How to Make a Career Change with a Graphic Design Franchise

If you’re ready to make a career change, franchising is a great place to start. One growing industry in the world of franchising is graphic design, and if you’re a creative, artistic person with the drive to become your own boss, this is exactly where you could thrive. Here’s how to make a career change with a graphic design franchise, kickstarting your new professional life as a designer.

Running any business combines challenge and excitement, and running a graphic design franchise will be no different. Every day, you’ll be faced with new projects, working with new people to meet new briefs and demands. If that appeals, the UK graphic design industry, worth £3 billion and employing almost 25,000 people [IBISWorld], is waiting for you.

Why consider making a career change with a graphic design franchise?

If you want to start a job in which your creativity will have room to flourish, you should strongly consider making a career change and becoming a graphic designer. As a graphic design specialist, you’ll have the ability to learn new techniques and skills with every project you work on, always honing your craft. Depending on the franchise opportunity you choose, you could work in any number of industries and for any number of businesses, completing work that you feel truly passionate about.

You could start a career in print, marketing and design with a franchise like Minuteman Press, or specialise in real estate board services with Agency Express, or go down one of a million paths yet to be discovered. Wherever you end up, you’ll enjoy plenty of demand. Graphic designers are hired by many individuals and businesses in the UK to:

• Boost brand awareness/raise name recognition
• Save time
• Save money
• Stand out
• Ensure a professional, quality end product is produced

Graphic designers get to explore visual, digital and virtual worlds, interacting with their audience on a fundamental level to communicate important messages. As the world becomes increasingly virtual, graphic designers are perfectly situated to leverage this shift and can work from anywhere in the world.

- Jacob Cass, Just Creative

How to make a career change with a graphic design franchise

If you’re just about ready to make a career change and enter the graphic design industry, these are the three steps that you should take along the way to set yourself up for success before you sign your franchise agreement and launch your new endeavour...

1. Assess your skills and qualifications 

The first question to ask yourself, as you’re thinking about becoming a graphic designer, is this: Am I the right fit for a role like this? Do I have the qualifications and skills that I need to make it work? 

In terms of your qualifications, the answer is most likely yes. Many franchise investment options won’t ask that you have any industry experience, as they’ll be happy to train you on the job. That said, if you would like to gain a qualification before investing, you should consider an award in Graphic Design, or a Foundation degree in Graphic Design and E-Media. In terms of your skills, you’re more likely to succeed as a franchisee with a graphic design business if you’re:

• Artistic (with both vision and ability)
• Creative
• Determined
• Passionate
• Precise and focused
• Innovative
• Adaptable

2. Research the industry, and the opportunities available to you 

When you know that you suit a career in graphic design, it’s time to determine whether or not a career in graphic design suits you. Look into the opportunities out there across industries, as touched on above, and see what appeals to you. Gain an awareness of what your day-to-day role will be, and the responsibilities you’ll be expected to fulfil. The regular tasks of a graphic design specialist, to get you started, are likely to be:

• Meeting, communicating and negotiating with clients new and old
• Generating creative ideas
• Producing and adjusting rough drafts
• Creating designs (often with specialist software)
• Keeping up with the latest trends and developments in graphic design

Beyond this, look at the wider industry and stay in league with your competitors by maintaining an awareness of the latest trends. In 2021, that means things like abstract psychedelia, retro futurism, symbol revival, fine art infusion and socially conscious design [99designs].

3. Narrow it down to the ideal opportunity

Third and finally, you’ll need to narrow down your list of potential investments to one ideal opportunity, and do your due diligence to ensure that this opportunity is worthy of your investment. At this stage, you should be paying close attention to cost, as an investment you can’t truly afford is a poor investment. 

The average cost of starting a franchise is £42,200 [British Franchise Association], but this figure can vary a huge amount depending on a number of factors, and doesn’t account for ongoing operational costs, equipment costs and royalties. Here are some cost examples from the graphic design industry, to give you an idea of what you’re working with: 

• FASTSIGNS - FASTSIGNS requires a minimum initial investment of £36,000, with franchise fees of £21,000 and a total investment cost of £120,000. 
• eDivert - eDivert requires a minimum initial investment of £9,500, with a total investment cost of £11,400 and a royalty fee charged at £150 a month (or 10% of turnover).

With your favourite option determined, be sure to do your due diligence and fully assess the opportunity before you invest. Knowing what you’re getting into is hugely important when it comes to making a professional commitment, and if your franchisor hasn’t fully disclosed things to you, skeletons in the closet might damage your personal financial situation further down the line.

Enter the graphic design industry, start a franchise, and profit

You should now have a strong sense of whether or not running your own graphic design business would be a good path for you. If it is, you should pay particular attention to the thriving signage sub-sector, a place where profit is more than possible. Stay on Point Franchise and discover how to make a career change with a sign franchise, or find out about the true scale of the signage industry.