire process from start to finish. User-centered design principles encourage designers to create products with users rather than just for them. This strategy typically includes user research, interviews, usability testing, and a massive amount of feedback gathering.

UCD Requires Four Fundamental Components:

Visibility: Can people see what your website is about and how to utilize it the moment they land on your page?
Availability: Is your website user-friendly? Can they swiftly locate information? They should be able to find call-to-action buttons, menus, filters, and search choices with ease.
Legibility: Is the text simple to read for users?
Language: Is the language simple to grasp for users? Do you avoid using industry jargon in your UX authoring, which might lead to confusion and hesitation?

What Is The Significance Of UCD?

User experience is important in product design, especially in digital products such as app design, web and interface design, and marketing. Customers want their lives to be simplified. A website, app, or product exists to fulfill a consumer. Hence its success is determined by their interaction with it.

The following are some of the advantages of a user-centered design strategy for a business:

Customers keep coming back for more
There would be an increase in sales
Creating polished, efficient, and widely available goods
Understanding challenges thoroughly to provide suitable solutions
Customers and teams working together
Avoiding typical blunders
Enhancing Competitiveness
Assisting them in comprehending their market

It offers consumers the following advantages:

Making their life easier
Fulfilling their desires
Companies making them feel heard and understood
Making them feel important in the creation of things they use
Providing answers to challenges they were unaware they had or could not imagine solutions to

Let’s dig in to learn more about the advantages of UCD.

Businesses can benefit from using the user-centered design approach in various ways. As you incorporate this into your web development, you can enjoy the following four main advantages.

1. Prevent Project Failure

Your company might find it simpler to incorporate improvements and ensure your product is in line with actual user needs if you have a continuous feedback process assessing how customers react to your product, like a website.

Customers feel like their needs are better represented in the finished product, which can increase engagement and strengthen the bond with the company.

2. Improve ROI

This method produces products that more accurately reflect user expectations. The procedure also lessens mistakes made by website users, for instance. When combined, these factors motivate users to convert from leads to paying clients, boosting return on investment.

3. Increase Development Efficiency

In user-centered design, the objectives of the various team members are aligned. This can help clarify the best course of action for all parties involved. A more targeted, goal-oriented development process may be encouraged by the regular evaluation process.

Additionally, businesses can engage stakeholders and explain how their efforts and methodologies will improve customer interactions by using an iterative life cycle during product development.

4. Up The Level Of Competition

Customers will more fully appreciate what you offer, improve their engagement with your product or website, and be more likely to purchase from you if your product is created with their needs and expectations in mind.

As a result, this may increase your ability to compete in your sector.

5. KPIs Are Included

Given your user needs and business objectives, how do you move from the first to the second? You can measure key performance indicators with this in mind once you know what user needs are essential for the overall goals.

For instance, productivity may be the focus of office software, shopper activity may be the focus of sales tools, and retention rates may be the focus of other apps. All of these are necessary steps toward achieving business values like profit and revenue.

Human-Centered Design Versus User-Centered Design

There is a significant difference between humans and users. Simply put, all users are humans; however, not all humans will use your product. Therefore, you must thoroughly understand your target market to produce a successful user-centered design.

Detailed research should be done on the problems and goals of your users. Then, talk to them and give them several chances to offer feedback. By doing this, you’ll create a user persona that is complete and that you can use to determine the priorities for your design.

It’s critical to understand that different user groups may have additional requirements, levels of technical expertise, and expectations for using products like the one you’ve made.

What crucial guidelines or principles should designers consider when adopting a user-centric design?

The Process Of User-Centered Design

Certain fundamental principles underpin user-centered design. While the development process is always iterative, no explicit methods for implementation are specified. The approach can be implemented in either a waterfall or an agile environment.

1. Contextualization

The first step is to analyze the environment in which users will use the product. What are the intended applications of the product for future users? Teams working on projects can get answers by watching and talking to potential users.

2. Outlining The Prerequisites

Specifying the requirements for the new product is the second step. In this step, user requirements are described while considering corporate needs.

3. Design

Once the requirements are established, the actual design process can begin. Designers typically start by producing a straightforward prototype, like one made of paper, then move on to digital wireframes and a finished prototype.

4. Analysis

The project team solicits feedback from potential users after creating a prototype. This is typically done for digital applications through in-depth user testing and qualitative research.

Do surveys and tests evaluate user satisfaction, effectiveness, and efficiency? With the new information, the project team goes back to step 2 or step 3 of the design process to improve the product. Once the user feedback is satisfied, these iterations continue while taking into account corporate frameworks (time and costs).

Top 10 User-Centered Design Principles

Principles of user-centered design attempt to guarantee that usability is the primary priority throughout the development process. These principles, if successfully followed, will ensure that user experience is fulfilled not just during the initial introduction of a product but also during its use.

Furthermore, each of the following principles may be tailored to match the specific requirements and interaction demands of any product.

1. Use Simple Language

Professional Web Designer strives to provide the most readable discourse for the user while creating a product. This involves clarifying vocabulary, eliminating jargon, and simply providing information pertinent to the work.

Presenting users with irrelevant information throughout their use of the product taints its usefulness. Furthermore, basic language helps the user finish the work without being overwhelmed or confused.

2. Feedback

Users expect a reaction to all of their actions. This might involve modifying the look of the screen after completing an activity. If the job is finished after some time, it should display a loading page to notify the user that the task is in process.

Keeping the user informed throughout the process reassures them and keeps them on track with their job.

3. Maintaining Consistency

Keeping the product consistent is essential in ensuring an ideal user experience. Consistency affects how customers approach a product, and the time it takes to learn how to use it.

From the start of the project until its completion, the consistent philosophy underpinning the UCD process should be maintained. If the interface design needs to be updated, it is critical to maintaining consistency across new features to stay beneficial to the user.

4. Give The Complete User Control

Consumers are already aware of their requirements. They should be able to use a product with minimal effort and depend on the product’s help to accomplish the rest.

By removing the effort from the job, the user can do it quickly while keeping control of their activities.

5. Describe The Situation

Before developing a product, the designer must first investigate the ideal user and their wants. The designers can gain a comprehensive sense of some of the issues these people experience by studying their lifestyles.

Many of these observations are conducted through interviews. These interviews provide the designer with information on the exact goals that users want to attain and how they want to achieve them.

6. Examine the Design

Designers undertake usability testing with actual users of their product at this stage in the UCD process. This stage provides designers with insight into how consumers will interact with the product and how to modify it to suit them better.

It is advised that this stage be completed as quickly as feasible. The sooner customers provide input, the faster designers can comprehend their product from the user’s perspective.

7. Create Designs That Are Specific To The Needs Of The User

The design team must examine the distinctive features of their intended demographic as well as frequent real-world activities while beginning the design process. Furthermore, the product should be appropriate for the environment in which it will be utilized the most.

Making a product that needs a lot of work from the user reduces its usability and usefulness, ultimately defeating the objective of UCD.

8. The Design Process Is Iterative

Because user-centered design is based on putting the user first, the product team should constantly be working to improve the user experience. By introducing changes gradually, you will gain a better understanding of your target audience.

9. Adequate Navigational Tools

An essential component of the user experience is the capability to navigate between pages of your website and return to the previous one. Make sure users know where they are on your website and how to leave any pages they don’t want to see.

Customers can better understand how to navigate your page by giving them features like a navigation map, for instance. Make it simple for customers to change their order without leaving the current page if they buy clothing and discover they need a different size once they reach the checkout page.

10. Unflawed System

Customers should find it easy to navigate between your website’s pages and accomplish their goals. If they make a mistake, be there to help them fix it so they can achieve their goal.

The form may ask for specific, essential fields, such as the square footage, and may also include a gentle reminder or an alert that appears if the user accidentally leaves a required field blank.

Customers may feel more comfortable responding to your prompts and participating in a conversation if you ask questions one at a time and offer automated responses for each response.

Wrapping Up

User-centered design is more than just making a good product. It goes further than that. You demonstrate your motivations and intentions by putting your users in the spotlight. You’re demonstrating that it’s not all about meeting deadlines or turning a profit. Instead, you’re telling your users that you understand what they want and prioritize their needs.

It should come as no surprise that the most effective teams are user-centric. Knowing your customer is essential for success in any industry, including design. Create products that put the user first, and you will create products that people will love.

You can build a more robust, user-friendly website that is better equipped to respond to user needs and expectations by incorporating the User Centered Design process into your product design. However, it’s crucial to collaborate with a specialist who can apply these techniques and produce the result you’ve envisioned.

Featured image by pch.vector on Freepik

The post 10 Key Principles of User-Centered Design first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

30 novembre 2022/par Service comm.

27 Best Small Business Ideas for Designers

Designers have a wide range of lucrative career options.

This resource puts together some of the best small business ideas to help chart your career path.

It covers the market size, earning potential, estimated startup cost, the target audience, and the value they bring to the table. You’ll also learn how to launch the business, the required training and licenses, and a few companies already killing it in the space for your inspiration.

So, let’s begin.

