5 Ways to Become a Famous Graphic Designer
Not everyone wants to be “Famous”, but being a more well-known designer DOES have its benefits. Not only will your work get more exposure, but you will make more money! Becoming a famous designer does not happen over night, but there are things you can do to quicken the process and if you are lucky you should be able to gain a lot of recognition if the things you do turn out well. So I wanted to do a 3 part series just going over some cool things designers could do if they want to not only become more apart of the design community, but also gain a little recognition and help others at the same time.
Become a Famous Graphic Designer
1. Do Online Interviews
There are plenty of design blogs, sites and magazines looking for potential people to interview. Why wait for them to come to you? There are tens of thousands of designers and if you want those interview spots, you better start contacting sites! The key to a successful interview is to be honest and think about how you can help other designers with each question. The more interview you do the more recognition you will get and sometimes when one site interviews you, others will follow, meaning it can become viral and spiral into even more press for you.
2. Get Featured in Magazines
Being featured in magazines is a bit harder, but there is no reason you can’t pitch yourself to magazines as well. For magazines you may need to try and come up with an interesting pitch, such as having a cool new design style or an interesting background story. Getting yourself in magazines is one of the best things you can do because people tend to take things in print more seriously and the few design magazines out there are read by a large part of the design community and by this I mean designers of all skill levels.
3. Write an eBook
Graphic Designers are always on the prowl for helpful tips, so why not share your experience in the form of a free eBook? Free eBooks can go viral very quickly and if your name is attached to it it can help your personal branding efforts a lot. Make sure you create an opt-in email list using software such as MailChimp to give away the free download so you can build up a large email list.
Then when you release other stuff or new news such as an interview you just did you can send a newsletter out to all your subscribers. Just try not to abuse the list and keep your emails to a minimum, maybe one or two a month max.
4. Publish a Design Book
Publishing a book is going to be more difficult than getting an eBook out, but if your book becomes popular it can work wonders. Your book could be on a lot of topics such as a collection of your work or studio’s work, design theory, design resources, tutorials and so on. Getting published by a large publishing company might be difficult, but Self Publishing is always an option.
5. Create a Design Related Website
New design blogs, galleries and other types of sites are being created every week. If you can create a new popular design site you will be able to gain massive exposure. A simple about page that talks about who you are on a popular site can skyrocket you in the online design community.
When creating a new design site try to think of something that has never been done, but also be sure to factor in the price and time it will cost you to create and market such a site. If you are lucky you should even be able to make a profit from your online investment!
Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3, which will feature even more great tips on how to become a design super star!
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Kawsar Ali - June 15th, 2009
All the steps are relevant except for the ebook. Seriously who has time to write an ebook. I think creating a website is best method or interview as well. Great post.
Dan - June 15th, 2009
6. You have to be good at what you do.
Even if you do all of the things above, if you aren’t confident in your own ability and willingness to share and strive for bigger and better then you will ultimately fail at becoming a ‘famous graphic designer’.
being ‘famous’ as well isn’t necessarily a title.. the only way people are perceived as ‘famous’ in their line of work is if they standard out from the norm in one way or another, or introduce something groundbreaking within that line of work which will benefit the masses.
Callum Chapman - June 15th, 2009
Some great tips – I might look at releasing a ebook!
Kamayana - June 15th, 2009
i think only famous graphic designer can do “publish a design book” as a way to make them more famous. It’s very difficult for a newbie designer to make it. Maybe it should be the last choice.
Narendra.s.v - June 16th, 2009
Pretty good tips but the first two seems to be apply for the people who are already been popular
anyways will have to think about doing the other things 
Joel Acevedo - June 16th, 2009
Great article. Looking forward for parts 2 and 3. I don’t want to be famous, but love recognition. Although is hard to get recognize when you don’t have a personal website and have works for others your entire time.
Jon Garcia - June 16th, 2009
Good Insight….watch out for me I’ll be famous soon, ha!
Jonathan Patterson - June 16th, 2009
A few good concepts here. Thanks for sharing.
Alex H - June 21st, 2009
Great tips, but I am wondering, how would you go about getting interviewed in the first place? Would you have to be “discovered” or do you go out and ask some one “hey do you want the privilege of interviewing me?”
Ovi Dogar - June 22nd, 2009
Very interesting article…
Keep up the great work!
Ovi Dogar
AbsoluteCovers.com
Lionel Douglas - June 23rd, 2009
Wow, aweosme tips man! Thanks. I think i’ll me making a eBook to motivate and inspire fellow young creatives. Again, thanks a bunch!
Joe Warwick - June 26th, 2009
wow, some great concepts here, keep up the good work
Cristian - June 30th, 2009
Great post! I agree with all of the points above, but I think you forgot one important point, Blogging. This is a bit different that creating a design related website mentioned in number 5. I think all designers should have a blog to go with their portfolio. If you’re a passionate designer who likes to share tips and news with fellow designers by crafting useful and relevant articles you will gain recognition, guaranteed. Article writing is one the quickest ways to become famous on the web. I’m sure most people reading this can name at least five famous bloggers. So if you like design and like to write, being famous will come quickly. After all, the web is a place where content gets consumed in droves. But of course, consistency is key here. It’s takes time to churn out useful articles every week, but if you keep the course success is assured.
