Think about your desk or workspace. Are there sticky notes, cords, and to-do lists taking over making the space unusable? Is it pristinely clean with simply the computer and mouse—and maybe a framed photo in the corner? Or perhaps your workspace falls somewhere in between.
Designers who work within businesses are often part of marketing teams, which can be great for generating new ideas and collaborative projects, not to mention accountability. Multiple people, all with their own levels and ways of organizing their space.
On the other hand, Freelance Graphic Designers have their own business, and therefore their own space. How they organize themselves, both personally and professionally, is completely self-directed. There’s no one (except maybe Pinterest) telling them what to do or where to keep things, let alone to remind them that if they can’t find the client document in a timely manner before a meeting, it’s time to clean off their desk.
There are huge benefits to being your own boss. Many people who choose this path enjoy it, and many people who didn’t function well in a corporate setting find themselves reveling in the freedoms and decisions they get to make on a daily basis. For people who haven’t focused on organization before, particularly Graphic Designers and other creatives, there are definite challenges to this lifestyle. When you’re the boss, you have to be able to keep yourself organized.
What Does Being Organized Mean & Why is it Helpful?
Most people have heard about being organized. Some from a positive perspective when people compliment them on their organizational skills, and some from a negative point of view on their lack of organization.
Being organized simply means that you can plan and arrange the aspects of your life by a specific system. There are an infinite number of ways to organize, which means you can create your own system. One thing is certain, though: you need some kind of system in place. Especially as a Freelance Designer.
Some people claim to thrive when their space is disheveled and disorganized, but more often than not, this leads to trouble finding resources and information when you need it most. It can also lead to constantly feeling like you’re running out of time or running on empty. When you get yourself organized, you’re able to find what you need when you need it, tell what tasks have to get done & when, and feel like you have enough time to do the quality work you’ve promised yourself & clients you would complete.
This is why it’s critical to have some kind of obvious order to your space, business, and working time.
When you’re organized, you’ll find that you have more brain space for creating because you don’t have to worry about cleaning up the mess around you. You won’t have to worry about missing the details because you wrote a task down on the back of a receipt you threw away without a thought about the important to-do it was supposed to remind you of.
You’ll be less overwhelmed because when you look around, you’ll be inspired by the things you’ve chosen to keep around you rather than sighing at all the things you should be putting away but “don’t have time” to do. Higher quality work on deadline will become the norm because you’ll have a plan in place.
Finding your system of organization is a key piece of leveling up your design business.
6 Ways to Organize Yourself as a Freelance Graphic Designer
You may be thinking that organization sounds nice, or even great, but have no clue where to start. Before you panic, you don’t have to binge-watch Marie Kondo or decide if each individual item in your workspace brings you joy.
These simple ways of organizing your work and business are simple to begin putting into place and customizable for how you envision your ideal Graphic Designer life will look.
Set Working Hours
If you’ve started your own business, chances are you might not love the traditional 9-to-5 lifestyle that many corporate offices adhere to. One great thing about being a Freelance Graphic Designer is that you get to make your own hours and decide what schedule works best for you and your creativity.
Although your schedule can be whatever you want, you should choose hours between which you’ll generally work. Creating working hours helps create boundaries between work and fun time, which you need even when you love your work. When you set working hours and show up during those times, it will help create structure and routine in your business. It sets expectations and organizes your work into a finite schedule. Although it’s tempting to work when you feel inspiration strike, you’ll find that inspiration may not always strike when you want, even when you have imminent client deadlines.
Setting working hours will also remind you that being a Graphic Designer is your job. It’s not simply something you do for fun, although you probably enjoy it. It’s something you do as a professional providing high-quality services. You need to show up for it like you would any other job—the difference being that you get to decide when and how that looks.
Make Your To-Do List
People always rave about a good to-do list, right? There’s a long-standing conversation about the right way, the most efficient way, and the way to make lists even when you’re not a to-do list person.
For the Freelance Graphic Designer, having a to-do list is important, although how that looks is unique to each individual. Some people thrive off of detailed tasks, while others prefer a simple reminder that they need to work on a project that day or week.
One helpful strategy for making effective to-do lists that aren’t overwhelming is to plan your tasks at the beginning of the week. It might feel strange at first, because when you’re a business owner, tasks are always coming up and you may feel like you don’t know on a Monday what you’ll be doing on Thursday. Creating a list at the beginning of the week will help you envision your week and budget your time, allowing for all important tasks to be completed on time. You can always add tasks throughout the week if you need to.
You can make your list with a pen and paper or in a digital program like Milanote.
- Make a master list of tasks to complete. Include projects for work, side projects, and important personal tasks.
- When you have the tasks written down, label them. Are they for work, side projects, or personal? If they’re work-related and you have more than one client, which client is the task for? Make the list as clear as you can and have fun with it. Color-coding and initials (for example PERSONAL or CLIENT NAME) are popular ways to delineate between tasks.
- Separate your master list into tasks for each working day. As you’re scheduling out your tasks for each day, consider how much work is possible and if you have any scheduled events throughout the week. If you work Monday through Friday in your freelance business, only schedule tasks for those days. If you like to work over the weekend, include those days as well.
