Have you ever thought, you’d enjoy making logos? Or maybe some nice greeting card designs? Even some clever advertisements?

You can actually create a work at home career for yourself as a graphic designer. There are so many avenues for this that you could really diversify your interests. Your ability is really only limited by your imagination, and of course your graphic design skills.

There are a few areas of graphic design that I see a constant need for:

1. E-Cover creation:  creating the visual representation for ebooks and products like training, MP3 downloads, workbooks.  etc.
2. Advertisements: ads for services, products and teleseminars
3. Logo design
4. Website header design

Most of the postings that I seen have been on  HireMyMom and individual postings through some of the Virtual Assistant forums I belong to.  The pay ranges anywhere from $25 per design to up to $100 or more for a website header.  There are several people who are working in this industry and there are varying degrees of talents.  The more established and extensive someone’s portfolio is, the higher their rate. 

If you’d like to pursue a career as a graphic designer or even a graphic design virtual assistant, here are a few things you will most certainly need:

• Website – critical to showcase your work and list of services and rates.  Without this, it will be challenging to find work or even submit proposals.
• Photoshop CS2 or above – now there are other software available, but most people are familiar with the capabilities of Photoshop and want their projects rendered with that software.  Photoshop can be expensive, but you can find some older versions for sale at a reasonable price, or if you have children of school age, your family may qualify for Adobe’s education discount of up to 80% off.  Definitely worth looking into! 
• eCover software – this type of software is used to create the visuals for e-products.  The best software I have seen is Cover Action Pro.  I have even thought of purchasing this software for personal use!  Cover Action Pro requires Adobe Photoshop CS2 or higher, but it is very easy to use.  I tried a friend’s version and I was impressed. 

If graphic design is something you are interested in, you can do further research on the software available.  There are also several websites that offer free tutorials on how to use the various software options, such as Photoshop.

Do you have any other resources for aspiring graphic designers or graphic design virtual assistants?