After leaving university, I went straight into freelancing, with uncertainty, no savings and a lot of debt.

I knew my work needed exposure and I had to do this online. I doubled down on Behance (‘doubled down’ is an understatement…) and was obsessed with receiving a feature.

2 years later as a logo design freelancer, I’ve been fortunate to work on projects such as FIFA, BET, Space Force & more. I’ve generated 6 figures, and a large chunk of that being a result from utilising Behance.

I can whole-heartedly say that if I had not taken advantage of all the functions on Behance such as features, livestreams and case studies, my career would be very different and I wouldn’t be where I am today.

5 steps to follow for a feature on Behance

If you are a designer looking to gain more exposure or even attract high paying clients, then a Behance feature maybe for you.

This topic is hard to find anywhere on the internet. After hours of research, late nights, I now have 16 Behance features/ awards under my belt.

Raking in hundreds of views monthly, thanks to unique projects that stand out.

Here are several important things I discovered from all my features.

Please note, the only guarantee to a feature is excellent work, but these tips will increase your chances:

• 1.  Presentation - Follow a specific theme with your presentation so your work looks unified.
• 2.  Context - Explain the case studies. If you have to, small text in the corner still works but make sure it is legible.
• 3.  Build some hype - Use the ‘work in progress feature’ and remind people about the release date. Also post on social media platforms to market your future project release.
• 4.  Good description - Before uploading, fill out all of the details and use relevant words in the description. Include the most relevant Adobe software used - NOTE you will not get a feature if you list programs OTHER than Adobe
• 5.  Have a consistent profile - i’m a big believer on ‘walking your talk’. If you're a logo design specialist, then only share logo design related work. I do believe the consistency of your profile may contribute towards what award you will receive, and how dedicated you are to your craft.

What projects to create?

It's extremely important to create projects that align with your personal brand and niche.

As a logo design specialist, it makes sense to release logofolios and brand identity projects on Behance.

However, you wan't to ensure you stand out from the crowd and create unique projects that still fit within your niche

I founded Grid it™ which creates tools for other logo designers improving their accuracy and efficiency. The launch of The first product 'Logo Grid Generator™' went viral and had an immense impact on logo designers globally.

Logo Grid Generator™ is an Adobe Illustrator extension, that enables logo designers to create accurate logo grids instantly at a click of a button.

I produced a case study for this product, showcasing it's utility through demonstration videos and logo grid image results.

This project also impacted my growth on Behance, as it has a perfect balance of being specific to my niche, and unique at the same time:

Benefits of a Feature

Here are several benefits of receiving a feature on Behance:

• Gain Exposure - Whether it’s clients or designers, Behance does a good job in putting your work in front of thousands/ millions of people once you manage to get features consistently.
• Client Work - Behance puts your work on the front page for 1 week, and every potential client that visits Behance will not miss your work.
• Other Opportunities - As a result of the exposure from my 12 awards, other opportunities opened up for me such as creating an Online Course. I was approached by Awwwards to create an online course which was a massive game changer for my career.

I had the pleasure of being invited to the No.1 Logo design podcast - LogoGeek.

Interview with Ian Paget from LogoGeek®

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