How to Become a Graphic Designer in Nigeria

Do you want to become a graphic designer in Nigeria? You are passionate about graphics design and you are thinking of learning it professionally to make money? Read this article to the end. In this article, I am going to be teaching you how you can learn graphic design and start your own graphic designing business in Nigeria.

In this article, I am also going to be teaching you easy ways you can get customers for your graphic designing business both in Nigeria and abroad and how you can start making profits from your business as soon as possible.

Is Graphic Design Profitable?

Graphic designing business in Nigeria is profitable for many reasons. The number one reason why it is profitable is that there’s no business whether small-scale, medium-scale, or large-scale in Nigeria that does not need graphic design or does not need the service of a graphic designer.

In fact, even non-profit organizations like churches, mosques, and other charity organizations also need the services of a graphic designer. All these businesses and non-profits need graphic designs to advertise or market their goods and services which are ads on billboards, posters, handbills, banners, and more.

Even the wedding industry needs graphic design because they need to make invitation cards for intending couples for their weddings, those who want to do birthdays also need graphic designs to make invitation cards.All these are offline needs of a graphic designer let’s now talk about the online needs of a graphic designer.

People need graphic designs to also run ads online. In fact, the need for a graphic designer is unlimited. This is why the graphic design business in Nigeria is a lucrative business.

Capital Needed to Graphic Design Business

The capital needed to start a graphic designing business or to become a graphic designer in Nigeria is very small which is why I call the business a low-capital business. With a laptop and the necessary skill, you can become a graphic designer. To become a graphic designer you just need to good laptop and the ability to learn. 

There are apps you will also need to install on your laptop as these apps will be used to create graphic designs. With a capital of N200k, you can become a graphic designer in Nigeria. This capital will be used to buy a laptop. This laptop could be fairly used or new it depends on you and the remaining capital will be used to learn graphic design.

Even if you do not want to learn a graphic design skill from a computer training center in Nigeria you will still need this remaining capital to learn the skill online. There are many online schools you can learn graphic design in Nigeria. Some schools are paid and some are free you just have to pick the one that is best for you based on your current status.

You can also become a graphic designer in Nigeria by learning graphic design from YouTube. Yes, there are many videos there that are created by professional graphic designers to learn the basics.

Equipment Needed to Start Graphic Design Business

There are different equipment you need to become a graphic designer in Nigeria. Some of these equipment are

1. Laptop

2. Electricity

3. Internet

4. Graphic Design apps

5. Printer (optional)

It is not a must for you to buy a printer for your graphic design business especially if you will not be handling the printing of the graphics in the business.

How to Become a Graphic Designer in Nigeria

How to become a professional graphic designer in Nigeria.

1. Conduct a Market Survey

To become a graphic designer in Nigeria the first step you need to take is to do your market survey. Doing the market survey of this business helps you to understand the business and how to go about it. The market survey also lets you understand the average customer in the graphic industry.

Your market survey will inform you how much you should charge averagely as a graphic designer in your local area. This will also expose you to how much you should charge as a graphic designer internationally (for customers outside Nigeria). Conducting a market survey is very important as a graphic designer if you want to stay afloat in the graphic design business. 

2. Write your Business Plan

After conducting your market survey or feasibility study on your graphic design business as a graphic artist, the next step for you will be to write a graphic design business plan. Your graphic design business plan is very important especially if you want to be a graphic designer for a long time.

If you see yourself doing the business for more than 5 years you will definitely need a business plan. You can write your graphic design business plan yourself by using some business plan template you find online or you can simply hire a professional business plan writer like us through [email protected] to write the business plan for you.

3. Get Equipment for Learning

Getting the equipment needed for your graphic designer is the next after writing your graphic design business plan. I have already listed the equipment above you just need to look at them carefully and go for the ones you feel are very important to you. However, the most important equipment as I explained earlier is a laptop, the internet, and the skill.

There are graphic design apps you also need to install on your laptop.

