A graphic designer visualizes the concepts and produces a ‘hard’ copy of the thoughts in digital format or paper sketch with the purpose of inspiring someone, generating a sale, motivating a customer, attracting the reader or simply conveying a message to its audience. The graphics may be in the form of a company logo, sales brochure, product information, marketing flyer, magazine page, advertisement contents or management reports. This article provides guidance about 7 Graphics Tools Students Can Use to Make Money

How Much Earning with Graphics Designing?

Depending upon your skill level and market exposure, there is a wide range of salary which you can earn from graphics designing. A less literate who has learned the basics at his own may be able to earn a few hundred dollars each month whereas a university graduate in the right domain with the right skill set may have starting monthly salary of  $3500 and will get increased $45,000 and $55,000 in the US. For further details about earning visit Bureau of Labor 

If your career plan is to join a professional organization and continue your career growth in Graphics Designing, you might need to undergo respective graduation program or achieve certification in certain design domain. However if you are thinking to work as freelancer (working for your own), you don’t need any academic certifications. You can launch your solo consultancy business by persistently watching YouTube videos (typically 30 minutes a day) until you become a guru and easily create impressive work to attract customers on fiverr.com or upwork.com

Initial Investment to Start:

Amount of initial investment depends on how far you want to go in Graphics Designing domain. For amateurs, there are plenty of free options available (covered in later part of this article) however for professionals with large scale work will have to purchase professional software such as Adobe®, CorelDraw®, Maya ® etc.

Professional Graphics Designing Tools

Following are some of the most powerful graphics tools to start with:

• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe After Effects
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Dreamweaver
• Autodesk 3ds Max
• Coral Draw
• Autodesk Maya
• InkScape

Here is a  detailed guide about different professional graphics tools can do.

7 Graphics Tools Students Can Use to Make Money

Surprisingly there are many online easy-to-use tools to create awesome graphics:

1- Canva

• Canva.com can be used to create posters, logos, marketing material, events, ads, brochures, student projects, Facebook covers, certificates, resumes, infographics, wall papers and many other graphics within minutes.
• Canva has 1000000 pictures (mostly royalty free). Canva offers wide range of fonts styles, shades, themes and elements. I am sure you will love it.
• Up to 10 team members can collaborate on one project. You can upload your pictures. Multiple export formats (jpg, pdf etc.) supported.
• You can use public graphics and modify according to your needs and color taste. Similarly you can make your graphics public so others can use them too.
• Tip: Don’t try Canva app on your mobile as it will not impress you much on mobile devices. Remember, Graphics Designing is a serious stuff, not just time pass.

2- Stencil

• Stencil is another cloud based online tool to create images.
• It has 1.3 million photos and 1 million graphics to choose from.
• 2000+ web fonts, 600+ templates and 100,000 quotes.
• You can design post images, headers, logos, ads and custom size pictures.
• Read this complete guide on how to use Stencil  

3-7 Additional Graphics and Designing Tools

If these are not enough, you can explore the below tools to satisfy your creativity:

• Quick and Easy Graphic Design – Snappa
• Online Photo Editor – DesignBol
• Free Online Photo Editor – Fotor
• Create Infographics, Presentations and Charts – Piktochart
• Photo Editor and Graphic Design – PicMonkey

How to Make Money?

Once you are confident about your creativity and skills, you can proceed for making accounts on global service platform such as Fiver and Upwork:

1- Fiverr

This is one of the largest platforms where you can earn minimum five dollars (fiver company name comes from this fact) for basic work (logo design, internet marketing, graphics etc.) and the highest you can charge your customer can be in thousands. Want to know more about Fiverr? Check this Complete Guide On how to Make Money on Fiverr. The guide covers signing up, creating profile, setting up your services (gigs) and promoting your work.

2- Upwork: 

Upwork is a well-known online community where individuals get connected with the businesses and collaborate remotely. You need to create compelling profile offering suitable service charges to attract businesses. If you get hired by any business and you deliver the services up to the mark, your “ratings” will increase which will lead to more business collaborations, means more money for you.

• A good resource on how to create Upwork Profile
• 7 Steps on how to make money on Upwork

Additional Guidance

Below is some additional guidance to put you on rollercoster.

1- YouTube Videos

Below YouTube videos provide detail guides about Fiverr and Upwork.

• How to make money on Fiverr – Complete Guide
• How to create a complete profile on Upwork – Tutorial in Urdu
• Complete Fiverr Training in Urdu/Hindi

2- Facebook Groups to Learn More

Joining Facebook groups is an awesome way to learn from others, ask questions and get answers, collaborate with businesses, get exposed to new techniques and enjoy many other learning benefits. Below are some groups you may consider to join: 

• Logo Design Club
• Graphic Design
• Graphix Designers
• Fiver Guide Facebook Group

Conclusion:

Freelancing is a billion dollar industry and yet many Asian countries are not yet fully exposed to such opportunities. So if you like this article, please share via WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and help others to join mainstream to achieve financial independence.