Who does a graphic designer work for?

Graphic designers usually work one of three ways:

1. Graphic designers can work for themselves and find their own clients. This is a freelance graphic designer. Freelance graphic designers may rent office space, or most often, work from a room in their home. Many freelance designers specialize in one area such as real estate or health care. Others are generalists and have many different types of clients.
2. Some graphic designers work for a company that has quite a bit of graphic design needs, but not so much that they would need an army of designers. This is an in-house graphic designer. An in-house designer might work for a company that makes lighting fixtures. So the designer spends all of his or her time designing projects about the company’s lighting fixtures.
3. Other graphic designers work for a graphic design firm. A graphic design firm may employ just a few designers or many designers. This kind of job is a good place to start out because the environment is usually creative and stimulating, you don’t have to worry about getting your own clients, and you can learn a lot.