Table of Contents

Online Course for Designers and Animators

Graphics Design Business Serving Brick-and-Mortar Outlets

Graphics Design and Animation Coach

WordPress Themes and Website Templates

Email and Newsletter Templates Creator

Fonts

Graphics Templates and Marketing Collateral

Presentation Template Designer

Custom T-Shirts and Screen Prints

Comics

Sewing Patterns and Fashion Designs

Wrap Designer

Videographer and Video Editor

Online Freelance Designer

NFT Artist

Event Designers

Extended Reality Designer

Photographer and Photo Editor

Sell Coloring Books

Products and eCommerce Packaging Designer

Publish Books and eBooks

Printing Press

Website Design Services

Graphic Design Academy

Design Teams

Image Credit: Medium

YouTuber

Newspaper, Magazine, and Catalog Design Agency

Online Drawings and Handcrafts Sales

How to Choose the Best Business Ideas as a Designer

1. Online Course for Designers and Animators

The demand for digital designers will grow by 23% until 2031—faster than America’s 5% average occupation growth rate. And the market for online courses will grow at the same speed to reach $198 billion in sales by 2030.

Also, 87% of managers said hiring more UX designers is their organization’s top priority.

Earning potential: $19,500 to $135,000 annually (or $69,900 average).
Top marketplaces: Udemy, Udacity, Skillshare, LinkedIn Learning, Thinkific, Alison, AppSumo, CyberU, PluralSight, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $8,000 to $36,000.

Target Audience and Value

Create and sell online courses based on your transferable design skills. Let’s explore five options:

1. Motion Design Courses

Students pay about $85 to $600 for motion design courses.

And students can recuperate their investment quickly since motion designers earn between $58 to $300 per hour.

2. Product Design Courses

Jaguar C-X16 Design. Creative Commons.

Product design courses are between $85 to over $4,000.

Product designer roles pay about $115,000 annually. And finding employment is easy, as over 70% of hiring managers have increased their designer hires.

3. Graphic Design Courses

Art Director and Graphic Designer Peter Cocking, on utilizing white spaces. Creative Commons.

Top-earning graphics designers earn about $43 an hour or $90,000 a year. So, you can sell this online course for $85 to $15,000 per student.

4. User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Design Courses

Pixabay image

UI/UX online course creators usually take $85 to $2,500 per student. And students who become top earners take home up to $174,000 a year or $84 an hour.

5. Fashion Design Courses

Wikimedia Commons

Fashion designer courses cost $40 to $4,000.

However, top designers earn over $90,000 a year. So your students can get outsized value from their investment.

How to Launch

Launch your online design course in seven steps:

Find a simple course idea
Outline the course
Create the first module
Build your sales page and join marketplaces
Create your thank you page
Write your sales emails
Launch your course

Most people get stuck in the ideas phase. Instead, find a simple course idea based on your skills and launch it.

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Course marketplaces have unique education requirements. So check the publisher requirements of the platform you want to launch the course.

However, most marketplaces do not require special certifications to launch a design course.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Adobe After Effects: Complete Course from Novice to Expert by Louay Zambarakji.

Courses from Motion Design School.

2. Graphics Design Business Serving Brick-and-Mortar Outlets

Graphic design for brick-and-mortar outlets can be a quick way to start your small business for designers. These businesses use graphic design services to create marketing collateral, like flyers, presentations, and brochures, to send brand messages to their audience.

The increasing demand for designers drives consistent global graphic design market growth, currently valued at around $43.4 billion.

Earning potential: $35,000 to $66,000 per year (or $47,921 average)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, SolidGigs, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $2,000 to $10,000.

Target Audience and Value

You can provide graphic design services to countless small businesses, and some of them include:

1. Ice cream shop

Image credit: Fiverr

You can create packaging designs and logos for those planning to own ice cream shops. The top Fiverr designers charge around $25 per project, while some value their services up to $260 per project.

2. Landscaping Business

Image credit: Fiverr

Most landscaping businesses need graphic designers to help with custom 3d Landscape concept design and illustrations for their client’s properties—some designers on Fiverr charge around $180 per project and up to $480 for premium service.

3. Catering Business

Image credit: Fiverr

Catering business logos on Fiverr costs $5 to $100 per project. However, some top designers charge up to $450 for premium services.

4. Food Truck Business

Image credit: Fiverr

Professional food truck and trailer wrap designers on Fiverr charge $25 to over $100 per project. You transform the designs into formats such as AI, JPG, and PDF to provide multiple use options for the business.

5. Pet Sitting

About 70% of U.S. households own a pet. That’s approximately 91 million households, nearly ten million more than the population of Germany, the EU’s largest population, making a pet business lucrative.

You can design logos and marketing materials for pet-sitting and dog-walking businesses. The standard rate on Fiverr is between $5 and $100.

How to Launch

Start your graphic design small business in six steps:

Build your portfolio by offering free designs
Name your graphic design business
Build a basic website
Create social media accounts
Join top graphic design marketplaces
Build your email lists and run ads

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Starting this new business doesn’t need special certifications and licenses. However, pursuing certifications like Adobe Certified Associate and other courses on Udemy and Coursera can advance your credibility.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the small businesses making waves in this space are:

Landor & Fitch.

Polar.

3. Graphics Design and Animation Coach

Graphic design and animation coaching is one of the best small business ideas to start as a designer. Consider this career path if you’re curious about designs and motion graphics and are passionate about teaching.

Employment for professionals in this field will grow by 5% from 2021 to 2031, as fast as the average for all occupations.

Earning potential: $79,153 average compensation per year.
Top marketplaces: Udemy, Coursera, Alison, Fiverr, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $0 to $15,000, depending on whether you run the coaching business from home or the office.

Target Audience and Value

Let’s explore some of the coaching services you can provide:

1. Personal Training and Coaching

Image credit: Iveta Karpathyova Studio

One-on-one graphics and animation coaching via Zoom is in high demand. You can sell your training and coaching service on your website or online marketplaces. Some personal trainers charge about $650 for a three-month-long session.

Most non-marketplace users often charge more. For instance, Iveta Karpathyova, a graphic design personal trainer, takes about $2,000 for eight hours of private one-on-one instruction.

2. Graphic and Animation Coaching for Design Teams

You can use RFPs to find companies who want to train their in-house design teams in 2D or 3D animations. Also, you can target companies that use graphics to boost user engagement, like UX professionals.

Austin Saylor is an example in this space. He earns up to $10,000 from his training program for graphic design teams.

3. Online Courses

Image credit: Udemy

You can create online courses and sell them on marketplaces like Udemy, Coursera, and Alison if you don’t have the resources for one-on-one coaching. For instance, some animation courses on Udemy cost between $20 to $139 for old students or between $14 and $24.99 for new users.

How to Launch

Start your graphic design and animation coaching small business idea in seven steps:

Get professional training
Develop your business plan
Design your coaching courses and certificate of completion
Set your coaching fees
Set up your payment methods and plan your business finances
Choose a coaching business name
Create a logo and your brand identity
Set up your coaching website and social media presence
Design your marketing plan

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Once you possess transferable design and animation skills, you don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to operate a graphic coaching business. However, getting certification training will advance your qualification and give you the confidence to train people.

Some options include:

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some businesses offering graphic design and animation coaching services are:

Austin Saylor

Iveta Karpathyova Studio

Falcon Visuals

4. WordPress Themes and Website Templates

A WordPress theme and website template development business is one of the most lucrative small business ideas for designers.

The WordPress platform controls nearly 65% of the CMS market share and powers 43% of all websites. That’s a staggering 82 million, meaning there are about three times more WordPress websites than the number of web developers worldwide.

Shopify comes a distant second, powering only 3.5% of all websites. However, WordPress has over 11,000 themes. As a theme developer, you can tap into this lucrative market.

Earning potential: $12 t0 $12,000 per theme or template
Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative Market, and Codecanyon.
Estimated start cost: Premium WordPress theme builders costs between $99 to $200

Target Audience and Value

Some of the most successful business ideas or markets to explore in this field are:

1. WordPress Themes Development

Image Credit: Themeforest

Bestselling themes on Themeforest cost $39 to $69, while the most expensive options go for $6,000 to $12,000. Also, Fiverr developers charge up to $1,000 for custom WordPress theme development.

2. Site Templates Development

Best-selling site templates on Themeforest cost between $12 to $49. The high-priced ones go from $200 to $1,000. The price range for popular themes on Creative Market is the same as on Themeforest. However, the most expensive options range from $520 to $5,000.

3. Landing Page Templates Development

Landing page creation is a lucrative business because of its high demand for lead generation. The best-selling landing page templates on Themeforest cost $12 to $39, while the expensive ones go for $59 to $118, making them affordable.

How to Launch

Launch this new business idea with these simple steps:

Pick a niche
Develop your business plan
Set your pricing
Plan your business finances to understand the overhead costs involved
Design your themes and site templates on your computer
Develop the theme with premium theme builders like TemplateToaster or outsource to freelance theme developers.
Create a free version of the theme
Test your theme or site templates
Join a marketplace and sell your theme
Promote your business with paid ads

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to build a successful career as a theme developer. In addition, some theme builders don’t require coding knowledge.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some theme developers on Fiverr and Themeforest are:

Zainshabirdev

Scrn

5. Email and Newsletter Templates Creator

Email template development is another good business idea to explore.

There are over four billion daily email users, sending and receiving more than 306 billion emails daily, making it an effective channel to reach and engage customers. Also, data shows that 37% of brands are increasing their email budget.

As an email and newsletter templates creator, you can design beautiful templates for small and medium-sized businesses that can’t afford an in-house design team, digital marketing services, and marketplaces.

