How to get started as a Graphic Designer in 2026

Don't tell anyone, but these are the 10 secrets to getting started as a graphic designer.

designer. Number one is stealing. Uh, think of it more as appropriation uh rather than plagiarism. You find things that you like and then try and recreate them using your own content and your own constraints. Uh, steal, steal, practice, practice. Our man Picasso said, uh, good artists copy and great artists steal. And that's what I do even now when I'm starting new design projects. I do some stealing. Stealing is about exposing yourself to the best things others have done and bringing those into your own work. Uh it's really good to think of design as more like a relay race uh where you pick up the best parts of design and you run those into the future. It's kind of stealing a little bit theory. Uh you need to learn

the theory. Uh there are six basics you need to learn and practice especially if you didn't go to design school or art school. Number one is visual hierarchy. I think this is probably the most important. Then you got things like balance, symmetry, asymmetry, contrast, light versus dark, uh big versus small, uh spacing, repetition, uh white space. Um these will come naturally to you as you become a more mature designer. But at the beginning you can take a big shortcut by understanding the principles so that you can use them and also understand them so that you can break them in your work.

Tools. Uh don't make it hard to get your ideas out. Uh learn the tools of the trade. Uh there is so much to pick from these days in terms of software. You've got Adobe, Affinity, Figma, Canva. It doesn't matter what tool you're using. They're all really good. Um, I've got courses on all of them at Bring Your Own Laptop or you can trudge your way through YouTube as well. That's totally doable. Um, but the other thing to remember is to not forget to add AI learning to your diet. Um, AI is making it's changing the way I work as a designer. Um, making me a lot more efficient. Networking. Do not do this on

your own. It is way too scary. Uh, designers can be this like weird kind of introvert. I can feel it. That's you, right? I can see you in there. You need three types of people in your network. You need people like way ahead of you that you can learn and grow from. You need people at the same level as you that you can kind of like compare notes with and commiserate with. You also need people that are behind you that you can lift up and help. For me, I need all three of those people and they continually help me be a better designer. Uh, but you're like, "Hey, where do I find these people, Dan? " It's a good question. I think the quickest way to build out a network these days is to join something like an online design community. There are loads of them out there. You just got to find one that you like and works for you. Um, people that I know and like and trust are people like Chris Doo, uh, James Barard, uh, Philip Anderson. I've got an online community called Bring Your Laptop Plus. um check them out and find one works for you. I think that's like the biggest shortcut to building out your network these days. Other good ways are joining design meetups. Um there's something called creative mornings as well and there are plenty of design conferences around the world. Just don't do it all on your own in your own head. That is learning design on hard mode. Your growth will come from this network and your next job probably will as well.

co-creation. Uh it's a soft skill. Uh most new designers don't learn. I wasn't uh taught and when I did start using this skill, it made working with clients infinitely more enjoyable. Your clients/ stakeholders shouldn't feel like there are spectators in the stands. Uh they should feel like they're part of the process. And it kind of changes the dynamic from you trying to sell your ideas, which is hard, to uh you working together to solve a problem in a shared story. Now, I know that sounds super fluffy, but it's a fluffy skill. Um, for instance, here's five logos. Uh, tell me which one you like. That is like doing design to someone or at someone. Um, whereas here's five options. Um, I'm curious to think which elements that you like so we can work together to solve this problem. Um, that is doing design together. We're buddies. Clients don't pay for a logo, brochure, or website. They pay for an experience. Uh AI is good at spewing out a logo. Um the goal here is to make sure that they feel heard. They feel like they're part of the process. Uh they need to see themselves in the work. Pay rates. Uh

you got to know what you are worth. Uh it's easy to figure out. I'll show you how to do it. At least how to get started. All right. Open your favorite AI chat. I'm using chat GBT. Let's dictate this together. I live in Limmerch, Ireland. Uh, what is the average salary for a full-time junior designer? All right. Uh, here's a good average for a junior designer in Limmerch. There you go. But what if you're working freelance? I live in Limmerch Island. What is the hourly rate for a freelance junior designer? All right. So, we're between 20 and €30. Now, as a freelancer, it's often better to price jobs specifically rather than work for hourly rate or if you are doing regular work to have a retainer. So, for a day a week or 2 days a week, whatever it is. Let's say we got a job and it's going to take us 16 hours we think to do and let's times it by uh let's say €25 per hour. Okay? Going to be able to charge €400. Now, times it by 1. 25. So adding 20% because you were terrible at guessing hours. Okay? So you need a bit of buffer in there so you can price it at 500. Also check what the rates are in wherever your customer is in their city in their country. Find out what their average rates are and you might be if you're living in rural Ireland like I am. You might be able to go on the higher rate so that you're still valuable uh you know good value for them but you're getting the higher rate in your kind of local market. Uh, but you're scared about pricing. Uh, you might be not super confident in your abilities yet. You might be working for friends, friends or family. Uh, if you're working for family, you're going to get paid zero. It's going to be painful having flashbacks. Don't discount. Never ever. Okay? You shouldn't. But when you're new, it's hard not to. You're like, "Oo, this seems expensive. I'm going to lower the price. " Uh, if you're going to do it, h make sure that you do it not just in your head. Make sure you share it with them that you're discounting. Okay? Uh it might be friends, family, it might be your first client and make sure they're aware uh you know this is your normal rate. Okay? But because I like you, you're a friend, you're uh small business, I like what you're doing, I'm going to charge you this lesser rate for this job. It's to make sure that the value that they feel they're getting is the high price. Um, if you ever bought anything for $100 and well, it was $100 and you got it for 50 cuz of a discount, you still see the value of that thing for $100. So, make sure that they are aware of the value that you're delivering. If you are tempted to discount, don't discount. Also, don't forget to raise your rates every 1 to two years. Uh, your ability is growing. Also, you're being chased by inflation. Check what that is in your country. Okay. uh yeah, you need to go up because things don't get cheaper, they get more expensive. Also, for freelance work, uh regular work is often better than sporadic work. So, you might adjust your pricing there as well. Um this is more just like a guideline to get you started. If you're like, "No way I'm working for that. " That's totally all right. Uh you can use this to work off, but it's a good framework for getting started. first clients. This is probably

