13 Graphic Designer Success Stories [2024]
Graphic designing involves creating sketch designs and materials for corporate clients, advertising agencies, public relations firms, and publishers. Besides, graphic designers provide visual solutions to specific company images, log design, and branding problems.
Graphic design is an excellent career for creative thinkers who enjoy using their talent and artistic skills combined with technology and communication abilities to come up with unique solutions for their clients.
In this list, you'll find real-world graphic designer success stories and very profitable examples of starting a graphic designer that makes money.
1. Delesign ($972K/year)
Delesign was founded by Kenny Schumacher to address the need for affordable and high-quality design services that businesses of all sizes could utilize. Through a rigorous vetting and training process, Delesign provides clients with dedicated senior-level designers who can complete graphic design, animation, web and app, UI/UX, and illustration projects with fast turnaround times. The company has seen rapid growth, reaching nearly $100k MRR in just four years, and relies on referrals, organic traffic, and targeted content marketing to attract and retain customers.
How much money it makes: $972K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 55
Delesign's co-owner explains how their fully remote-based graphic design service has scaled to nearly $100k MRR in just 4 years since providing entrepreneurs with a dedicated senior-level designer for a flat monthly rate with extremely fast turnaround times.
2. Content-Whale Private Limited ($750K/year)
Vaibhav Kishnani, an engineer turned writer, came up with the idea for Content-Whale after noticing the unprofessional conduct in the Indian content market. With just Rs. 2,500 ($35) in capital, he started the content agency which now generates a revenue turnover of Rs. 4 crores ($514,000) and serves clients like Quikr and The Boston Consulting Group.
How much money it makes: $750K/year
How much did it cost to start: $35
How many people on the team: 30
Content-Whale, a content curation agency, has achieved a Rs. 4 crore ($514k/year) turnover 4-5 years after being started with just Rs. 2500 ($35), and has a pool of more than 500 writers, aiming to become a market leader in the global content market.
3. Digitail - Wander Media LLC ($600K/year)
Forrest Webber transitioned from real estate to digital assets after a big payoff, investing 100% into websites. The drive to create a business he could run from anywhere blossomed during his daughter's 100-day NICU stay, leading to $50k monthly revenue from 20 niche sites within five years.
How much money it makes: $600K/year
How much did it cost to start: $294K
How many people on the team: 50
Forrest Webber's portfolio of 20 niche content websites generates $25-50k in revenue per month, with a team of 30+ contractors and employees, and he has built an agency, Digitail.co, which offers content, backlinks, and SEO research, making his team available to those interested in growing their online presence.
4. Design Match ($384K/year)
Danielle, the founder of Design Match, came up with the idea while working as a product designer for startups around the world. As her workload grew, she started matching clients with designers in her network, and realized this could be a great business. She launched Design Match with a website and quickly generated $20,000 in MRR within the first month, validating her idea and spurring the company's growth.
How much money it makes: $384K/year
How much did it cost to start: $4K
How many people on the team: 3
Design Match, run by nomadic entrepreneur Danielle, has made $350k following its launch after receiving organic leads from LinkedIn and focusing on search engine optimization through evergreen articles and other tools like Jasper, SurferSEO, and SalesFlow.
5. FilterGrade ($360K/year)
Mike Moloney, the founder of FilterGrade, started the business in 2013 after selling digital products on different marketplaces. He initially launched FilterGrade as a collection of Photoshop Actions and later expanded it to be a marketplace for creators, offering digital assets such as presets, LUTs, and video templates. Through constant adaptation and a focus on content marketing and partnerships, FilterGrade has attracted over 450,000 monthly users and achieved success in the competitive creative industry.
How much money it makes: $360K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
How many people on the team: 2
FilterGrade is an eCommerce platform offering digital assets such as photo filters and video templates; attracting over 450,000 monthly users and generating approximately 30k a month, the founders worked hard to build a valuable marketplace for creators while focusing on digital marketing, partnerships, and content creation.
6. Plasfy ($180K/year)
The idea for Plasfy, a revolutionary graphic design software, emerged from recognizing the unmet needs and frustrations of graphic designers in the market.
How much money it makes: $180K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 0
Plasfy is a graphic design software that offers a user-friendly platform with powerful features, allowing anyone to unleash their creativity and design eye-catching graphics; the company has gained tremendous traction, with over 200,000 designs created by its users, and has collaborated with freelancers from various countries to develop advanced features and thousands of templates.
7. Draftss ($180K/year)
Junaid Ansari and Amin Memon co-founded Draftss.com, a productized graphic design and frontend code service. They started by providing graphic design services and later added frontend coding to their list of offerings based on customer requests. In 2019, they made $66,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR), and as of July 2020, they hit $9.6k in monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Their focus is on automation and improving their service to retain customers and scale their business.