Earning potential: $10 to $150 per project
Top marketplaces: Themeforest, Fiverr, Creative Market, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $0 to $200

Target Audience and Value

You can offer your service on several marketplaces and your website. However, these options provide the most straightforward way to make it big in this field.

1. Themeforest Email Templates

Themeforest’s top-rated email templates cost about $8 to $116. Most of these templates have between 100 and 1,500 sales, indicating high demand for Themeforest email templates. The most expensive option currently costs $117 for the regular license and has sold over 100 copies.

2. Fiverr Email Templates

Demand for Fiverr email template creators is also pretty high. The best-selling professionals take between $10 to $25 per project. However, hand-coded responsive HTML options go as high as $80.

3. Creative Market Email Templates

Creative Market has over 1,500 email templates. The popular designs go for $10 to $39, while the most expensive templates cost between $50 and $150. Most designs are for MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, and Constant Contact platforms.

How to Launch

Launch your email and newsletter design business in these few steps:

Pick a niche and develop your business plan
Set your pricing
Design your email and newsletter templates
Test on different devices such as desktop computers, mobile, and iPad
Join marketplaces and sell your templates
Create a logo and business website
Join popular social media and build your online presence
Market your business

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training or licenses to create email and newsletter templates. Instead, strong customer relationships and positive reviews are what you need to thrive in this field.

Example of Businesses in this Space

You can build a profitable business in this field. Let’s see a few of the successful ones for your inspiration.

SendX

Stripe

6. Fonts

Typography is one of the financially rewarding home business ideas for designers.

Custom fonts allow businesses to create unique brand identities to stand out from the crowd. As a result, this space holds limitless opportunities for typographers.

For instance, IBM paid over $1 million annually to use Monotype’s warhorse font Helvetica before developing its IBM Plex typeface.

Other companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and SAP also invested in custom fonts and typefaces to reinforce brand messages and save on licensing fees. So you might want to explore this small business idea. You can also structure it as a consulting business.

Earning potential: $30 to $300,000 for bespoke font
Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative market, Fiverr, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200

Target Audience and Value

The best target audience for this small business idea is brands that want to create a unique identity to differentiate from the competition. Some of the places to sell your service are:

1. Envato

Envato has an extensive library of over 30,000 stunning fonts and types.

Many small business owners and online businesses use the marketplace to find unique fonts. Envato users with an active subscription can download the fonts for any project and marketing campaign.

The individual plan costs $16.5 monthly, while the team plan is available at $10.75 per member. The enterprise plan requires a custom quote.

2. Fiverr

Fiverr is a great place to start a typography business as a beginner. Small business owners and online businesses use it to hire affordable typographers. The platform currently hosts over 2,000 custom font services.

Typographers on the platform charge between $10 to $30 for custom fonts. The top earners take home over $60 for premium services.

3. Corporate Clients

Experienced typographers can explore this option.

Creating bespoke typefaces for corporate clients may cost up to $300,000. First, however, you’ll need to demonstrate your value by building a strong portfolio and understanding how to craft a pitch, an offer, and a closing.

How to Launch

Typographers are in high demand. Start your typography business in five types:

Design your fonts
Build your website and plan your marketing
Join marketplaces and sell your fonts
Build your prospects list
Send custom font design proposals to prospects
Market your business with paid ads and on social media

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Typography is one of the most lucrative home business ideas for designers today. You can start this small business without special certifications and licenses.

However, taking typography courses on Udemy and other learning platforms can help you master your art and design better fonts.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this field are:

Typotheque

Fontfabric

7. Graphics Templates and Marketing Collateral

Marketing collateral is media and graphics materials organizations use to support their sales efforts and advance their brand messages.

It includes anything from brochures, business cards, and posters. These materials give prospects the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions.

Creating them as graphic templates lets people customize and use them as they wish, enabling a much larger potential audience size. For example, as a marketing collateral designer, you could also run a consulting business as part of your larger offering.

Earning potential: $10 to $1,300 per project.
Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative Market, Fiverr, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 to get a good computer.

Target Audience and Value

The target audiences for this small business idea are social media managers, cleaning services, brick-and-mortar stores, and dog-walking businesses.

Also, targeting profitable niches like small business owners, personal training businesses, and property managers can lower your customer acquisition and overhead costs.

Let’s examine some graphic templates and marketing collateral you can design for clients.

1. Brochures

Image credit: Envato Elements

Brochures are some of the most widely used marketing collateral.

Creating them as customizable graphic templates and selling them on marketplaces like Envato and Creative Market allows you to attract many users.

You can also offer custom brochure design services on Fiverr. Designers on the platform take between $10 t0 $150 per project.

2. Business cards

Image credit: Envato Elements

Custom business card designers on Fiverr charge between $10 to $640 per project. Some premium services go for as high as $1,300. You can also sell on Envato to earn money from users’ subscription fees.

3. Flyers

Image credit: Fiverr

Flyers are another in-demand marketing collateral. Nearly 50% of surveyed companies said that door drop campaigns are essential to their marketing strategy.

Offering custom flyer design services to these businesses can help you make it big as a designer. Pro-verified designers on Fiverr make between $100 to $495 per project.

Their premium packages cost as much as $1,295.

How to Launch

Launch this small business idea with these six steps:

Get a nice laptop and internet connection
Create an actionable business plan
Define your target market and ideal customers
Build your portfolios
Join marketplace
Create a sales page to attract non-marketplace users
Join social media platforms
Promote your business through paid and organic marketing channels

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You need special training or a license to start this business at home. However, an impressive portfolio will help you land high-paying clients more quickly.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this field are:

Trpeski Design

Brand Design

8. Presentation Template Designer

Creating an entire presentation deck from scratch can be challenging for non-designers.

As a result, 79% of presenters use pre-built templates to find inspiration, streamline their workflow and create stunning presentations in a few minutes. So this is an excellent business idea for designers.

You can explore opportunities in this field to shore up your income and build a flourishing career.

Earning potential: $90 to $6,000
Top marketplaces: Envato, Creative Market, Fiverr, etc.
Estimated start cost: You can start the business with just a computer. It costs between $200 to $1,200 to get a good one.

Target Audience and Value

Businesses in high demand for presentations, like landscaping businesses, property managers, startups, and consultancy businesses, are your targets. Also, executives and busy business people need you too.

Others include personal trainers, social media managers, and cleaning businesses.

Let’s explore some templates you can start with and what each brings to the table.

1. Marketing

Image credit: Envato Elements

Marketing presentation templates do the heavy lifting for salespersons, enabling them to create their presentations and slides quickly. Your presentation design agency can charge between $90 to $6,000 per ten slides.

However, selling on marketplaces enables you to access a ready market with minimal marketing efforts.

2. Pitches

Image credit: Fiverr

A beautifully designed pitch deck helps startup entrepreneurs to make a lasting impression on potential investors. So they often prefer to use templates to create theirs or outsource the project to professionals like you.

You can join marketplaces to reach potential clients more quickly, and there is a lot of money to make from those platforms. For example, pro-verified sellers on Fiverr earn between $100 and $1,500, while premium packages can go for as much as $3,000.

3. Key Notes

Professional keynote presentations from pro-verified designers on Fiverr are between $360 and $650 for the basic package. Non-pro-verified professionals on the platform price their service between $10 to $200.

Presentation design services hourly rate on Upwork ranges from $20 to $95. Some charge as high as $130 per hour.

How to Launch

A presentation template design business is a great business idea to pursue as a designer. You can launch yours with these six steps:

Buy a good computer with enough graphics card
Create a business plan
Define your market and ideal prospects
Build your portfolios
Create your website and join marketplaces
Plan your marketing strategies
Launch your templates

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need any special training, certifications, or licenses for this small business idea. However, an impressive portfolio and many positive customer reviews will do.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Let’s examine some professionals in this space.

24Slides

BrightCarbon

9. Custom T-Shirts and Screen Prints

The high demand for customized wear makes custom T-shirt design a thriving enterprise. Future Market Insights estimated that the market size of global custom T-shirt printing would exceed $3.5 billion in 2022.

Furthermore, they believe it will grow by 9.7% CAGR over the next ten years to reach over $9 billion.

Earning potential: $5 to $1,200 per project and up to $1 million a year.
Top marketplaces: Teespring, Zazzle, CafePress, Redbubble, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: You can start a custom T-shirt design business with $0 from home if you already own a computer and internet connection.

Target Audience and Value

Build your business for these audiences:

1. Custom T-Shirt Design Marketplaces

Image credit: Teespring

Joining and selling your designs on custom t-shirt marketplaces like Teespring (now, Spring), CafePress and Zazzle is your best bet to hit the ground running immediately. T-shirt designs on Teespring can cost as much as $49.99.

2. Fiverr

Pro-verified custom t-shirt designers on Fiverr take home between $125 and $450 per design. Premium packages can go for as high as $1,200—other gigs in the category cost between $5 and $30.

3. eCommerce Store

An eCommerce store for your custom designs lets you control your marketing and the ideal audience you want as customers.

You can also connect the online store to print-on-demand platforms like Printful to run a full-fledged online t-shirt business. There is no limit to how much you can make from this business. Some sellers earn up to $10,000 monthly.

