There are many keys to making your graphic design skills profitable. However I think without a doubt the most important is your speed as a designer. If you are fast enough at what you do you will not have to charge an exorbitant amount of money for each design that you produce.

At the same time as you enhance your speed, you will not be able go charge by the hour–because you’ll be producing multiple projects an hour. Instead as you charge by the project you will have the opportunity to make more money and touch more prices.

This may sound great but how do you actually increase hour design speed? We’ll look at some tips to help you get faster:

1. Learn your software. If you’re a designer using your software should be second nature to you. It should be so instinctive that you aren’t even thinking about your keystrokes.

2. Know what your software CAN do FOR you. As a designer, you will be severely limited by your knowledge or lack thereof of your software. You may be able to accomplish the same things but may be spending more time than necessary to complete a task. Having a thorough knowledge of your software will increase your speed abudantly.

3. Rough it out. You will save time in the long run if you create a draft of your design while the ideas are flowing before going back and fine tuning the details. If your typesetting- get the text flowed and them go back and align. You’ll see a big difference in your work time.

4. Time yourself. Having an idea of what you can and cannot accomplish in a given amount of time will make a big difference to you as you set deadlines and make commitments.

Each of these keys will help you to speed up the design process. However, you will need to be aware and walk the fine line between speed and sloppiness. Never let a client have to clean up your messes or pay for your mistakes. Do your work with excellence and understand that each project is different and will require different skills and time.

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