Graphic designers are in demand. However, this demand creates a saturated market, and not everyone is capable of finding a stable job. That is why some graphic designers are looking for new ways to make money and improve their financial situation.
Even if it is a simple side gig or a venture that could potentially become a profitable project after some time, making the most out of the available opportunities is one of the best ways to get some extra income.
If you are in a similar situation and would like to put your graphic design skills to good use, the methods in this article should give you enough inspiration.
Method #1 – Print on Demand
Being a graphic designer gives you an advantage if you want to start a print on demand store. Or, as an alternative, you can get in touch with already established stores and offer them your services. POD store owners are regularly looking for fresh ideas for their merchandise.
Usually, t-shirts are the go-to product. Printify has the T-Shirt business explained on their website, and they happen to be one of the best print providers at the moment.
But what drives people to try their luck with print on demand, and t-shirt in particular? Well, according to ecommerce statistics by Printify, the global t-shirt market is projected to pass 10 billion dollars by 2025. With such growth, there is still room for new entrepreneurs to join and profit as well.
Of course, you can look to scale the business later by introducing merchandise other than t-shirts. Phone cases, hoodies, key chains, calendars, and face masks have a place in the market, giving you more opportunities to make money.
Method #2 – Photo Editing
Not every professional photographer is keen to edit their photos. The work is monotonous and time-consuming. They would rather hire someone who can do the work for them. And that is when you come in as a graphic designer.
Graphic designers should have little trouble editing photos, particularly if they have used tools like Photoshop before. Adding new effects, zooming in and out where appropriate, and removing unnecessary elements from pictures are what the majority of the job consists of.
Method #3 – Book Covers
More and more writers are sticking to Amazon’s self-publishing program because they do not wish to deal with traditional publishing agencies. However, it is harder to advertise your book on Amazon because of all the competition.
An outstanding book cover is one of the best methods to catch the attention of potential readers. Even if they say that you should not judge a book by its cover, people still do. An e-book cover is the first thing they see while browsing through a collection of available books they may or may not purchase.
Get in touch with writers and tell them that you can create catchy book covers that will increase book sales right away. Even if it is just a few writers you collaborate with, they are still good enough. You can start making money by designing book covers.
Method #4 – Streaming
Join Twitch TV and start building your channel. As a graphic designer, you can show viewers your skills by designing something they ask for or having fun with whatever you feel like doing at that time. Of course, having an entertaining personality helps. After all, you will be sitting in front of a camera and entertaining an audience.
As for monetization, streamers can make money from multiple sources. Some stick to donations and subscriptions. Others expand their income sources by promoting various goods or services. Creating a YouTube channel and posting stream highlights is also a popular method nowadays.
Method #5 – Social Media Content
Brands are looking to increase their social media presence. Attractive content is one of the social media marketing cornerstones. Expecting engagement on lackluster posts is futile, particularly if there are hundreds if not more similar profiles.
Graphic designers can elevate a brand’s social media by producing high-quality visual content, such as infographics. Refurbishing a profile picture and a banner would help as well. The bottom line is that graphic designers can provide new and improved looks for those who want to take their social media standing to another level.
Method #6 – Online Education
Creating a video tutorial series and posting them on YouTube or platforms like Skillshare and Udemy could also prove quite useful. You can sell courses on these platforms and create yourself a passive source of income. Keep in mind, though, that the competition can be pretty fierce. Succeeding with mediocre quality is quite a challenge. If you decide to get serious about online education, make sure that you emphasize the quality of your content.
Adding to their diverse catalogue of films and series, streaming giant Netflix has unveiled the official trailer for a new drama series Ginny & Georgia. The show was created by Sarah Lampert and in its cast hold Brianne Howey, Antonia Gentry, Diesel La Torraca, Jennifer Robertson, Felix Mallard, Scott Porter, Raymond Ablack, and Mason Temple.
The show follows fifteen-year-old Ginny Miller, who alongside her brother Austin and mum Georgia, settle down in New England in hopes for a better life. However, challenges arise from their past, threatening their new life.
Ginny & Georgia is available on Netflix from the 24th of February, 2021.