How to Launch

Follow these six steps to launch this business idea:

Find a t-shirt niche
Create your t-shirt design
Join marketplaces to sell your designs
Create an eCommerce to promote your business
Connect your store to print-on-demand software to drop-ship your custom-printed wear

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need any special training to thrive in this space. Getting many positive customer reviews and referrals can help advance your business.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Many designers are in this space, offering custom T-shirt design services to individuals, groups, and local businesses. Some of our top picks for your inspiration are:

Custom Ink

Mandem

10. Comics

Comics are graphic novels. It’s popular among kids and teens. Fortunate Business Insights estimated that the comics market size will reach $12.81 billion in 2028, up from $9.21 billion in 2021. It grew by a staggering 12% in 2020.

Analysts believe it’ll grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2021 to 2028.

Earning potential: $63,167 per year for comic artists and about $210 per project for comic artists and color stylists.
Top marketplaces: ComicConnect, Subzero Comics, and LiveAbout
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 to get a good computer

Target Audience and Value

Comics are lucrative when you build the business around these audiences:

1. Comic Artist

Image credit: Cbr.com

You can try your hands here if you can create attractive graphics and illustrations for comic books. Professionals in this field typically earn over $63,000 a year. But they vary from city to city. For instance, San Francisco, California comic artists take home over $95,000.

2. Comic Book Letterer

Advanced skills in color flattering can also help you get something tangible out of this space. Some professionals in this field earn between $5 to $25 on Fiverr. The verified professionals take between $100 to $210 per project.

3. Color Flatter

Color-flattering services on Fiverr are in high demand. Most color stylists on the marketplace charge between $5 and $40. As a verified professional, you may earn up to $100.

How to Launch

Comics are another successful business idea you can consider as a designer. It’s not expensive to launch, and you can run it 100% from home.

Start your own business in these few simple steps.

Pick a niche and define your market
Develop your business and marketing plan
Set your price
Join marketplaces to sell your service
Create a website to target off-marketplace audiences
Promote your business

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special certification or licenses as a comic artist. However, professional courses on Udemy and other learning platforms can advance your skills.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some professionals in this field are:

Jorge Jiménez

Image credit: Cbr.com

Freyady

11. Sewing Patterns and Fashion Designs

The U.S. 2022 fashion design market size stands at $2.9 billion. Data shows that the market size declined by 1% between 2017 and 2022. However, analysts believe the value will grow at 0.9% in 2022.

Earning potential: Earn up to $130,000 annually.
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, DressX, Replicant, Dribble, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 to get a good computer

Target Audience and Value

Set your sights on these markets to make it big in this field.

1. Fashion Designers

Creating and selling your designs to top-rated designers is one of your best bets to earn big from this small business idea. Most bespoke wears cost several thousand dollars, and many designers won’t mind paying hundreds and thousands of dollars for your designs.

2. Online Marketplaces

Image credit: Fiverr

Joining marketplaces will save you a lot of marketing costs, and there is also money to make from the platforms—top professional stylists on Fiverr earn $100 to $300. You can also sell your designs on Dribble.

3. NFT Fashion Marketplace

Image credit: Replicant

NFT digital fashion marketplaces like Replicant are reimagining fashion designing businesses, allowing anyone to try on a digital garment.

They are a new and growing trend. Jumping in right away lets you secure a space before it gets saturated. And the digital fashion business is financially rewarding.

For instance, the best-selling digital garments on Replicant cost around $35, while the most expensive digital fashion wearables sell for as high as $68.

How to Launch

You can launch this business idea in these steps:

Pick a niche and define your fashion style
Develop your business and marketing plan
Create a physical version of your NFT
Choose and blockchain for your NFT and set up your digital wallet
Select an NFT marketplace
Create a business website to promote your digital fashions
Join social media to improve your online presence

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

The fashion design business doesn’t require any special training, certification, or licenses.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this space are:

Olivia Goodall

Trend Miles

12. Wrap Designer

The wrap design business is one of the most profitable business ideas to start as a designer.

Several organizations and individuals wrap their vehicles for branding and aesthetic purposes.

In addition, a vehicle wrap is cheaper than a painting, driving its demand in the U.S. The global automotive car wrap film market was $4.9 billion in 2021.

Analysts estimated it will grow at a CAGR of 22.2% from 2022 to 2030.

Earning potential: $21 per hour
Top marketplaces: Wrap Stock, Fiverr, Design Hill, Upwork, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200

Target Audience and Value

Wrap design small businesses can target:

1. Auto Shops

Many auto repair shops in the U.S. offer car wrap services. You can create and sell your designs to them. They charge clients between $2,500 and $5,000 to wrap their vehicles, so it’s fair to expect some money from them for your design.

2. Car Owners

Top-rated custom wrap designers on Upwork charge between $30 and $50 hourly rates. Several have earned $10,000 to $60,000 creating and selling bespoke wrap designs on the platform.

3. Marketplaces

Image credit: Wrap Stock

You can upload and sell your designs on marketplaces like Wrap Stock.

Here, you don’t have to worry about marketing or running ads. Instead, the platform handles every aspect of the process, enabling you to focus on creating stunning designs.

How to Launch

Launch this wrap design small business idea in these steps:

Pick a niche
Develop your business plan and sales processes
Create your designs
Turn your designs into templates downloadable in different formats
Join marketplaces to sell your design templates
Create a website to promote your business
Offer custom design services

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This small business idea doesn’t require special training, licenses, or certification. However, building your portfolio and generating positive reviews can advance your credibility.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this space are:

Inflamez Designs

Sean P

13. Videographer and Video Editor

About 87% of businesses use video as a marketing tool.

YouTube, the world’s largest online video-sharing platform, has over 122 million daily users. They watch over one billion hours of content each day. Every minute, creators upload more than 500 hours of videos. These make video editing a lucrative business.

Earning potential: $49,496 average base salary per year
Top marketplaces: Upwork, Fiverr, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $250 to $1,020 for professional video editing software yearly subscription

Target Audience and Value

Let’s explore some ways you can earn money with your skills:

1. Marketplace

Image credit: Fiverr

Most video editors sell their services on Fiverr, Upwork, and other talent marketplaces. They charge between $10 to $40 per gig on Fiverr and an hourly rate of $10 to $25 on Upwork. You can join both marketplaces to maximize your options and reach a wider audience.

2. Portfolio Website

Create a portfolio website to target non-marketplace audiences and sell your service. It lets you take charge of your marketing, build your customer list and manage your customer relationships 100%. The median hourly rate of video editors is $20.

How to Launch

Videography and video editing are profitable business ideas. Launch yours in these simple steps:

Pick a niche and your target audience
Write a business and marketing plan
Buy video editing software
Join marketplaces
Create a website to promote your business
Run ads and market your service

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This small business idea doesn’t require special training and licenses, especially if you want to run it from home. However, getting professional video editing training and certification can help you become a better video editor.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some businesses in this field are:

Tasty Edits

Replayed

14. Online Freelance Designer

The freelance industry currently contributes about $1.4 trillion to the U.S. economy. With over 58 million people offering freelancing services in the country, analysts believe it will grow to become the U.S. majority workforce.

A career path as an online freelance designer lets you have a slice of the pie.

Earning potential: $25 to $150 per hour
Top marketplaces: Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200

Target Audience and Value

An online freelance design offers limitless opportunities to designers. The small business idea will stay true to its potential when you build it around these target markets:

1. Marketplaces

Joining a marketplace gives you instant access to ready-to-buy customers—beginners in this space charge between $10 and $80 on Fiverr. Pro-verified experts earn up to $800. Upwork graphic designers take $14 to $95 per hour.

2. Freelance Website

A website lets you create a unique brand identity for your graphic design business.

It also allows you to approach your prospects directly, control your pricing and scale your business over time. The $20 to $150 average industry hourly rate is encouraging, and you can charge more as your business advances.

How to Launch

Action the steps below to launch this small business idea.

Pick a niche and define your ideal clients
Create a marketing and business plan
Build your portfolio
Set your price
Join marketplaces
Create a small business website

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

A freelance graphic designer doesn’t need any special license or training. However, acquiring advanced design and marketing skills improve their odds of having a successful career.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the top professionals in this field are:

Dimi Designs

Gaurav C.

15. NFT Artist

NFT lets owners prove authorship and authenticity, future-proofing digital assets. It’s one of the latest in-thing today and a trend that is not dying off soon.

The value of the global non-fungible token market was $4.6 billion in 2021. Analysts estimated that the market size will grow at a staggering CAGR of 23.9% between 2022 and 2028 to reach nearly $20 billion at the end of the forecasted period.

Earning potential: $96,643 average annual salary (the top 10% earn about $360,000 yearly)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, OpenSea, SuperRare
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 for a computer with a sound graphics card

Target Audience and Value

Let’s examine some target audiences for your NFT art business.

1. NFT Creators

Create unique NFT art collections and sell them to NFT creators with the metadata. You can sell the service on Fiverr and Upwork. NFT artists on Fiverr charge between $40 and $150 for basic packages, while those on Upwork collect up to $5,000.

2. NFT Marketplaces

Image credit: OpenSea

You can mint your art on NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, SuperRare, and others if you’re uncomfortable selling them to third-party NFT creators. The opportunities in this space are limitless. For example, some NFTs on OpenSea sell for as high as 19 ETH floor price.

How to Launch

Launch this NFT art small business idea in these few simple steps:

Define why you’re going into the business
Pick a niche
Join marketplaces to sell your art
Set up an Ethereum wallet If you wish to mint your arts
Find a minting platform that meets your needs
Mint and sell your NFT arts

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need any special training or license. However, you can take online NFT minting courses on Udemy, Coursera, and other learning platforms to master the art.

