Have you ever wanted a career as a graphic designer? Our team is always looking to hire the best and most creative graphic designers in the Sacramento region. Below are three tips on what we are looking for when we hire our graphic designers.

How can a designer ace a job interview?

Portfolio, portfolio, portfolio. As a designer, your portfolio does most of your interviewing for you. By the time you have a phone call or face-to-face interview, your future employer has already viewed your portfolio and liked it enough to move you to the next round. Without a strong portfolio you are not likely to have many face-to-face or phone interviews.

If you do make it to the next round and are invited for an interview, your main goal is to appear sane. This is not a joke. A lot of really talented artists/designers are also a little eccentric. This can make them difficult to work with. If you have been invited to interview for a design job and they have already looked at your portfolio, then you need to show them that you are not only talented, but also the kind of person that will be easy to work with.

Be relaxed and funny, assure them that you are comfortable working with others and that you aren’t personally offended when given edits to your designs. A lot of success in the workplace comes from just being the kind of person that other people like working with. Demonstrate that in your interview.

Do you have any tips for freelancing as a designer?

Not to be a broken record, but portfolio, portfolio, portfolio. As a freelance designer, your portfolio is your biggest asset. You need to set up a solid website that highlights the breadth of your work. Don’t just tell them about your design skills, show them. Organize the site well and make it easy for visitors to get a good idea of what kind of eye for design you have.

At the beginning of your career, you might not have a lot of designs to put on your portfolio site. It’s okay to fill in your portfolio with unpaid or sample projects, just make sure your site has more than one or two designs. Work for cheap or free to build up a solid portfolio of real client work, as that will always look better than projects that are clearly just samples.

After you have a solid portfolio and you start landing gigs, you need to do your very best on every project. The key to a successful freelancing career is building up a clientele that come to you over and over again, because they know you will deliver. Sometimes the smallest projects will lead to the longest, most profitable client relationships. Do your very best on every single project, no matter the size or fee.

Word of mouth will be your number one marketing tool as a freelancer. Do right by every client, every time, and they will share your name with other people. A solid freelance clientele isn’t built overnight, but if done right, it will be built strong and support you for years to come.

Any tips on how to be a successful designer in your field? (communication, best practices, the creative process, etc.)

Offer quick turn-arounds and up-front pricing. A lot of designers do not work quickly. If you are able to offer a good product with a quick turn (on edits as well), you will have a lot of repeat customers. Up-front pricing is also an essential part of establishing long term clients. Evaluate the project and give a bid for the cost, then stick to that cost. Even if the project goes a little over your initial estimate as far as time. Giving a customer an invoice they weren’t expecting is the best way to ensure that you will not be hearing from that customer again. Over the course of working with a client some projects will take longer than others, but in the end things have a way of averaging out. Don’t let one project ruin a client relationship.

Always be quick to respond to emails or calls from clients. Even if it’s to confirm you received their message and will get back to them soon. In this day and age of email/text/messenger, there is no excuse for going radio silent on a client. Be responsive all hours of the day, even on the weekends or evenings. That doesn’t mean that you necessarily need to turn around projects on evenings or weekends (but you probably should when you are first starting out), but it does mean that you are letting your clients know that you received their message and are attentive to it.

Overall, don’t let the stress from a high pressure or edit-heavy job push you to make bad choices with a client. Put your head down and do the work that each project demands. Keep your clients happy and they will trust you with projects for years to come.

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A website will help your business grow by utilizing your online presence to target and engage with new customers. A website is the backbone that supports all of your other user experience strategies, such as SEO, social media marketing, paid online advertising, and content marketing.

But putting together a website for your business can seem like a daunting task. You want your site to be an engaging and informative representation of your brand and company culture. You need images, content, and structure. But where do you start?

The user experience team at Capitol Tech Solutions has years of experience creating award-winning websites for large and small businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies. We partner with our clients to create eye-catching websites that fit their unique business goals. At the beginning of every project the CTS team outlines the different pieces that are needed for a successful website.

No matter the size of your company or your unique business goals, these four tips will get your website going in the right direction.

1. Graphic Material that catches the eye

Strong graphic material can stimulate aesthetic senses and increase connections with your viewers.

Logo: Your business identity starts with your logo in the highest resolution possible – preferably an .ai or .eps file type.

New images: People respond to professional and engaging imagery, so gather as many high quality images as you can and give them descriptive filenames. No images? No problem, check out istockphoto.com for countless royalty free image options.

Color scheme: Everyone loves a great color scheme. Do you have particular colors you like? Provide the CYMK or RGB colors. If not, describe what you want, or find images that demonstrate your preferences.

Are you inspired by other websites? Put together a list of websites you like and make note of what you like most about them. This gives a visual representation of what you like and can provide a good starting point for design ideas.

2. Create a strong website structure

As you begin thinking about your website and how your content will be distributed, it’s important to focus on a site organization that will help visitors easily find what they are looking for.

Sitemap: What content pages will your website contain? We call this your sitemap. Most sites have some unique and some common pages. Think about what needs to be on your site.

Homepage: A modern website homepage has 4 -7 sections of content. Think about short content and descriptive images that can go on your homepage.

Call to action: Once people get to your website, what do you want them to do? Contact Us, Register Now, Call Us, Sign Up, Learn More, Get More, and Buy Now are a few options.

3. Create engaging website content

Now that you have your images and website structure, you need to create the content for your website. Here are some helpful ideas:

Value statement: First impressions go a long way. What is the first message and imagery a site visitor will see when they see your website? Think about your elevator pitch and what your business does that will help you stand out and be more memorable.

About Us: Answer the critical questions of the who, what, why, where, and how of your organization. The prospective client should conclude from the About Us content that your organization is qualified to solve their needs or fill their requirements.

Services/Products: What services or products do you offer, and why are they better than your competition? Describe with common industry terms what you do, get specific client testimonials, and elaborate on why you are better than competitors.

News/Blogs: What has been happening in your business or industry? Come up with some ideas for recent stories and write them for use on your news or blog page.

Testimonials: Get real people to say in their own words why you are so great. If you can get permission to use their name, title, and photo, it makes the testimonial even more powerful.

Other pages: There is no limit to the number of pages on a website, so if you have more content, add it to the site.

4. Get technical with details

Our user experience agency looks forward to going on this journey with you

Creating a successful website for your business doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task. The award-winning team at CTS has years of experience partnering with businesses of all sizes to create engaging websites that convert visitors into customers. If you are ready to grow your business and expand your online presence reach out to CTS for a free website consultation.

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