Other skills to offer

I’ve seen a lot of posts on social media recently that start along the lines of “A Graphic Designer is not…” and then lists different skills that designers are often asked for, but are actually specific roles in themselves.

Dare I say it? But I don’t really agree.

Why not have some extra skills that you can offer? I actually enjoy a project a little bit outside of my comfort zone it keeps me on my toes, but that said, if I am asked for something I feel I can’t deliver – I feel well within my rights to say so, and try to recommend someone who has a better matched skill set.

Talking of extra curricular skills, I love a good bit of motion and video design. In fact I actually started off as a videographer many moons ago shooting and editing my own content. And a large part of my work as a festival designer was creating social first videos and animations from festival footage. Since then, over the years I’ve also created motion assets for clients including Sky Bet, Soccer Aid for Unicef and my most recent animation piece was for a parliament event for CoppaFeel!. I find bringing ideas to actual life is a very cool way to spend a few days.

I like that I can offer these skills to my clients if they ask for them. I would never advertise that this is what I do all of the time, and admittedly I know that there are millions of people with better skills than me – but if a regular client trusts you to create something on behalf of their brand, if you have a good enough relationship with them, why not discuss what they have in mind and be open to what you can offer? 

I think pigeon holing myself in any category is a bit limiting, and every project that is a bit outside my usual skillset challenges me to up my design game. So yes, I may be a graphic designer – but I can create most things if given the opportunity to do so. I love that my skills are always developing, it keeps me interested and challenged, but also helps build client relationships too. I kind of see it as and opportunity to say: “Set me a project – and see what I can deliver!”

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