Also, the business doesn’t have special license requirements.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this field are:

Nyolings

Shallu N

16. Event Designers

Event designers work with planners to help them put details into their decorations. However, unlike planners focusing on event logistics and ensuring everything is on schedule and running smoothly, event designers transform the space and bring clients’ visions to life.

Earning potential: $43,977 median annual salary (the top 25% earns up to $50,000 annually0
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $300 to $3,000 to start the business from home. It’ll require a laptop, project management platforms (for example, ClickUp), and virtual event design software (3D Event Designer).

Target Audience and Value

Segment your audience, targeting these markets:

1. Corporate Organizations

Most organizations and companies hold at least one corporate event, such as annual general meetings, award ceremonies, and product launches. You can work with them to plan out the design and decoration. Payment is usually per project, and it’s encouraging.

2. Event planners

Image credit: Harpers Bazaar

Partnering with event planners is your odds-on-favorite to ensure a steady supply of gigs. So, you don’t need a big marketing budget. Most event planners are already entrenched in the system and can quickly put something on your plate.

3. Catering Services

Catering services are another solid option to explore. Most caterers want to know how to set up their buffet and other items to ensure a seamless workflow. You can create multiple floor layouts of the event space to show them ways to arrange their stuff.

How to Launch

Launch a successful event design small business idea in these six steps:

Define your target audience
Buy project management and virtual event design software
Create virtual event designs to show off your skills
Join marketplaces
Build your websites and create social media accounts
Collaborate with event planners
Market your business to build your clientele

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This small business idea doesn’t require any special training, certification, or license.

However, professional certification and training in project management can make you a better event designer. Also, you’ll need a strong customer relationship, positive reviews, and a referral network to thrive in this space.

You might not need special licenses to run the business from home.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this field are:

Encore Event Design

Mindy Rice Design

17. Extended Reality Designer

Extended Reality (XR) is the catch-all term for all immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR).

Mordor Intelligence predicts the XR market valued at $26.05 billion in 2020, will grow at a staggering CAGR of 62.7% between 2021 and 2026 to reach $463.7 billion. A career as an XR designer can bring a lot to the table.

Earning potential: $106,097 average salary per year.
Top marketplaces: Unity Asset Store, Unreal Engine, Oculus Rift Store.
Estimated start cost: $62 to $23,200.

Target Audience and Value

Who is your target audience in this space? First, let’s examine the top two and what you can gain from them.

1. XR Developers

Image credit: The Academy of International Extended Reality

You can have a lucrative career as an XR designer, working with extended reality developers to create cutting-edge XR applications for forward-thinking businesses.

While designers focus on figuring out the “whys” and ‘what’s” of the projects, developers’ interests rely on transforming them into a reality.

Typical XR designers earn around $106,000 annually. The more experienced hands go home with over $215,000 each year. So you’re getting in early on an industry poised for rapid growth.

2. Marketplace

Selling your XR assets on specialized marketplaces like Unity Asset Store, Unreal Engine, and Oculus Rift store lets you access a ready market, minimizing the efforts you need to put in to build your clientele.

You can also list on Upwork to diversify your income. For example, XR designers on the marketplace earn $20 to $85 per hour. Some designers have earned over $500,000 selling their skills on the platform.

How to Launch

These steps can help you launch this XR design small business idea:

Pick a niche
Write a business plan detailing the market opportunities you wish to exploit
Register your business if you’re renting an office space
Acquire XR hardware and software
Create your marketing plan and launch your website
Join marketplaces to sell your service
Hire and train your staff, including a social media manager and digital marketing professional
Collaborate with XR developers

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This Extended Reality design small business idea doesn’t require any special licenses.

However, you’ll need specialized training and certifications to advance your credibility and credentials. Some of the top-rated in the industry are

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this space are:

Jalaj S.

Or Fleisher

18. Photographer and Photo Editor

The photography business is competitive, and you can build a sustainable career, even while working from home, with the right skills.

The future outlook for the industry looks promising.

Analysts expect the global market size to reach $44.07 billion in 2025 from $32.92 billion in 2020, meaning, in three years, the global photography business value will be more than half the Serbian GDP, a country of over seven million people.

Earning potential: $29,230 to $109,760 per year (the average base annual salary is $60,298)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Pixabay, Shutterstock, Getty Image, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $10,000 to $15,000.

Target Audience and Value

You can work with these people as a photographer and photo editor:

1. Event Planners

Image credit: Expert Photography

Event planners can guarantee you steady gigs. Working with them means you don’t have to worry about prospecting, writing proposals, and closing clients.

Some professional photographers charge between $75 and $300 per image, while experienced ones may earn up to $1,000.

2. Marketplace

Marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork are other excellent options for beginners. For example, photo editors on Upwork take home about $20 to $100 per hour; some have earned over $250,000 since joining the platform.

3. Commercial Photography

Image credit: Expert Photography

Commercial photography is one of the most lucrative options in this field. The professionals here earn between $800 to $5,000 per day. The licensing fees often start from $250 and may get as high as $10,000.

4. Stock Photography

You can start a stock photography website or join already established stock photo websites like Shutterstock to sell your photos. Monthly subscriptions on Shutterstock cost between $49 to $479. The platform has paid over $1 billion to contributors in the last 15 years.

How to Launch

Launch your photography and photo editing business in these steps:

Find your niche and target market
Pick a nice location if you wish to run a brick-and-mortar business
Register your business to legalize it
Open a business bank account and set up accounting for the business
Check with local authorities for the necessary permit
Get photo editing business insurance
Purchase photography equipment, gear, and photo editing software
Create a unique brand identity for the business
Develop your business website and add your business to social media
Build your portfolio
Join marketplaces

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This business model doesn’t require special training, licenses, or certifications.

However, investing in professional courses can help you become better at what you do. Online courses are a great place to start. For example, you can check Udemy and Coursera for top-rated photography courses.

When creating a website for your business, consider taking marketing and customer relationship courses to improve your client acquisition skills.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses for your inspiration are:

Seatown Photo

James Maher Photography

19. Sell Coloring Books

A coloring book is one containing line art for coloring with the crayon. It’s a healthy way to relieve stress, calm the brain and help the body relax.

The adult coloring books market peaked between 2014 and 2017. It sold over 12 million books in 2015, up from one million copies the previous year.

Although on a decline today, exploring options in this field can be lucrative.

Earning potential: $10,000 to $40,000 monthly
Top marketplaces: Amazon, Lulu, Etsy, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 for a good computer

Target Audience and Value

Create and sell coloring books online. You can begin with some of these marketplaces:

1. Children’s Coloring Books

Children’s coloring books are popular on Amazon. A quick search shows over 80,000 results—the top-rated books on the marketplace cost between $5.99 and $12.

2. Adult Coloring Books

Lulu is an online self-publishing book company. Creating and selling coloring books on the platform lets you reach over one million monthly visitors. They also handle inventory and fulfillment. A paperback coloring book on Lulu sells for up to $16.

3. Teenagers

Teenagers use coloring books, and you can target teen themes that attract that audience. These books typically cost $8 to $38. You can even publish digital versions of these coloring books.

4. Teach People to Create and Sell Coloring Books

If you’ve found success creating and selling coloring books, you can teach others how to do it. Typically, these courses cost $14 and $50 and can attract over 5,000 students.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to start selling coloring books:

Pick a niche
Write and design your book
Decide on whether to self-publish or use publishing companies
Format and edit your book
Design the cover art or outsource to freelancers
Sort the copyright and ISBN
Set the pricing
Upload and sell your book
Promote your coloring books on social media

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Selling coloring books doesn’t require any special training or certification. You don’t also need special licenses to run this business.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this field are:

Michelle Lawrence

Karen Sue Chen

20. Products and eCommerce Packaging Designer

Product packaging designers develop eye-catching labels and product packages that meet safety and packaging regulations. In addition, they often work closely with the marketing team to create designs that reinforce the brand’s messaging.

Analysts expect the market size of packaging design services to reach nearly $32 billion in 2030, up from $21.9 billion.

Earning potential: $37,000 to $80,000 annual base salary (the average salary for packaging designers in the U.S. is $51,000 yearly)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, 99Designs, and self-hosted options.
Estimated start cost: $62 to $23,259.

Target Audience and Value

Getting gigs is the most challenging aspect of this business. Some sources you might want to explore are:

1. Brick-and-Mortar Retail outlets

Image credit: Johns Byrne

Approach and pitch your packaging designs to nearby brick-and-mortar stores. Also, run paid adverts to reach more businesses and direct them to your website to schedule a discovery call—a typical packing designer charges between $80 to $100 per hour.

2. eCommerce Stores

Image credit: PakFactory Blog

Many eCommerce stores fulfill their orders. Work with them to design custom packaging to ship their orders. You can reach them online via paid and organic promotions.

The $80 to $100 hourly rate is the competitive fee for designers in this niche.

3. Marketplaces

Product packaging designers on Upwork take between $20 to $100 per hour. Also, pro-verified designers on Fiverr earn $500 to $1,000 per project. So, there is so much money to make from this channel.

How to Launch

Start your product packaging design business in these simple steps:

Study the different product packaging needs to understand your audience’s needs.
Select a niche for your business.
Build your portfolio.
Set your price.
Determine your positioning for differentiation.
Establish your brand identity.
Join marketplaces.
Create a website and join social media platform.