How much money it makes: $180K/year
How much did it cost to start: $100
How many people on the team: 25
Draftss.com is a productized graphic design and front-end code service on subscription that made $66k ARR in 2019, has an MRR of $9.6k as of July 2020, and offers add-ons such as designers being added to team in interacting tools and front-end code services on WordPress using various page builders like Elementor and Divi.
8. VecRas Creations Pvt. Ltd. ($144K/year)
Spotting a gap in the booming gadget skin market, graphic designer Sunil Aggarwal launched VecRas in 2007 to supply essential digital templates, transforming a $1,000 per month start into a $20,000-$30,000 revenue stream with a nationwide customer base.
How much money it makes: $144K/year
How much did it cost to start: $15K
How many people on the team: 10
Founder Sunil Aggarwal started VecRas in 2007, a digital design company that provides Vinyl Ready Vector cut file templates for skins and Smart PSD mockups for mobile devices, which initially did $1,000 per month and now expects $20,000 - $30,000 per month with customers growing nationwide.
9. Love & Logic ($96K/year)
Angela had been the co-founder of a large successful agency for over a decade. However, her work-life balance wasn't optimal, and she was struggling to juggle roles between an agency owner and a creative person. Finally, she decided to take the leap and start her own solo creative studio with a clear mind and a focus on freedom.
How much money it makes: $96K/year
How much did it cost to start: $2.5K
How many people on the team: 0
Love & Logic is a profitable solo creative studio, specializing in brand identity, animation, and motion graphics, averaging around $8k per month, targeting ethical brands, local authorities, and universities with a clear brand strategy, manifest, and reputation for quality and value-based pricing.
10. MeetAnders ($87.9K/year)
Marilyn Wo, co-founder of MeetAnders, came up with the idea for her productized graphic design company after realizing the limitations of her freelance business. She saw the potential in offering predefined design packages on a subscription model, providing unlimited graphic design for a fixed fee per month. Through trial and error, Marilyn and her team grew the business to a three-person team with $7,000 in monthly recurring revenue, attracting customers such as event directors, CMOs, and startup founders who needed ongoing design support.
How much money it makes: $87.9K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 3
MeetAnders is a productized graphic design company offering unlimited graphic designs for just one fixed-fee a month, with a three-man team and $7,000 in monthly recurring revenue, all started without any upfront capital.
11. Rank Trends ($72K/year)
Md. Yousuf Ali, the founder of Rank Trends and Khan, came up with the idea for his business after discovering the potential of digital marketing through oDesk. With his background in web design and development, he launched Rank Trends to provide SEO, web design, and graphics design services. The business quickly gained traction and was recognized as the "Best SEO Service Provider in Bangladesh 2019." Today, Ali is expanding his retail business into the online space and plans to resume activities for Rank Trends soon.
How much money it makes: $72K/year
How much did it cost to start: $5K
How many people on the team: 2
This case study features Md. Yousuf Ali, the founder of Rank Trends, who shares how he started a successful digital marketing agency, which generated a revenue of over $6k per month through SEO and video production services.
12. Indiebrands ($15.6K/year)
Laurids came up with the idea for Indiebrands after realizing that there was a need for better business names and logos at affordable prices. He was inspired by a website selling digital products in a simple way and knew he could provide a superior product. After launching on Product Hunt and making over $1,000 in less than 24 hours, Laurids realized that his idea could be a successful business.
How much money it makes: $15.6K/year
How much did it cost to start: $400
How many people on the team: 0
Indiebrands sells company names completed by ready-made logos and a great top-level domain, making an average monthly revenue of $1,300 in the last 12 months and growing about 200% in the last year through selling to startup founders and indie hackers.
13. FVA Business Consultancy ($12K/year)
Julmar Grace Locsin, founder of Filipino Virtual Assistance, came up with the idea after experiencing the challenges of transitioning from office jobs to freelancing. Recognizing the potential for freelancing to improve the lives of individuals and families, Locsin and her husband launched FVA to provide training, coaching, and services to empower freelancers. Since its inception, FVA has trained over 25,000 students and aims to become the top online academy in the world.
How much money it makes: $12K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500
How many people on the team: 14
Filipino Virtual Assistance by FVA Business Consultancy, founded by Julmar Grace Locsin, offers online and offline training to empower marketers, enable businesses, and equip freelancers which has trained 25,000 students from their 31 courses, has 16 coaches assigned from different territories, and fifteen in the FVA team for global digital leadership that will impact the world through digitalization, one life at a time.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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