Craig Jackson just seems to be one of those freelancers who are absolutely killing it. He’s constantly working with some really big names, and producing great work. He’s also got one of the coolest personal websites I’ve ever seen.

Who are you, what are you currently doing to make a living, where are you based?

I am Craig, a freelance graphic designer with over 10 years experience, based in London. With origins in print for the last 8 years I have plied my trade as a digital designer who dips back into print and editorial projects when the right ones come along. I have had the pleasure of working at the likes of Apple, Google, Wolff Olins, DesignStudio, Koto, Moving Brands and Its Nice That with brands such as Airbnb, BBC, BlackBerry, Ford, Gumtree, Kodak and Westminster Abbey. I have just started a freelance role at Pentragram. I have been freelancing for 6 years.

What motivated you to make the jump into freelancing?

The vast range of opportunities and agencies that are out there to work with and not the same old boring clients. Being able to not work all the time and take unexpected time off on a whim and meeting and working with new people all the time.

Close your eyes hold tight and go for it, its not as scary as people make out.

Was it a conscious decision – or was it something you fell into?

Having worked at the same agency for 6 years I felt it was the right time to move on and do something different, I had friends that were freelancing and after speaking to them about it all I knew it would be the right thing for me long term. It took me about a year to pluck up the courage and take the plunge.

Prior to leaving full time work, what steps did you put in place to prepare yourself for freelancing?

In terms of prep I didn’t do much. I think theres only so much you can do, as in a way you have to start all over again and build things up again. My dad gave me some money so that I was good to go for the first couple of months. That was a good fall back incase things didn’t go to plan. In terms of clients, I had none. I did have an agent though. I was kindly introduced to Represent and they did all the rest in terms of getting me work when first starting out.

Where does the bulk of your work come from, do you mainly contract for agencies and studios? or do you have your own independent projects and clients?

Working with agencies just kind of happened naturally. There are so many amazing agencies on my doorstep in London I thought it would be rude not to try and work for them. Now that I have ticked a lot off them off the list it makes more sense for me to as a natural progression to work with brands directly and is definitely on the agenda. Its starting to happen slowly but surely, which is nice.

I think there are two types of freelancers, one’s that works direct with brands straight away and all the time and the others that work for agencies all the time. Two different types of beasts.

How was working with an agent?

For me it was a great way of opening doors when first starting out to build up your experience. Now I will tend to know people that work at say a agency I would like to work for and it seems get me straight in. I get a lot of referrals too so I tend to get a lot of people emailing me out of the blue which is cool.

How do you secure new projects, or new roles? Do you have any specific marketing strategies in place?

I’ve always had a pretty steady flow of work if I am honest. Every now and again I have to send a few emails out to people that have got in touch in the past that at the time I was too busy to work with. A couple of times a year I also like to take a week out to arrange meetings to clients to make new contacts and show them my portfolio first hand. But generally people come to me and I have to turn a lot of work down which is a nice place to be in.

How long do you usually contract with each agency for?

Every role is different which I really like. They normal start out as 2 weeks or a month, which can turn into a rolling contact. The best one I had was two weeks that turned into a year. In terms of a Monday to Friday it generally starts out like that but once I’ve been there for a while things become more flexible which allows me to work away for the studio from time to time.

Jumping around too and from agencies so quickly must be disorientating. Do you ever think about taking on a full time role?

I quite like it actually, I can get bored quite easily so fast pace of hoping between jobs is fine for me. I do get offered full time roles now and again at the agencies I work at quite a lot but at the moment I am very happy with being my own boss and organising my own time. Last year I worked about 37 weeks out of 52.

How do you charge clients? per day, per week, per month? How do you increase your rates?

I invoice weekly generally on a standard day rate which might go up or down a little bit, it kind of depends who’s asking. Roughly my rate has gone up £25per day per year.

Looking back on your journey, have you made any mistakes? If you had a chance to do it over again, would you do it differently?

In terms of mistakes no not really, maybe I should of taken the jump a couple of years sooner.

What advice do you have for designers looking to freelance?

Close your eyes hold tight and go for it, its not as scary as people make out. You can always go back to a full time job if things don’t work out. They will though it will be fine.

What do you think about the future of freelancing? Is it bright? Do you believe it is a trend that will continue to grow?

I think things are only going to get bigger and better. More and more younger people are deciding that its the lifestyle choice they want to take and its so easy to register as a company now and you can work from a beach or a plane. I think more industries already have this way of working its just technology has made things easier for everyone to get on with their working day.