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This business idea doesn’t require any special certification and training to start. However, obtaining packing training, licenses, and certificates can set you apart from competitors.

So consider these options:

Certified Packaging Professional (CPP)
Certificate of Packaging Science (CPS)
Certificate of Mastery in Packaging Management (CMPM)

Also, check with local authorities for necessary licenses.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some businesses and professionals in this space are:

Johns Byrne

Paul Virian

21. Publish Books and eBooks

Publishing books and eBooks is an excellent way to monetize your design skills.

A career as an author is financially rewarding, and the future also looks promising. A report by Technavio shows that the electronic books market will grow by $6.93 billion between 2020 and 2030.

Also, published books don’t have recurrent expenditures. So you have nothing to lose exploring your options in this field as a designer.

Earning potential: 70% on every book sold on Amazon Kindle
Top marketplaces: Amazon, Lulu, Apple Books, Kobo, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $0 to $4,000.

Target Audience and Value

You can write books based on your transferable skills, case studies, or the latest trends. Some of the platforms to self-publish your work are:

1. Amazon

Amazon receives over two billion monthly visits, making it the biggest platform to self-publish books and eBooks. Most books on the marketplace are available at $2 to $30. So, some authors earn between $5,000 and $8,000 each month.

2. Apple Books

Self-publishing on Apple Books lets you target a wide range of Apple device users, including CarPlay and Apple Watch. Apple has sold over two billion iOS devices, and over 100 million people use Macs worldwide. So the Apple Book brings so much to the table.

3. Online bookstore

You can sell through your website if you drive enough traffic to the online store and fulfill your orders. Your online store allows you to set your price, control your messaging, target your ideal audience and manage your customer list.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to turn this small business idea into a reality:

Pick a niche
Choose a topic and write your book or eBook
Edit your book or hire a professional editor
Design your book cover or outsource
Format the book or hire a freelancer
Choose a self-publishing platform and upload your book
Create an online community for your books business
Hire a social media manager and digital marketing services to promote your books

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training or certifications to start a book or eBook publishing business. However, getting and flaunting them can boost your credibility and show off your expertise. Also, advanced book publishing and formatting courses can help you create better-looking and attractive books.

You can find and take these courses on Udemy, Coursera, and Alison.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some designers in this space are:

Debbie Millman

Ellen Shapiro

22. Printing Press

The printing business is financially rewarding. About 25,000 U.S. companies are into commercial printing. They generate nearly $900 billion in revenue annually, more than the Saudi Arabian GDP and almost half that of Italy—the EU’s third-largest economy.

Earning potential: $65,000 for operators to $100,000 a year.
Top marketplaces: Yelp, Craigslist, Nextdoor, and Yellow Pages.
Estimated start cost: Industry leaders reported spending $146,000 to $400,000.

Target Audience and Value

Set up your printing press to target these audiences:

1. Businesses

BluSky ETO

The global commercial printing market is lucrative and has impressive long-term growth potential. You can have a slice of the pie by providing printing services to businesses like marketing collateral, catalogs, magazines, product labels, and packaging.

The U.S. has over 10 million companies, so you always have options.

2. Political and Social Campaigns

Image credit: ABC News

Thousands of political and social campaigns happen in the U.S. yearly, making campaign posters and signage printing a thriving business.

The 2022 market size for printed signage alone is $33.9 billion, and analysts expect the number to grow at a CAGR of 2.8% to reach $40.08 billion in 2028.

3. Authors

The number of books published yearly in the U.S ranges from 500,000 to one million, excluding self-published authors. In 2021, the country sold over 826 million physical books, that’s nearly three books per citizen on average. So you can earn big printing books.

How to Launch

Launch your printing shop in ten steps:

Define your target market and develop your business model
Rent office space in a nice location
Register your business to make a legal entity
Open a business bank account and set up accounting for the business
Check with local authorities for the necessary permits and licenses
Secure a business insurance
Purchase and set up the equipment you need for the print shop
Create a logo for a unique brand identity
Develop your business website and join social media platforms
Develop your marketing plan and run promotions

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

A printing press doesn’t require any special training and certification to start.

However, you should comply with OSHA requirements and regulations. Also, check with the local authorities to learn other necessary environmental, health, and safety requirements.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the businesses in this space are:

RRD Printing

Taylor Printing Solutions

23. Website Design Services

The 2022 total number of web developer and digital interface designer jobs in the U.S. is around 200,000.

However, Statista believes the number will reach 229,000 in 2032, while the total number of web developers and designers will grow to 205,000, so there’ll be enough jobs to go around.

Earning potential: $3,000 to over $75,000 per project.
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer.com, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $62 to $36,061.

Target Audience and Value

Model your small business web development idea around these markets to have a home run.

1. Local Businesses

Image credit: Unsplash

Small businesses and eCommerce stores drive the growing demand for business websites. A web development agency’s custom services cost between $15,000 and $30,000. But more complex site design projects can go as high as $75,000.

2. Charities

Image credit: Unsplash

Charities are another excellent option for web designers. Most of them need simple websites. So you’ll be looking at making $2,000 to $5,000 per project as a freelancer. And you can command up to $30,000 if you’re an agency.

3. Marketplaces

Verified professional web designers on Fiverr walk away with $100 to $5,000 after each project. They priced some of their premium packages up to $12,000.

Web designers on Upwork charge between $25 and $150 per hour for their services.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to start a web design agency:

Define your target market
Rent an office space if you wish to run an out-home agency
Register your business to make it a legal entity
Secure a business insurance
Choose a business name and create a unique logo
Develop your business website and set up social media accounts
Build your portfolios
Create a marketing plan and run promotions

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

Once you have the requisite skills, you don’t need special training or certification to launch a web design service. However, enrolling in project management certification courses can help you seamlessly manage your workflow and customer expectations.

Other necessary certifications are:

User experience and usability courses to build sites with frictionless navigation
Search Engine Optimization certifications for search-friendly designs
Conversion rate optimization courses to create high-converting websites
Graphic and 3D animations to create stunning graphics

Example of Businesses in this Space

Check out these businesses to see what other people are doing in this space:

MWD Web Design Inc.

Colton J.

24. Graphic Design Academy

A graphic design academy might cost you an arm and a leg, but it’s lucrative, as most soft skill training centers.

Data shows that the global soft skill training market reached over $24 billion in 2020, and market analysts believe the number will grow by a CAGR of 12.3% between 2022 and 2027 to reach $47.2 billion in 2027.

Besides the financial rewards, a career as an instructor can be fulfilling. You should consider this career path if you have a passion for teaching or other transferable skills to share with others.

Earning potential: $39,000 to $93,000 yearly total pay (average salary is $56,438 per year)
Top marketplaces: Yelp
Estimated start cost: $14,491 average startup cost for skills training center

Target Audience and Value

Some of the target audiences for this business idea are:

1. Design Teams

Image Credit: Medium

Approach nearby businesses and show them how your training program can help advance the skills of their design team and save the company money. Then, negotiate your pay based on the value you are bringing to the table and what you think the business can afford.

2. College Students

Image Credit: Ms. Magazine

College students are excellent targets for graphic design training skills. Reach those that are interested in acquiring graphic design skills with paid ads.

You can run foundational, undergraduate, and postgraduate programs to cater to all categories of students. For example, some training schools charge up to $40,000 for postgraduate graphic design degree programs.

3. Graphic Designers

Professional graphic designers are always looking for ways to advance their design skills. You can target this segment with professional certification programs or bootcamps. You might also partner with reputable certifying bodies like Adobe to offer their certification programs.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to launch your academy:

Develop your training programs and modules
Set your training fees and payment plans
Rent a training center in a good location
Register your academy
Secure the appropriate licenses and insurance policy
Design your training center to set the right ambiance
Create a logo for the business
Design a website with online learning features to cater to out-of-location students
Set up your social media presence
Develop your marketing plan
Hire and train your staff

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You’ll need a license to run a degree-awarding training center.

Also, it would help if you had more than transferable graphic design skills as an instructor. Your students expect you to have professional certifications and specialized training from recognized bodies.

Some top options are:

Adobe Certified Associate
Graphic and Digital Design Certificate (Parsons School of Design)
Udemy or Coursera professional graphic design and animation courses
Master’s degree in graphic design

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some graphic design training centers are:

The New School

Certiport

25. YouTuber

YouTube is not just a video-sharing platform. It’s also the second-largest search engine after Google. Over 2.6 billion people use the platform once a month. They spend about one billion hours daily watching five billion videos.

A career as a YouTuber is financially rewarding but never a walk in the park.

Identifying your target audience and creating content that addresses their pain point is the most straightforward to succeed in this space.

Earning potential: $80 to over $55,000 monthly.
Top marketplaces: YouTube.
Estimated start cost: $150 to $1,100.

Target Audience and Value

You can target prospective graphic designers or designers with your video. Some ways you can monetize your YouTube content are:

1. YouTube Ads

Joining the YouTube partner program is the most popular option for monetizing YouTube videos through YouTube ads.

However, to qualify, you’ll need to rake in at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 video watch hours in the past year. Then, you can earn between $2 to $12 per 1,000 views.

2. Sell Merchandise or Courses

Another way to monetize YouTube videos is by selling merchandise. If you don’t have any physical product, you can promote your design courses before or after your YouTube videos and drop the purchase link in the video description.