Too much has changed since Kiwi Jr. issued their full-length debut Football Money in early 2019, or even since the record received a wider release from Persona Non Grata in January of last year. The fact that the Canadian power pop outfit have managed to stick to their guns on its aptly titled follow-up, Cooler Returns, is an impressive achievement in itself – one could argue they’re simply applying the same formula, but making dependability part of your brand while unfailingly retaining the music’s most enjoyable qualities – in the midst of a global pandemic, no less – is certainly no small feat. Fans can rest assured that everything that made their debut so instantly likable is readily available on their latest effort, though “effort” feels like an ill-fitting term when their knack for delivering easy hooks and witty one-liners seems to come so naturally.
That seemingly endless supply of hooks and snappy melodies should be more than enough to render Cooler Returns an indisputably fun listen, but Kiwi Jr. also prove they’re capable of evolving their sound while very much leaning into their strengths. The quartet is still far from shy about wearing their influences – most obviously Pavement, but nods to acts like The Strokes and R.E.M. are also prominent – on their sleeves, nor do they manage to distance themselves from contemporaries like Parquet Courts, but their attempt at refining their craft is both palpable and largely effective. The songs here are bejeweled with subtle touches of piano, harmonica, and organ that lend them a wonderfully organic feel while augmenting their mid-fi slacker rock aesthetic. Songs like ‘Dodger’ and ‘Waiting in Line’ rely almost exclusively on a variety of acoustic instruments that are both richly rendered and refreshing, as if to remind us there’s nothing manufactured about the band’s approach no matter how neatly tailored it may sound.
When those electric guitars do kick in, they ring out with the sort of effervescent clarity and coolness that’s made their music so irresistible in the past. As the title track moves into its final segment and layers of guitars begin to stack on top of one another, you can track almost exactly what direction each of them will take, but they’re so exquisitely blended that predictability becomes a non-factor. There’s enough colour in the album’s light, jangly arrangements to prevent them from coming off as bland, but its scruffier moments also offer a glimpse into what the band are able to achieve when they loosen their grip and allow a song to breathe for more than two and a half minutes. Those tighter structures can make for an invigorating pop song, but they also can have the effect of stifling their more playful and rambunctious tendencies.
Such a move would also help elevate frontman Jeremy Gaudet’s wry storytelling, which remains one of the group’s strongest assets. His acerbic sense of humour leads to more than a few quotable lines: “I was falling apart in the green room/ While you drank half the headliner’s rider,” he recalls on the opening track ‘Tyler’; ‘Nashville Wedding’ has him wanting to “strangle the jangle pop band,” and he makes sure the irony escapes no one. Kiwi Jr. seem to be hyper-aware of what they’re doing at almost every moment, which makes even the most absurd lyrical turns land better than they otherwise would. But as gifted as the group might be in stringing together catchy yet endearing jangle pop tunes, and even if their sound continues to show subtle signs of maturity as it does here, a little risk-taking would go a long way to amplify the unique elements of their songwriting that are too often buried under its sleek veneer.
Many people are dealing with social distancing because of the current global situation. Fewer individuals are betting on live sports due to the limited available options, with more choosing to play casino games online. Online casino popularity has risen worldwide as more in-person events are either limited or shut down.
In Norway, however, rates have not increased for providers such as norske casinoer as much as some people would like to think. We’ve spoken to expert Alexandra Nereng, whose profile you can find here, about online gambling and the impact of social isolation on the industry.
Norway has strict regulations on casinos, but the rise in social isolation means it’s opening up more than ever before. Norway is joining the list of countries considering the pros and cons of online gambling. However, there are still many uncertainties to resolve.
For example, in 2016, the percentage of online gambling usage was at 18% across the country. In 2019, after COVID-19 had struck and social isolation became the new norm, the rate had only increased by 1%. The strict regulations in place for Norwegian nationals are the primary reason for this.
Growing in Isolation
While there hasn’t been a dramatic change in online casino usage in Norway, the isolations have brought a little more attention to some of the best online casinos and their promotions. Online gambling slots have also seen more players, with users often offered free spins bonuses and other incentives to try games out.
With the rise in isolation, many people are growing a home game to pass the time. To illustrate, many of those who used to go out to casinos now can’t, so they bring the casino games home by playing online.
