Читать книгу Start & Run a Creative Services Business - Susan Kirkland - Страница 36

The marketplace for creative services is like a big fishbowl. There’s only so much food in the bowl and everybody has to eat. You will be competing with some pretty big fish, so take a careful look at your experience and the competition before you decide who to tackle.

For various reasons, clients in the bank business like to see samples of bank brochures while clients in the grocery business want to see food brochures. This stems from the perception that their industry is particular and requires a sensitive eye. It can be hard to communicate to these clients that design is the careful manipulation of white space, whether you’re moving copy that supports pictures of suits at a conference table or pickles in a jar. Even fewer clients realize the real art in scripting a phrase that moves an unwilling purchaser or grabs the attention of a customer for their product or service.

Will you be the right freelancer to handle the challenges and tight cornering at high speeds required by this client? Depending on how fluid you can be in adapting to clients’ needs, you might be. One ad campaign I developed for an emerging medical products manufacturer said just that, “We adjust to our customer’s needs like water adjusts to the shape of its container.” If you can communicate this attitude when you meet a potential client, you’ve just discovered one of the secrets of landing the job. As a freelance designer,

I have designed ads for unusual products such as bull semen, everyday items such as washers and dryers, a calendar for an architectural firm, a very different kind of calendar for the ladies’ club Chippendales, and a myriad of conservative corporate publications. I’ve done editorial illustrations, margin cartoons in a reference book, and a series of full-color ads for a couple of skyscrapers just to name a few. One thing for sure: I’ve never been bored. If you enjoy variety, you will be limited only by your fears and unwillingness to reach out. If you have the courage, an endless variety of projects await you.