Some of these are:

1. CorelDRAW

2. Maya

3. Microsoft Visual Studio

4. Adobe Photoshop

5. Adobe Lightroom

6. AutoCAD

7. Adobe InDesign

8. Adobe Illustrator

and more

Is not a must you learn how to use all these software at once. You can learn just one that is the best or is most used for graphics designing in Nigeria. The most common graphic design software I see my graphic design friends use are Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Illustrator.

Check out the best graphic designing apps for andriod or best graphic designing apps for iphone if you want to be using your phone to edit pictures.

4. Learn Graphic Design

To become a graphic designer in Nigeria is not a day job. You need to take your time to learn everything you need to know before you even start doing graphic design for your customers. As I explained earlier, you can learn graphics from a computer training center in Nigeria.

Or you can simply learn online using YouTube or paid courses online from online learning websites like Alison and Udemy. To become a professional graphic designer in Nigeria you need to learn graphic design for at least 3 months. After these 3 months, you will be given a certificate to show you are truly certified in this computer skill.

Note: Certificate or not you will still be patronized as long as you are good in your designing. However, when you have a certificate to prove your professionalism it goes a long way.

5. Get Certificates or Qualifications

If you learn graphic design the right way in Nigeria you will be certified in graphic design. This certificate might be important to clients who need to see your certificate before they can patronize you. There are amateur certificates in graphic designing and there are professional certificates. The kind of certificate you’re going for will determine the cost of your training.

6. Start Graphic Designing Business

It is one thing to learn graphic design, it is another thing to practice continuously after learning. There’s a saying that practice makes perfect. This is true in the sense that you will always improve when you practice more. Asides from this, what you learned while in graphic design school is not enough so while practicing you need to learn more.

At this point, you can even be doing some graphic designs for your friends and charging them a bit for it. Opening an Instagram account for your graphic designing business or as a graphic designer is very important. With a social media account, you can publicize your graphics for the whole world to see all your work.

Think of the Instagram account as a resume that shows all your past work. In fact, you can even direct new customers there in case they are in doubt about your graphic designing skill.

7. Advertise your Graphic Design Business

There are different ways you can advertise your graphic designing skill for the whole world to see. The first one which I have mentioned is to have an Instagram account where you can share all your completed work. Aside from this, you can also run some online ads using Instagram ads or Google ads then push it further by printing some flyers to share in your local areas.

You can also pay people for bringing customers to patronize you. For every customer your family or friend directs to you will that person a commission. It could be 5% or even 10%. This commission now depends on you.

8. Keep a Customers Base or Clients

As you start your carrier in graphic design you will begin to attract and retain customers. These customers might not be paying you as much as they should for your graphic designs but they are still your good customers. You need to have a customer base for these people. Just in case you do not know what a customer base means.

It simply means having a database for all your customers. These data include their names, addresses, phone numbers, the name of their companies or businesses, and the projects you have done for them. The essence of this is not just for business reasons but to also take your relationship beyond the business level.

You can call them regularly to know how their business is going and how you can be of help to them in any way you can. Having a customer base for your customers helps you to understand your customers and their needs more. When you understand them more you can be able to always please them in what they want.

9. Start Making Profits from Graphic Design

To start making money as a graphic designer in Nigeria you need to start sourcing for customers and one of the ways you can source for customers is to make sure you satisfy the ones that approach you so that they can bring more customers to your business. Also, to increase your profits rapidly as a graphic designer you need to get customers online.

You can get international customers for your graphic design business on websites like Fiverr and Upwork. 

10. Make Money Teaching Others

Finally, as a graphic designer in Nigeria, you can make money teaching other Nigerians graphic designs, and guess what you do not need a physical place to do this. Yes, you can make money teaching them online using apps like YouTube Live, Zoom, or Google Meet. All you have to do to draw crowds is to run online using ads.

Conclusion

The graphic design business is a lucrative business a guy or a girl can start as long as they have a passion for the business. Asides from this, the skill is not hard to learn. It just needs your time and continuous practice.

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