Legalities in Norway
Even though gambling online is illegal in Norway, there’s a way around that. For Norwegians to play at online casinos, the operator would need to have a license from the state in the European Union – of which Norway is not a member. It’s associated with the Union through the European Economic Area, where a casino operator can also get the correct license.
To find the best casino in Norway, doing a bit of research is a must. Norsk Tipping is a company that’s appropriately licensed for online casino games, keno, slots, and other popular options. It’s state-owned and operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs.
Payment Solutions
There’s another obstacle with online casinos for players in Norway. Banks are forbidden from facilitating deposits and withdrawals for casino uses. Fortunately, there’s a way to work around this, and most people just make an account with an ewallet or some other form of payment.
Having an ewallet or similar allows you to deposit and withdraw your money without the hassle of the banking restrictions Norwegian’s face when gambling online. Prepaid cards are another potential means of payment for Norwegian players looking to join an online provider.
The most popular prepaid card in Europe is Paysafecard. You can easily buy a voucher for these at a local convenience store.
The Verdict
Norway currently doesn’t have government licensed casinos. However, that’s likely to change soon. Online casino usage since social isolation started has increased by little, but Norwegian players will watch for regulation changes with interest.
When gambling online, Norwegian’s need to keep an eye out for the correct casino licensing before signing up. Players also have to consider their payment methods and which one works best for them. The future is brighter than ever before in Norway, so watch this space.
Warner Bros. has unveiled the first trailer for Godzilla Vs. Kong. The fourth film released as part of the studio’s MonsterVerse franchise was directed by Adam Wingard and stars Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, and Rebecca Hall alongside young newcomer Kaylee Hottle. Check out the trailer below.
“Legends collide in Godzilla vs. Kong as these mythic adversaries meet in a spectacular battle for the ages, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance,” the film’s official synopsis reads. “Kong and his protectors undertake a perilous journey to find his true home, and with them is Jia, a young orphaned girl with whom he has formed a unique and powerful bond. But they unexpectedly find themselves in the path of an enraged Godzilla, cutting a swath of destruction across the globe. The epic clash between the two titans—instigated by unseen forces—is only the beginning of the mystery that lies deep within the core of the Earth.”
Originally scheduled for release on May 21, Godzilla Vs. Kong was recently moved up to March 26 and will also be available to stream for free for a month to HBO Max subscribers in the US. The latest installment in the MonsterVerse franchise follows 2014’s Godzilla, 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
With her debut single ‘My Friends Online’, ELIO displayed a knack for melodic and memorable pop songwriting that was simply impossible to ignore. But even when coated in layers of sugary production and relatable (and inadvertently prescient) lyrics about social isolation, what made the song stand out was the striking vulnerability that belied its addicting refrain: “I just want my friends online/ To be around me when I die,” she sings in a high-pitched voice, enunciating each word as if that anxiety is starting to take control of her breathing. It’s no surprise that people – including Troye Sivan, who name-checked her while undercover on Twitter, and Charli XCX, who has now become her co-manager – connected to it beyond its surface appeal.
Taking her moniker from a Call Me By Your Name character, the Canada-via-Swansea artist – real name Charlotte Grace Victoria – released her debut EP, u and me, but mostly me, in July of last year. Drawing inspiration from artists ranging from the 1975 to Taylor Swift to Sufjan Stevens, the 7-track project somehow melded the emotional swell of a Jack Antonoff production, the smooth R&B of post-Sweetener Ariana Grande, and the pandemic-induced intimacy of Charli’s how i’m feeling now. Now, she’s back with a new EP, Can You Hear Me Now?, which sees her refining her sound while continuing to explore different facets of it, from the shimmering synths on ‘Jackie Onassis’ to the soaring chorus of ‘hurts 2 hate somebody’ and the wistful melodies of ‘@elio.irl’. While the personal nature of ELIO’s songwriting allows her to transcend her influences, it’s her appreciation for the way pop music can make those experiences feel universal that ultimately makes her music resonate.
We caught up with ELIO for the latest edition of our Artist Spotlight interview series to talk about what drove her to pursue a career in pop music, her new EP, and more.
What are your earliest memories of being drawn to songwriting? Has it always been an important outlet for you?