3. Sponsored Videos

Image credit: Fran Patrillo.

Influencer marketing is reimagining how brands connect with their customers. YouTube is the second most popular platform for influencer marketing. Join the train if you have a large and engaged following.

Several brands can pay you $500 to $10,000 to recommend their products. Some may even pay up to six figures for a YouTube campaign if they are sure of the results.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to launch a career as a YouTuber:

Understand your audience and find your niche
Create a YouTube channel and brand yourself
Decide on the monetization strategy
Invest in good camera and gear
Acquire video editing skills and video editing software if you don’t want to outsource
Develop your content calendar
Create your first video and upload
Optimize your video for search engines
Run YouTube to promote your videos

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to become a YouTuber.

However, taking video editing courses can save you a lot of money. Also, if your business model centers on teaching your audience design skills, you should acquire professional certifications in the field to advance your credibility.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the designs YouTubers making a wave in the industry are:

4 The Creatives

Graphic Island

26. Newspaper, Magazine, and Catalog Design Agency

The global digital newspaper and magazine market, valued at $34.2 billion in 2021, will grow at a CAGR of 4.2% between 2022 and 2028 to reach $45.6 billion. The industry looks promising. You can register your agency and run it from the comfort of your home.

Earning potential: $35,000 to $67,000 base salary per year (the average is 48,289 yearly)
Top marketplaces: Fiverr, Upwork, Legit, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $2,300 to $5,200

Target Audience and Value

Some of the target audiences for this business are:

1. Newspaper and Magazine Companies

Image credit: Envato

Partner with newspaper and magazine companies. Offer to handle their designs to save them the cost of maintaining a full-time in-house team. Working with them can guarantee you a steady supply of jobs. Negotiate your pay per page or project.

Some magazine designers charge $50 to $90 per page.

2. Marketplaces

Join marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork to build your client base and portfolio incrementally. You can earn between $10 to $55 by selling your service on Fiverr. Some designers on Upwork charge about $30 and up to $750 per project.

Catalog designers on the platform earn between $20 and $100 per hour.

3. eCommerce and Retail Businesses

eCommerce brands and retail businesses are your largest audience. Most of them use product catalogs and magazines to spread their marketing messages.

You can approach them for custom designs or target them with customizable templates on your websites or third-party template marketplaces like Envato or Creative Market.

How to Launch

Follow these steps to launch this business at home:

Identify your target market
Choose a name and register the business
Get business insurance
Buy design software
Create a website and set up social media accounts
Hire and build your remote team
Design newspaper, catalog, and magazine templates to build your portfolio
Join marketplaces
Promote your business

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

You don’t need special training, certification, or licenses to run this business model. However, you can find relevant professional courses to advance your skills.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the professionals in this field are:

Corey F.

Luis L

27. Online Drawings and Handcrafts Sales

You can build a sustainable career selling custom drawings and handcrafts art collectors. Statista projected that the global arts and crafts market will grow from $35 billion in 2017 to $50.9 billion in 2024.

Besides the tempting financial rewards, the business lets you express yourself and bring your imagination to life.

Earning potential: $12.5 to $49.84 per hour (the average hourly rate is $20.97)
Top marketplaces: Etsy, Shopify, Fiverr, and self-hosted options
Estimated start cost: $200 to $1,200 for a personal computer and software.

Target Audience and Value

Build your business around art lovers. It helps you lower acquisition costs and maintains a high conversion rate. Some small business ideas in this field are:

1. Offer Custom Art

Image credit: Yasmeen A

You can make a lot of money creating custom art for clients. Since they’re tailor-made and provide personal significance and uniqueness, most collectors will be okay with paying more to have them on their walls.

Commissioned paintings from experienced artists cost $100 to $10,000.

2. Start Online Craft Store

Image credit: The Indian Express

An online store for your craft business lets you transform your passion and creativity into a business. Moreover, it’s lucrative so that you can earn a good living.

Candle making, jewelry, and headbands are some craft business ideas for your inspiration. Others include embroidery, home decor, sculpture, and decorative pillows.

Also, sell your crafts on Amazon, Etsy, and other marketplaces to reach more people.

3. Sell Your Drawing Online

Image credit: Artmajeur

Create stunning hand-drawn images and sell them on art marketplaces like Shutterstock and iStock. Also, sell on your website to cater to non-marketplace users.

Additionally, license your art to businesses for commercial use. It’s where the money is. You can make between $100 and $10,000 from licensing fees.

How to Launch

Follow these simple steps to launch your online drawing and handcrafting small business ideas:

Identify the gap in the market—decide what you’re going to sell
Define your target audience and pick a niche
Name and register your business
Create a logo and brand your business
Design your website and set up your social media
Create sales pages and join marketplaces
Plan your supply chain and order fulfillment
Make your crafts or sample drawings
Promote your business

Required Training, Certifications, or Licenses?

This business model doesn’t require special training, certification, or licenses. However, check with local authorities to learn what applies in your area.

Example of Businesses in this Space

Some of the design businesses making it big in this space are:

Cedar and Sail

Artisaire

How to Choose the Best Business Ideas as a Designer

We have explored some of the best small business ideas for designers. When you start your journey, choose options that match your passion and career objectives.

And remember to use this resource to start on the right footing.

Featured image via Unsplash.

The post 27 Best Small Business Ideas for Designers first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

21 novembre 2022/par Service comm.

How to Start a Web Design Agency in 28 Days: Week Four

Three weeks ago, you started a web design agency. Then over the last two weeks, you’ve taken a leap toward making your business viable by defining who you are as a business and putting together your documents.

This week, we’ll tie up loose ends so that you’re a fully functional agency able to pick and choose the work you accept.

Day 22: Pitch Deck

Over the next few years, you’ll be doing a lot of pitching: walking into a room and trying to convince someone to give you their business.

Here’s the good news: if you’re in the room, you’ve probably got the job. Stakeholders in successful businesses are usually very busy, so if they take the time to see you, they take you seriously.

The best way to allay their doubts and secure the work is to walk in with a pitch deck. Pitch decks are usually associated with startups but work well for design agencies.

Consider your pitch deck a portfolio formatted for business concerns. Include work samples if you have them, your elevator pitch, and as many provable facts about the service you offer as possible. Keep it short, and use it as a framework for meetings.

Day 23: Kick-Off Checklist

No one is going to suggest that web design is painting by numbers. You can’t knock out websites with a checklist as if you were doing your laundry. However, some stages of the process are repetitive, one of which is the kick-off process.

Far too many projects are derailed by a slow start. You’ve probably agreed to a deadline, and making sure you have everything you need to make progress is vital in hitting that deadline.

As with any repetitive process, creating a document, in this case, a checklist, is advisable to speed up this stage of your projects.

Day 24: Find Some Backup

Whether starting as a freelancer, in a partnership, or with a skeleton crew, you can’t do everything yourself.

This doesn’t mean hiring staff — that is a costly step that you should only consider if you have the financial resources to guarantee a stable cash flow.

Instead, reach out to your network or even freelance boards and see who’s available if and when you need assistance. For example, it is always helpful to have the contact details of an experienced server admin — you’ll only need them once or twice a year, but when you need them, they’re worth their weight in gold. It’s also worth having a couple of contacts who can do simple, time-consuming tasks like image processing.

Outsourcing means focusing on the parts of the job that maximise your profits. Don’t wait until you need them; start developing these networks now, so when the need does arise, you know who to reach out to.

Day 25: Website

OK, 25 days in, it’s finally time to build your website. Yes, in one day.

You already have your elevator pitch, logo, and the niche you intend to target. You also have the terms of service and a link to your social media. That’s everything you need to get a simple business card design online.

Naturally, as you begin to onboard clients, you will develop a portfolio that will allow you to improve your site. But right now, you need a presence quickly.

You picked up your hosting on day 19; today’s the day to put something on it.

Day 26: Client No. 1

The biggest challenge for any web design agency is acquiring good, paying clients.

I know an agency that burnt through seed money for a whole year, waiting for clients to knock at the door. I also know an agency that was only founded because one high-profile client turned up at the creative director’s dorm room. Those are the extremes, but no matter your story, your clients will define it.

Way back on day eight, you wrote a list of potential clients. Today, you’re going to approach one. Your goal is to set up a meeting at which you can sell your service to them. You don’t have to telephone or visit in person; it’s OK to email or message them on social media if those are your strengths. Then, invite them for coffee and an informal chat at the coffee shop you picked on day twelve.

Most of you are going to get knocked back. That’s the nature of the business. The key is to get back on the horse. Try to learn from your approach, and take steps to improve next time.

Your first cold approach is nerve-racking; if it isn’t, then maybe you aren’t taking this seriously enough. But I can promise that approach number two is more easier, and by the time you’ve done a few dozen, you may even start to enjoy it.

Day 27: Quit

A wise man once said, “You’ll never make money working for someone else.” Twenty-seven days ago, you started this process, hoping to seize control of your destiny.

The last step is to quit whatever dead-end job you’ve been tolerating up until now. You don’t need to burn your bridges; you don’t need to punch the boss and kiss your office crush on the way out the door; you do need to take a mental break from your old life to focus on the future.

If you can’t afford to quit, then it’s fine to quiet quit. Just make sure you find the mental space to give your agency the attention it needs.

Day 28: Rest

Over the past four weeks, you’ve manoeuvred yourself into the best position possible to launch your new agency. You’ve decided who you are, who you plan to become, and how you’ll communicate that to the world.

