Besides having a strong education in Graphic Design, one should have the following
Software, Hardware and other tools in place before starting their freelance business.
- Adobe Creative Suite - Photoshop (Image Editing), Dreamweaver (WYSIWYG),
InDesign (Page layout), Illustrator (Illustration and logo design), Adobe
Acrobat (converting documents to PDF)
- Mac or PC
- Monitor – as big as you can get and millions of colors
- Scanner and printer – ideally a laser printer. Get a scanner capable
of scanning in images at 300 dpi and also has OCR – this will scan the
text into editable type. You’ll save yourself a lot of times spent typing
in client documents that they don’t have electronically but want to
use in a design.
- Drawing stylus and/or mouse - whatever you prefer, but don’t skimp.
You don’t want to be wrestling with a mouse cord or a cheap mouse that
is sup-par and makes more work for you in the end.
- Links to online resources - free vector sites, free font sites, inspiration
sites, etc. Start building and organizing your resource library now!
- Fonts - the more the better
- Font Management Software
- Exacto Knife and self healing cutting board – you never know when
you may need to create a mock up package design, presentation or display.
- Pica pole
- Sketch pad and pencil
- Online storage site or transfer file site to send large files to customers
- Online Payments and Invoicing
- Keeping Track of Time
- Quicken or other program to keep track of accounts receivable/payable for
taxes
