Are you looking for places to find freelance graphic design work? Below, I’ve listed five good sites to start checking today.
If you aren’t already hitting these sites up for graphic design work, you should add them all to your list. We’ve found some good opportunities for graphic designers on all of them in the past.
While there are many, many places that you could go apart from what’s here, I will focus on five that are pretty promising.
Top 5 Places to Find Freelance Graphic Design Work
1 – Upwork
Upwork is a great place for beginners to find graphic design work. It is international and very competitive, but you can set your prices low in the beginning.
You bid for jobs on Upwork. So, if you are generally comfortable on freelance bidding sites, then you should be okay with this one too.
The first step is to sign up and create a portfolio. It also wouldn’t hurt to take a few tests to prove yourself.
We have a review of Upwork with lots of detail if you want more info before creating an account.
You can go here to browse the graphic design jobs currently open on the platform.
2 – 99Designs
A favorite of almost everyone that I talk to is 99Designs. There seems to be a variety of graphic design work there.
One problem is it is highly competitive due to its good reputation. It may not be the best place for a beginner, but you can always try.
It mostly operates as a contest for designers to brainstorm ideas for a client. The client will pick the winner and then reward them with the contest money.
Per the FAQ, “Rates and rewards vary depending on the type of design work. You’ll be paid in three business days (or less once you become a Top Level designer).”
Go here to learn more about graphic design work with 99Designs.
3 – Authentic Jobs
Authentic Jobs is a job board site which has shared jobs for Facebook, Apple, ESPN, and the New York Times. Many of the opportunities listed pay well.
There is a variety of work which also includes jobs for web developers and illustrators.
There are also regular jobs and other freelance work listed. While this may not be he best place for a beginner to find graphic design work, it may still be worth an occasional look.
Most of the jobs are for US residents.
You can go here to browse the board.
4 – LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of our go-to job search sites here at Real Ways to Earn. Overall, we tend to have a lot of success finding legit opportunities rather than scams which seem to be widespread on other job boards.
To find freelance graphic design work on LinkedIn, just visit their jobs page and put “graphic design” or “freelance graphic design” into the search field.
You can leave the location blank, or set it to your country of residence.
Then, browse through the opportunities and begin applying! You can also use their other filters to narrow things down to specifically what you are looking for.
Go here to search freelance graphic design jobs on LinkedIn.
5 – FlexJobs
FlexJobs is one of the best sites to use for finding freelance remote jobs and learning about new companies that hire remotely.
Most of what I see there when I check the listings pays well above minimum wage and are known companies.
The great thing about FlexJobs is that they guarantee ALL listings are scam-free. They list hundreds of jobs — all of which are either remote or flexible in nature — five days per week.
There are also no ads on the site!
Because there are no ads, they do charge a membership fee since that is the only way they can see a return on their job-searching efforts.
But it’s cheap — you can get access for a few weeks for just $2.95 for 14 full days!
If you sign up and don’t like it, it’s very easy to cancel right away so you are not billed again. You can do it any point during your 14 days of checking things out.
Go here to check out FlexJobs.
Bonus Tip – Network, Network, Network!
While it may not be anything you want to bother with, it’s possible to get great results by simply trying to network within your circle of friends, family, co-workers, and so forth.
Put together a portfolio of your past work to show people what you can do. You never know what your friends, family, or even the company you currently work for may need as far as graphic design work.
If you are successful and get gigs with people you know, then you are more likely to find future work via word of mouth.
As always, good luck!
Leisa Good has worked in the corporate world as well as side hustled and operated a virtual assistant business full-time since 2006.. She wrote the eBook on that one! She is also a PFYP certified career coach and the owner of the blog, Powerfully Purposed For Success. She empowers folks 50-ish to find fun, flexible, and financially rewarding work both now and into retirement. However, this time it will be work/life on their terms.