- When you have a task list for each day, mark your top 3 priorities. Ask yourself: What are the most important things I must do today? If I get those done, I’ll know I did enough. It’s tempting to think of every single item as a “must do,” but chances are if some of them got moved to another day, it wouldn’t change anything.
- Start your day with the priority tasks. Begin your day with the top three items that are most important. If you get those done and you have other items on the list, you can complete those as well, but make sure your top priorities get the time they need to be completed well.
Plan Time Each Week for Administrative Tasks
Administrative tasks get a bad reputation for being unimportant or those you can keep pushing off. The problem with that is that the longer you let them build up, the more time you’ll spend getting them under control which is often boring compared to the creative work you’d rather be doing. Not to mention it takes a long time.
Rather than let these more mundane tasks go until something becomes an issue, create time in your business schedule each week for these tasks. Whether it’s a couple of hours or an afternoon, these tasks require attention on a regular basis. To help save time each week, you can set a recurring invitation on your calendar. When you set this “event,” it appears without you having to remember to add it when you’re doing your weekly planning.
During this time, complete tasks such as:
- Clean out & respond to unanswered emails
- File & store important paperwork
- Check on your finances - send invoices, client follow-ups, look at your expected income for the month, etc.
- Check in with collaborators or contractors who help you with tasks
- Follow up with anyone who requested a meeting (or you need to meet with) & finalize times for your upcoming week’s schedule
- Tidy up your space & clean regularly
When you make time for these tasks each week, you’ll find that you’re less worried about missing something important because you feel organized (because you are).
Use Task Management Software
As a Freelance Designer, it’s inevitable that you’ll work with more than one client. There will be multiple ongoing projects with varying deadlines, and you’ll have to know when each is to make sure they’re done on time.
In order to handle the large number of projects, all with their own tasks, having a task management software is extremely helpful. Task management programs allow you to keep all project details in one place, allowing you to complete projects efficiently and in an organized manner.
Many programs offer free trials or a free base-level subscription, allowing you to test it out to see if you can create an effective workflow before purchasing a subscription. Some popular task management programs include Asana, Trello, Monday.com, and Milanote. All are great choices for Freelance Graphic Designers.
Track Your Clients, Projects, & Income
Part of being able to manage your Freelance Graphic Design business means managing your time and money. When you have competing priorities, this might seem less important than completing client work, but it’s not. You have to make time to track the comings and goings of your projects, clients, and income.
One way to set up a simple tracking system as you’re starting out is to create a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Some task management softwares like those mentioned above, also have useful tracking features such as calendars and Gantt charts. You should be able to see which clients are active, as well as which projects are in-progress versus which are completed.
As you’re tracking the projects you work on and which clients the work is for, you’ll want to make sure you know how long you spend on each type of task and project. This enables you to organize and budget your time appropriately, as well as bill your clients appropriately.
When you have income for your graphic design business, it’s important to track your finances through a program such as Quickbooks or Bill.com. These tools allow you to invoice clients, collect payments, track what money is coming in & when, and what expenses you have money going out to pay. Having these details in order will help you pay self-employment taxes each quarter and at the end of the year.
Streamline Tasks & Programs
When you’re first starting out as a Graphic Designer, you may not have many files you work with each day. Depending on the services you offer, you may not have too many complex files either. As you learn new skills and take on more complicated projects, though, you’ll need a way to store all files no matter how big or elaborate.
The Adobe Creative Cloud is full of powerful tools designed by and for creatives. It offers a group of software programs and non-software benefits that can streamline your workflow and keep you organized. Not to mention the phone and tablet apps, many of which are free to use even with a free Adobe subscription.
Adobe Bridge, a visual hub for creatives to preview, organize, and publish creative assets, was created to store and maintain all of these visuals. The program allows you to keep and manage images, videos, and other Adobe files. It’s an excellent way to organize yourself as a Freelance Designer.
If you’re using Adobe programs for your graphic design business, which is likely if you want to work on complex, high-quality projects, Adobe has seamless integrations. Bridge connects with all major Adobe graphic design softwares including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign (as well as the other Adobe softwares).
Now that You’re Organized, You Can Uplevel Your Business with New Skills
When you’ve got your organizational tools and routine in place, you’ll likely find yourself energized and ready to uplevel your business. It’s easier to be excited about learning new skills when you’re not scrambling to complete last-minute tasks that stem from being disorganized.
When you’re ready, Noble Desktop has plenty of courses to learn the basics of Adobe programs you don’t know yet or advance skills you do know. There are Photoshop courses, Illustrator courses, and InDesign courses. If you’re interested in learning Bridge, that training is offered as part of Photoshop classes, bootcamps, and certificates.
If you’re looking for a more comprehensive learning experience, there are plenty of Graphic Design Certificate options available, too. You can review the syllabi and course info to find out more, or check out a deeper comparison of what makes each certification unique.
All classes at Noble are offered in-person in New York City or live online. With live online courses, you get access to the same quality instructor-led training but from anywhere you learn best.