Earlier this week I wrote a post that cast a bit of positive light on the otherwise shunned idea of crowdsourcing and speculative work (read: One Good Thing About Crowdsourcing). I made the claim that it was okay for beginning designers to try their hand at such places as 99Designs and offered a few reasons why it could further their career.
After much deliberation – and a few swift kicks in the pants from my commenters – I felt it necessary to provide a follow up post that offers some alternatives to spec work for those just getting started in design. So I sat down and gathered up 99 ideas for ways designers could build their portfolio, gain some experience designing, and possibly make a few bucks. I can’t claim to have tried all of these ideas but I know there are many that work well. And if you can’t find something on this list to get your design motor running, maybe you’re in the wrong field.
I’ve Got 99 Ideas but Crowdsourcing Ain’t One
- Tell your friends that you’re looking for design work
- Tell your family the same thing
- Tell everyone you meet the same thing (but don’t sound desperate).
- Design a website for a friend’s band
- Cold call local businesses for design work
- Cold email local business (or any business for that matter whose site looks like this)
- Design a brochure pro bono
- Design a brochure for your design business
- Design a book cover pro bono
- Design an e-book cover for an e-book author
- Attend a local business networking event and pass out business cards
- Read the classifieds in the local paper
- Look through Craigslist for design jobs
- Browse the job postings on Smashing Magazine’s Job Board
- Browse the job postings on Designm.ag’s Job Board
- Design a website only using Illustrator
- Design a website only using Photoshop
- Design a website straight from the browser
- Recreate a Tutorial
- Write a Tutorial
- Paint by numbers
- Design a logo for a church
- Design a logo for a small non-profit
- Redesign a mainstream website (i.e. Amazon.com) just for fun
- Write a post for Visual Swirl (email me)
- Write a post for any other blog
- Create a logo for your personal brand
- Work on a design for your freelance/design agency website
- Extend this design to a business card
- Create your own crowdsourcing site called 100Designs and brag about how you have 1 more designer
- Create web banners for a company
- Expand your design skill set
- Expand your design resources
- Create a profile on Guru.com
- Create a profile on Elance.com
- Watch an old episode of the Joy of Painting and make Happy Trees with Bob Ross.
- Create and sell a template through Theme Forest
- Create stock graphic packages and sell them through Graphic River
- Sell stock photography through Deposit Photos or Pixmac
- Make an iPhone app
- Make an Android app
- Make an app for a TI-83 Graphing Calculator (does anyone remember playing games in Math Class?)
- Sketch up some wireframe ideas for potential websites
- Start with a grid and create some unique web layouts
- Take a famous design quote and make a poster
- Learn jQuery
- Create a jQuery plugin
- Create a wallpaper for your desktop
- Create a wallpaper for your iPhone
- Post your best work on Flickr
- Throw a bucket of paint at a wall and get paid millions for calling it art
- Create a t-shirt design
- Promote or sell your t-shirt design on sites like Design By Humans
- Take a cake decorating class
- Take some hi-res photographs to use as textures
- Create a social media icon set
- Create a user interface icon set
- Create an icon set about something you love
- Learn about using CSS3 and HTML5
- Doodle in a Moleskine notebook
- Doodle a lot in a Moleskine notebook
- Create a  set of cartoon characters in Illustrator
- Design a useful set of infographics
- Create an identity set (letterhead, envelope designs, etc.) for a local business
- Watch for tweets about people in need of design help
- Send out tweets informing others that you’re looking for work
- Create a Facebook Page for your design business
- Play your guitar in the subway for spare change
- Create a logo and sell it through Brand Stack
- Draw a picture with Microsoft paint
- Slap yourself for thinking about using Microsoft paint
- Create some kinetic typography in After Effects
- Design the interface for a new desktop application
- Design the interface for a new web application
- Redesign the interface of a current desktop/web app
- Resell hosting services
- Sell personal creations on etsy.com
- Sell artwork on Deviant Art
- Create your own design blog
- Ask design firms if they’re in need of any freelance help
- Apply for an internship with a design firm
- Look for work on Freelance Switch
- Find a design job on Krop’s job board
- Eat a piece of cake (Sorry, that’s what I’m doing right now)
- Design a custom twitter background for yourself
- Offer to design a custom twitter background for others
- Design a website for your uncle’s Guns and Bow-ties store¬† (or whatever crazy business he runs)
- Don’t design all the time. Spend time with your friends and family
- Collect images, logos, and websites that inspire you
- Create whatever comes to mind after being inspired
- Create magazine cover mockups for your portfolio
- Create print advertisement mockups for your portfolio
- Create a photo manipulation piece in Photoshop
- Revisit projects that you worked on in design school. Make them better
- Setup your own premium theme shop like Viva Themes or Studio Press
- Write how-to articles for ehow.com
- Do some affiliate marketing
- Offer services no other designer in your area offers
- Stop reading this article and start creating something
I’m sure there are many other options out there. Be creative and feel free to share any in the comment section below. And if you still feel the need, go visit 99designs and try your luck.
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