Gaining exposure as a designer
It is common to feel stuck as a creative, and feel as if you work is not getting recognised.
Everyone will have this obstacle on their journey, but there sure is solutions to this problem.
Here are several tips on how to gain exposure as a designer, in whatever creative field you are in.
Create
As designers, creating is in our nature. Having the need to create daily should be the norm as it brings benefits for you such as improving your craft and confidence in your field.
Whether you are creating client work, free work or personal work, its always best to produce at least one piece a day. You may find it difficult to do so due to a ‘creative block’, however if so, there are many resources out their that can help you overcome that obstacle such as pre-made briefs for whatever creative field your in:
You can also sign up to creative challenges which you receive emails every day. For more information about this, have a read through the previous post ’How to stay motivated as a designer’
Social Media
Can design be considered a good piece of work if you're the only one that has seen it?
When creating, it is always necessary to share your work with the world as others may be able to see things that you have missed. It also allows you to inspire others and you will be surprised as to how many people it may help, such as designers who are going through a creative block or clients who are seeking a particular design.
Instagram, dribble and Behance are excellent platforms to share your work. When used correctly, huge exposure can be gained especially through platforms such as Behance due to a ‘feature’.
(Read more on previous blog ‘How to get featured on Behance’)
Additionally, not only will you gain exposure within the design community, there is also a high chance that you will also receive client work.
Blogging
A lot can be said by a designer, but their work may limit them to do so. Blogging is certainly one of the useful things to do as you can share content with other people; clients or fellow designers.
Blogging allows your thoughts to be heard from all over the world rather than just your design being seen. If done correctly, you website is more likely to be found on search engines which will lead to greater exposure.
You can talk about anything when you are blogging, as long as you are aware of your message and who your audience is.
Collaborate
Iron sharpens Iron.
Working with other designers is defiantly a wise thing to do as you can improve your skills as well as improving your process and eye for design.
Once in a while, speak with fellow designers and see what projects you can produce together. Platforms such as Behance encourage collaborations as they have a ‘teams’ feature that can be used on their website.
As mentioned in ‘How to get featured on Behance’, when carrying out a collaborated project, Behance posts the project on all accounts that were involved.
This is very useful especially if you are collaborating with an individual with a greater amount of followers. Typically, there followers will view the joint project and potentially follow your work.
Awards
Believe it or not, design awards are extremely valuable as not every designer may achieve one. receiving an award is certainly a big milestone in your creative journey and it may take you several years to get there.
However, if that is your next step, there are a few awards you can set out to achieve. Logo Wave is a logo award platform that recognises and rewards the best international design agencies and freelances.
The platform is also endorsed by several big names; David Airey, Louise Fili, Chris Do & Alina Wheeler. Another platform is WOLDA - Worldwide logo design awards, aims to bring logo designs created worldwide and curate only the best.
Overall, If you are in the early years as a designer, It may be best for you to get down the habit of creating every day and even challenging your self to sign up to a daily email design challenge.
Also, creating an Instagram account for creative purposes may be a good idea as it will help with your confidence when producing work. If you have done so already, Behance is then possibly the next stage as collaborations and features can give you huge exposure from designers and possibly clients.
Lastly, if you are more experienced, then awards such as Logo Wave may be the next step for your design career as not many designers have been awarded.