5 Ways to Find your Niche as a Freelance Designer
I’m sure you’re tired to hear about it. You just want to design and create cool stuff, but you need money. Then, you ask for advice on how to get more clients, and other designers tell you the (good) advice of “find a niche”. They never tell you why or more importantly, how.
Finding a niche helps you stand from the crowd. If your niche is real state businesses, a realtor in need of a flyer is going to choose you over a designer with another specialization.
Also, it helps with technicalities. If you become an expert in your field, you can specialize further and provide valuable insight and advice to your clients.
And now, to the ultimate question, how do you find the right niche?
I found my niche over the years, and it changed a bit over time. My niche is industry-focused (I work with tech and finance companies, usually startups), but for you it could also be creative focused and just work on lettering or T-shirt design.
Here are a few ideas to help you decide:
1. Explore your interests and passions.
What do you enjoy doing? What are you good at? When you’re working or you’re out of the office, consider what you like. What type of design styles do you gravitate towards? What types of industries or topics interest you?
For example, if you are passionate about choosing the correct fonts, you may want to focus on typographic design. If you find yourself staring at captivating posters on the street, you may want to specialise in poster design. If you are interested in fashion, you may want to target clients in the fashion industry.
Finding a niche that aligns with your interests will not only make your work more enjoyable but also more authentic and engaging. I choose both finance and tech specially for this reason, it’s a good way of learning more about a subject that interests you as well.
2. Research the market demand
Forget about what you like. What about what other people like? That’s another way of finding your niche. A year ago there was a boom on crypto and specially NFTs, and as I’m specialized in tech it wasn’t difficult to transition a bit and help clients on the crypto industry.
That one was easy as everyone was talking about it, but you can also use online tools such as Google Trends, Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest to see how popular certain keywords related to graphic design are. Browsing online in platforms such as Behance, Dribbble or Twitter to see what types of projects other designers are working on also helps.
3. Consider your lifestyle and goals
Another factor is what type of freelancer you are or how you want to be. Full time or part time? Hybrid work or fully remote? How much time do you have available? How much income do you need or want? How flexible do you want to be with your schedule?
Some niches may require more time commitment, higher skill level, or stricter deadlines than others. For example, designing logos may be quicker and easier than designing a web or an app. Designing for small businesses may be more flexible than designing for large corporations. Designing per-project can be more stressful than having a retainer.
4. Test, test, test
Once you have some ideas for possible niches, the next step is to test them out before committing fully. I did this for a few years until I realized the niche that I liked and focused on that. You can do this by creating portfolio pieces or mockups for different niches and sharing them online. You can also take on small projects or gigs related to different niches and see how they go.
The goal is to get feedback how clients or other designers they perceive your work quality, value proposition, communication style, etc. Post it everywhere. Dribbble is not the perfect platform to test how much your design will work with a real client, but it is a good test to see how other people react and test some metrics.
Testing different niches will help you see which one has the most demand, which one you’re the best at, and which one you like the most.
5. Refine and evolve
Finding a niche is not a one-time decision but an ongoing process. It took me years to find mine, and it has been evolving over time (adding Crypto/NFT to my tech niche, for example).
I expanded, but you might want to narrow down, depending on how well it severs your client’s needs. You may also want to explore new trends or opportunities that emerge in the market (AI anyone?). The key is to stay curious, flexible and adaptable to the changing times.
Finding a niche as a freelance designer can be challenging but it’s for sure rewarding. It can help you stand out from the competition, attract more ideal clients, and create more impactful work. After being 10 years in the industry, it has definitely help me attract more clients aligned to my vision and build a strong reputation.
Don’t give up!
Do you want to have a chat? Feel free to contact me, I’d love to hear from you and see how I can help!
My links:
🏀 Dribbble
