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As former President of India, Dr Abdul Kalam said the best minds of the country can be found in the last benches of a class… so do great designs can come from the minds of students say these freelance web designers!
Anush Venkataraman
Venkataraman, a 22 year-old student of Bharathidasan University, started freelancing in 2010 when a friend paid for a design he made.
“It was then I realised that I could freelance and put my skills to best use!” Venkataraman then went on to set up a small firm called Thez Infocorp, through which he undertook assignments.
“I make about Rs 1,500-3,000 per assignment and there is no tension of balancing between studies and my freelance work as I mostly work late night.”
An engineer by education, Venkataraman chose to pursue web designing over a regular white-collar job. “Designing is fun and is great to eke a living out of what we like than forcing ourselves to like what we do!”
Aakash Maddi
Aakash, a student at IIT-Madras, started graphic designing when he took his off-screen talent of painting to on-screen designing. Maddi discovered that his talent can be channelised in a colourful way through freelancing.
“This statement by Joker from The Dark Knight always goes around in my mind. ‘If you are good at something, never do it for free,’” he quotes Joker. Maddi says that unlike other jobs, designing cannot be completed in a definitive time.
“Ideation might consume 2-3 days. Once I get a hang of what is required, the actual working part is sometimes done within 3-4 hours.”
Anzal Ansari
Holidays are time to unwind and during one such summer, Anzal registered at freelancer.com and used his skills through its offers. Each project takes around 1-2 hours says Ansari.
“I usually take up around 3 projects a month. This is easily manageable, even during weekdays. Also, we have the freedom to choose how often we want to work. So, I might not work at all during exams.” He earns between Rs 1,500 and Rs 10,000 per assignment.
However interesting this might sound, Ansari does not see himself as a professional designer in the near future.
“A part-time job gives you certain sense of security, apart from a little extra pocket money. That is where I draw the line.”
Saptarshi Prakash
The designing bug bit Prakash back in his school days when he started playing with Photoshop 6.
“I started editing Facebook profile pictures for my friends and slowly it lead to designing for my college lema labs. This further helped me get into the design and concept team of ‘Shaastra,’ IIT’s Annual Tech Fest,” explains 23-year-old Prakash who studies at IIT-Madras.
“The essence of freelancing is our ability to accept work whenever possible. Hence, I do not mix it up with academics.
He started with designing a logo for a shampoo brand and has gone on to work for iPleaders, United Hospitals, Soudha Infra, Crystal Learning Solutions, Avaz App, Greeting Card Maker, Monkey Media, Myeasydocs, Samanvay, ShoutLoud and SRK group of Schools.
“As of now, I haven’t seriously thought about building a career out of it.”
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