the hardest part of being a new designer. And the first job is probably not going to come from a job application uh or online job ad. Uh apply for those definitely uh but it's probably going to come from your network. It's going to be your friends, your family, and the network that we talked about earlier. And what you need to do is you need to start telling people that you are a graphic designer and that you are looking for work. That is easy for some, hard for others. But it's the Facebook personal uh your LinkedIn profile um it is uh emailing your friends and family. Those are the things that are likely to lead to your first projects. Now, a hack uh that I used to get my first job and you can use as well is to contact all the local design agencies, marketing agencies, sign writers, whatever you can find. H find out who the designer is and uh ask them for next week. Can I come to the office? Quick coffee. I've just got some questions. I'm new to the industry. I would love to get your advice. Make sure that it's not a I'm going to bring my portfolio because then it's a sales pitch and the burden's kind of on them. You want the burden to be on you. You want them to feel like they are helping you, which they are. Okay? And even if you don't get a job with them, it's that network building where they might know somebody in a week from now, a month from now that needs somebody that's in your position. Um, it is kind of I don't know, it's a little bit scary to do, but it's one of those hacks where you can get in front of the right people without uh making it really hard on them.

Portfolio, uh, it needs to be really good or as good as you can do. Uh, how many pieces should be in there? It should be, you need a minimum of like three good projects, ideally five or more. Uh, the other thing is to cut out the filler stuff. I see so many portfolios be like, "Oh, that's really good. That's really good. " and then it just gets worse and worse until there's some like doodles from high school in the back there. So keep your portfolio. It's better to have great work and they can assume everything is great then have a little bit of great work and then see the degradation and worseness as it goes through. So keep it nice and tidy. Uh the other thing is like how do you fill it when you've got no clients or you're just getting started. Uh a spec work or mock brief. You'll find those online. They are just like madeup briefs that you can then apply your skills to so you've got something for your portfolio. Okay, make sure you've listed it that it was a spec brief. Um, also those design communities that I talked about, a lot of them will have like bring your laptop. We have at the end of every course a distinction project which is a brief based on the skills that you've learned in the course. So you actually make something unique for your portfolio. Uh, the other one is free work. People say don't do free. If I was just getting started, I'd do free. It's not much different than a mock brief, okay? But it but it's better. You get to work with a client, all the frustrations. You get to practice your communication. Uh, think of it more like an investment. Don't do it if you don't have to, but if you really need that last piece for your portfolio and this client and this job, you know, you're not going to be able to charge for, I'd be in for it, especially if it's going to help me get my portfolio in order. Also, make sure you get your portfolio reviewed by somebody else, somebody more experienced than you, so that they can help uh cut projects, feel where there's holes, uh where projects need to be fleshed out a little bit more to help communicate what the idea was and what you were doing. Um, we do it at Bring Your Laptop Plus. We do regular portfolio reviews. Um, but just find somebody more experienced to go through it with you to find out where it could be better. And also, I would these days have an Instagram portfolio, a separate new account that just has your work on there. It's a really quick way for somebody to get to see what you're doing and what your work is. So, I do Instagram as well these days. Briefs. A

bad unclear brief is the curse of a design project. Uh, when I was getting started, I would just accept the brief or kind of draft up something or actually no brief at all. just verbally get the job and start doing it and then end up in the stressful like, "Oh, I thought they meant this project. " Okay. Often when clients have a brief or want something done, they don't think all the way through it about what's involved, what needs to be done. Okay? So, you need to do that at the beginning. So, it's a you problem if the bra uh brief is bad. So, there are loads of templates online, okay, for a brief. uh do a discovery session with your client where you grab all the information. Send them the brief back. Make sure there's deliverables, uh timings, revisions, all of that's included so everyone's clear. But know that it's going to be longer and more work than you think a brief should be. Okay? When the brief is clear, the job is clear. Actually, clear is the wrong word. A job is enjoyable and successful. Imposter syndrome. I

don't like that label. It's very negative. Uh the trouble is you get an extra dose when you are new to design. Uh but think of it more you got to reframe it. like creative gravity. It's kind of pulling you towards the future better version of yourself. The trouble is the bit of work that you've just done right in front of you is not that future self. It's that thing you just made. The bad news is that it doesn't really go away. I'm still sitting there looking at my work going, "Man, that What am I even doing here? The good news is that it is your superpower. Uh always looking for new and better ways to tackle the wriggly messy moving world that is good design. Uh and more good news is that you do get more comfortable with that feeling over time. Okay, that feeling is your superpower and it should probably never go away.

The bonus identity. uh not brand identity but you as a graphic designer identity. Okay, you might be uh just getting started. You might be new, you might be young, you might be changing careers, okay, and feel like you don't have permission to be a designer yet. You're allowed to be a designer. You just need to start calling yourself that. Okay? It is a club that requires no entry. Okay? There are no requirements. Everyone is allowed. If you feel like you still don't have permission yet, go to a course. Let's go and make something. Make anything, even if it's terrible. Okay? It is the worst that you're ever going to be. And you did it as a designer. So, I give you permission. You are a graphic designer. And welcome to the team.