Jonnie Walker - June 30th, 2009
A lot of talk about becoming successful. Nothing about giving back. Not money, time,ideas, energy. You guys need those kids. They will show you the way. They don’t know what can’t be done. What would you give to not know what can’t be done?
Jonnie Walker
Chair, Art & Design
Sacred Heart University
Fairfield, CT
Try to remember…
DesignFirms - July 3rd, 2009
These are great basic ideas to help get you started. However, the best way to become famous is to keep doing what you’re doing and promote yourself anywhere you can. Remember, design is marketing and unless you know how to sell what it is you are selling (ie: you), then you will never become a successful graphic designer. Let’s face it, the point in design is to convey a message and in the real world, that message is clear – buy something.
emmanuel - July 4th, 2009
Thank you Dan (comment #2). It’s sometimes good to recall some basic truth!
serj - July 6th, 2009
@Kawsar Ali you can’t connect with people simply only thru design, does marketing ring some bells?(hope so, if not you are a lost cause).
when people see a free ebook wich is full of stuff that they didn’t know ,or that they knew put presented from another perspective, big POPS burst in theyre head ….marketing moment: do you know why , in all big action movies, the hero allways walks from a explosion in the background and never looks back? Well if you don’t know, I’ll tell you, because of people like you, with no imagination don’t get a thing, so they had to put a explosen so you could remember the damn movie.
ps: sorry for the “@?” words, I hate people with no imagination aka marketing perspective
Empire Elements - July 10th, 2009
The presenting idea is really strong and holds real value in it. Though it is going to require a lot of time and hard work, but the result would be just awesome.
Great post.
Website Designer Katy TX - July 14th, 2009
Every little tip helps that’s for sure. I really think #1 is a great idea. I have seen some great stuff come from this but more on the web design blogs.
FT - July 16th, 2009
I think that the best & cheapest steps are 1 and 5.
4 is too expensive and takes a lot of time, 3 is cheaper then 4, but still you’ll need a lot of time.
Thank you for the article!
Looking forward for parts 2 and 3!
Joshua - August 2nd, 2009
Great tips, but I’d honestly like to know how to drive people to my website, because I already know how to create them. The rest are a bit time-consuming (particularly the books), but definitely worth looking into.
Oxford Web Design - August 4th, 2009
Thanks for the great tips, I think producing consistantly good work and taking time write good high quality content on a blog are the first steps.
lebisol - August 5th, 2009
These are good tips but…common, it would be the same as publishing a tip:
1. How to become rich?
Tip = Make more money.
Dan made a great point with a missing tip:
6. You have to be good at what you do.
Just because you write a book…doesn’t mean you are good at writing. Some people are great at what they do but can not pass their knowledge worth a crap.
There really is only two tips:
1. You have to be good at what you do
2. Market your work.
If you are great…the word spreads quickly.
outsource web design India - August 9th, 2009
Nice Tips. Well I thought for all this first you need to be expertise in your own nich. You should have to do Quality work So, that they can attract visitors and your satisfactory work gives your clients to recommend you to others. The best policy is to share useful information with others the same thing you have mentioned of interviews, e- books. Well these are ideas.
paul - August 12th, 2009
yes this is good post always an inspiration. and always a lot of work to get recognised. but hey! you dont get nothing for nothing.
mostafa - August 12th, 2009
Yea joos idea..
Scott Townsend - August 12th, 2009
Something that I thought was pretty relevant – ‘Where’s the finish line? Examining Success in Design’ at http://www.designtaxi.com/article.php?article_id=100645
DesignUnder - August 12th, 2009
5 Ways to Become a Famous Graphic Designer…
Not everyone wants to be “Famous”, but being a more well-known designer DOES have its benefits. Not only will your work get more exposure, but you will make more money! Becoming a famous designer does not happen over night, but there are t…
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Kaplang - August 17th, 2009
really useful stuff
can’t wait to read part 2 and 3 
Matt - New-Logo.co.uk - August 20th, 2009
I really like the idea of publishing your own design book. I think that would be a rewarding thing to do and would be an excellent addition to a designers portfolio. Thanks for sharing.
Kiran - August 26th, 2009
Thank you very much……
It is the place from where designer can boost their knowledge….
Diesel Laws - August 27th, 2009
Another great article! Well done, simple and easy to follow. Impressive work! I’m actually in the process of writing an Ebook so it’s good to know its a good marketing platform also.
-Diesel Laws
Saleh - August 29th, 2009
It was so great. I agree with you about these excellent ideas. Wish you success. All the best
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Jo Oxford - September 3rd, 2009
I think if you have the time to write and publish a design book, that is one of the best ways to achieve stardom in the design world.
website design - September 8th, 2009
ya creating a website and i think advertising work on websites with same niche will help more .Any way nice post.
Thank you.
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