Whether this plan is viable long-term is entirely up to you. You make your own luck in this life.

Today, do what you always do on the last day of the week and rest. Then, tomorrow, you’ll start forging your path to success.

Featured image via Pexels.

The post How to Start a Web Design Agency in 28 Days: Week Four first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

31 août 2022/par Service comm.

How to Start a Web Design Agency in 28 Days: Week Two

Last week, you started a web design agency. This week we’ll help you take the next steps towards making your agency viable.

The first couple of days were spent on legal checks and taxes. After that, you’ve picked a niche to specialize in, an awesome name, worked out how much you’re going to charge, and set up business accounts. Then, finally, you took a day off to prepare for this week. (If you skipped any of those steps, go back and catch up now.)

This week, we’ll start defining who you are as an agency. The process is the same as last week: focusing on one task per day. By the end of the week, who you are as an agency will start to become apparent.

Day Eight: Choose Your Clients

For any new business, the temptation is to grab any work you can get to keep the money flowing in. However, chasing money is counter-productive; you end up clutching at opportunities instead of taking a targeted approach.

Last week you selected your niche. Today, you will choose the clients you intend to work for. And we mean that literally: draw up a list of target clients.

Do you want to work for Nike? Fine, add it to the list. Think Apple would look good in your portfolio? Add it too. Make sure you add a few that are more realistic but don’t aim too low.

By the end of the day, you should have a spreadsheet of companies to target.

Day Nine: Tech Stack

Now you know who your agency is planning to work for, it’s time to identify the technology stack you’re planning to offer them.

It may be that you will be a full-service agency handling everything from branding to custom apps. Alternately, you may perform better handling one aspect of the job well and outsourcing the rest.

However you plan to approach the actual work, you’ll need a full-stack solution for most clients. That means brand design, web design, marketing and content, front-end code, content management, and SEO.

The best advice is to focus on your existing strengths and develop a skill to an expert level. Then, once you’ve done so, you can expand sideways to plug any gaps.

For example, moving into WordPress development is a good option if you already know HTML and CSS. On the other hand, if you’re more design orientated, a site builder approach using SquareSpace or Shopify might be a better fit.

Technologies change, so you shouldn’t expect your core technologies to stay with you throughout your career. But these are the solutions you’ll become an expert at over the next few years.

Day Ten: Define Your Red Lines

All companies have brand values, whether they define them or not. So at this stage, it’s more practical to look at what you’re not prepared to do.

Everyone has red lines that they’re not prepared to cross. Would you work for a pornography company? Would you work for a radical political group? Would you work for a controversial religion? Would you work for a company with a patchy human rights record? Would you work for big pharma?

There’s no right and wrong answer to this; it all comes down to your personal values. However, you will be asked to cross the line at some point. It’s easier to say “no thanks” if you know where the lines are in advance.

If you don’t have red lines, that’s valid too. But be aware that once you’ve crossed a line, that line will stay crossed; you’ll attract more of that type of work, which will define you.

Day Eleven: Write Your Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a short couple of lines that can be delivered to a prospective client on a (hypothetical) elevator ride between two floors.

When someone asks you what you do, “Um, well, you know, mostly just websites and stuff.” Is not a good answer.

Your language should be natural, non-technical, and self-assured. Something like, “We help startups like yours outperform their competitors on Google.”

Once you’ve settled on a good elevator pitch, practice it over and over. Write it on a post-it and stick it to your monitor, screenshot it and use it as your phone’s wallpaper. Say it over and over in the shower, in the car, and in the elevator. Learn it so that when someone asks, it trips off your tongue effortlessly.

Day Twelve: Pick a Coffee Shop

You don’t need fancy offices to start a web design agency, and in fact, the first agency I worked for tanked primarily because they couldn’t afford their office lease.

People are used to remote work now, and most meetings can be conducted by video call. But you will still find clients who like to meet one-to-one, especially for a kick-off meeting.

It’s always best to visit a client’s premises if you can, but coffee shops are a good alternative, and every new agency should have one.

Consider your coffee shop your meeting room. If you’re lucky enough to be in a town or city where there are a few to choose from, try to pick one that matches your values: quirky and independent, efficient and corporate, etc.

Check when the quiet times are (you don’t want to be shouting over the buzz of rush-hour orders). Make sure you know where the nearest parking or public transport is so that you can direct clients. Ensure the wi-fi is OK, preferably free, and find out the password in advance.

Day Thirteen: Start Your Branding

Two weeks in, you finally get to do something creative: design your logo.

If you’ve been matching days to the days of the week, then it’s Saturday. That should give you more time for this task, but don’t go to town. Your logo is going to change and evolve. It is far too easy to get wrapped up in tiny details like logos and lose sight of the bigger picture.

Remember: no logo, no matter how cool, ever won a pitch.

If you’re a designer, you probably ignored us and started the logo on day one. In fact, you’ve probably had something knocking around in a sketchbook for a while.

If you’re not a designer, type out your name in a geometric sans-serif, tighten the tracking, and call it a day.

Either way, by the end of today, you’ll have something that fits your niche, ties into your elevator pitch, and appeals to your target clients.

Day Fourteen: Rest

Hopefully, you learned the benefits of a rest day last week, and this week was easier as a result.

It’s time to do whatever you do to relax. If you can, do it outside away from your computer. Create some distance and recharge your batteries.

Next week, we’ll start putting together the assets you will use to present your business professionally.

Featured image via Unsplash.

The post How to Start a Web Design Agency in 28 Days: Week Two first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

Actualités, Méthodes et organisation des process IT

10 août 2022/par Service comm.

Should You Invest in a Digital Transformation Office?

Undertaking a digital transformation journey is easier said than done. Efforts to transform an organization often face significant challenges, including integration of legacy platforms with modern technology stacks, the skill sets required for implementation, and an organizational structure that can communicate and embrace change. According to a 2020 study by the Boston Group, 72% of digital transformations fail, falling short of their objectives, and are often met with radical consequences after.

With so much at stake when it comes to transforming an organization, Adecco Group’s Sabine Laute suggests that a dedicated transformation office could be a viable solution.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

20 juillet 2022/par Service comm.

20 Best New Websites, July 2022

Welcome to our guide to the best new websites this month. If subtle, minimal sites are your thing, either look away now or prepare to have your preconceptions challenged because this month, we are going maximalist.

Lots of elements fill up the screen, lots of color, lots of big fonts, lots of illustration, and plenty of in-your-face personality. This is a tricky style to get right: if elements are not chosen and placed well, the result is simply annoying clutter. If done well, the result can be impactful and memorable.

[And Happy Independence Day to all of our American readers!]

screenagers & the incredible machine

screenagers & the incredible machine’s site puts illustration front and center, creating a look that evokes various mystic ideas. It sounds strange, but it works.

Anna Jóna

This prelaunch teaser site for Anna Jóna café and cinema has an elegant yet modern feel.

Hardpops

This site for Hardpops (alcoholic) ice pops takes its cue from the product flavors, and the bright, fruity colors give it a real zing.

Daniel Spatzek

Daniel Spatzek’s portfolio site takes the rules-are-made-to-be-broken approach. The result has attitude and a nice touch of humor.

Ander Agency

Plenty of color, large type, and illustration make a bold statement for Ander Agency’s single-page site.

Pretty Damn Quick

Colorful illustration on this site for Pretty Damn Quick’s Shopify app creates an impression of friendliness about the company and ease of use of the product itself.

Know Your Beetle

Know Your Beetle is a showcase page for Kaploom creative studio. Color and type combinations make a big impact.

WTFFF

While many of the sites featured here have a sense of fun about them, WTFFF tackles a somber subject: online sexual abuse and harassment. Artwork and audio create an immersive experience in which five young people share their experiences with the aim of helping others.

BelArosa Chalet

Full-screen illustrations with a hint of vintage style create an ideal impression of what future guests can expect from the currently under construction BelArosa Chalet.

Paradam

The color scheme on the Paradam site is on the pastel end of the scale, but there is still lots going on to entrance the eye.

Tilton Group

The scrolling color panels on the Tilton Group site are a thing to behold.

Fresco

Fresco uses a standard layout design, but the colors and quarter-circles instantly lift it.

Museum of Pink Art

Museum of Pink Art is an immersive experience celebrating the color pink. Undoubtedly worth a virtual wander around.

Icons by Menu

OK, this somewhat more minimalist site slipped through the net, but Icons by Menu is so pleasing to look at and use that we had to include it.

GlareDB

With an illustration that could be ideally at home on an Arthur C. Clarke book jacket and that rich, deep red background, this site for Glare DB is a world away from what might be expected.

Alex Beige

While the overall style and accent illustrations are pleasing on Alex Beige’s site, the Our Team section is guaranteed to raise a smile and stick in the user’s mind.

Snickerdoodle

Careful spacing means busy elements (like on scroll animated illustrations) don’t become overwhelming on the Snickerdoodle site.

Grisly’s Cosmic Black

The site for Grisly’s Cosmic Black is fun, bright, and joyful. Plus, it’s nice to see an alcohol site going a bit further than the usual ‘drink responsibly’ and actually providing helpful links.

The Perennial

Not just floorplans and (lots of) images, but virtual walkthroughs too. The Perennial doesn’t feel like a standard office building.

The post 20 Best New Websites, July 2022 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.