I don’t really remember when I really started liking songwriting in particular, but when I was a kid, I would always listen to CDs and write down all the lyrics that I could understand. And then my grandma actually told me, I think it was last year – when I moved over to Canada, ‘cause I’m originally from the UK, she came over to visit and she was cleaning my room and she found this diary entry of me going, “Ugh, I just wanna write a song.” And I must have been like, eight or nine or something.
I read that you started out by playing in a shoegaze band in high school – do you feel that has informed the way you approach pop music now in any way?
Yeah, I think so, in a way. The music tastes that I have acquired over the years have definitely allowed me to kind of make this amalgamation of, like, pop, but also influenced by different genres and different styles of songwriting. I feel like when I started that project, it really allowed me to understand kind of the music business from the perspective of a band playing shows and independently trying to reach out to people. So it definitely helped a lot.
Was there any particular reason that you decided to make that shift towards pop?
Yeah, I mean, I was in that band until I was 19 or 18. And I left when I actually discovered the 1975, so I went from listening to like, purely alternative, shoegaze music, and then I found ‘Girls’ by the 1975 and I was like, “Uh, music can sound like this?!” And then I was addicted to writing pop melodies and really trying to improve my production and kind of think outside of the box in that way.
A lot of your songs so far have been about technology, but also, like, loneliness and feeling things very intensely and figuring out your identity while growing up. Do you feel that’s something that’s very personal to you, or do you also think all those themes are kind of generational in a way?
I think it’s both, for sure. I think I have a unique perspective on it because I spend a lot of time away from home and away from my friends and my relationship, so I think I maybe battle with it more than the average person. But I think everybody kind of feels that way. You know, even if you’re three houses down from your best friend, or even in the same room, our communication is through our phones; like, I’ll sit in the same room as my best friend and literally text her and send her memes and videos and TikToks and stuff like that. So yeah, I think it’s definitely generational, but I think a lot of those things are also very personal to me. Learning to communicate that much through my phone has been a real stepping stone to building those relationships.
Do you have a specific approach when it comes to capturing that through songwriting? Do you feel like it’s changed or developed in any way over time?
Yeah, I think just kind of taking down the wall of – I don’t want to say, like, your pride, but there’s definitely a part of me that’s like, “Do I really wanna put this in a song?” Because, you know, my mom and my grandma’s gonna listen to it. But I think once you get past being scared to share those feelings with a lot of people, then it actually gets easier to not only talk about yourself and your own issues and happenings or whatever, but also connecting to other people. Because a lot of the time people don’t actually talk about that stuff – they just can’t, you know, there’s not really a time or a place to talk about how much you communicate through technology and those conversations can be pretty rare. So I think just kind of breaking down that wall was a huge thing for me to be able to delve more into it.
What was it that helped you break down that wall?
Honestly, I think it was releasing it. I mean, I released the first EP, and I was really scared to do that. And that was kind of me of half opening up for a song. Or like, ‘My Friends Online’, it was personally about me, but the song perceives it as a whole generation of people communicating through their phones. And I think when I released that, and so many people related to it, I was like, “You know what, I’m just gonna keep going down this road.”
How do you feel this new EP is different from what you’ve released before, both in terms of the sound and the production but also in terms of songwriting?
I think it’s it’s definitely different, it’s a little more progressed. I mean, especially for ‘CHARGER’, it was kind of the song where I realized that I didn’t have to necessarily write about my unique situation and I could kind of create a story through an object that everybody has, which has been really enlightening. And yeah, I think production-wise, when we started it, we just wanted to make it ten times better. We just wanted to make a clean-sounding pop EP. I think the first EP was nice because it was very bedroom pop, but I think this one’s a little bit more clean and a little bit more finessed.
I think that definitely comes through, which is why ‘Fabric’ is interesting because it’s more stripped-back and raw. What inspired you to close off the EP with an acoustic track and also to revisit the chorus of ‘hurts 2 hate somebody’ at the end?
I think a lot of the EP is about realizing a lot about my relationships and my career and I guess just kind of generally my whole personality. And ‘Fabric’, I wrote that when I was 21 and I was working a part-time job and I’d just dropped out of school. I was really sad, and I kind of dealt with my lack of working on something that I loved and being happy by being resentful and thinking that I… not necessarily deserved it more than other people, but I felt like I was just as capable of doing things that I love as other people. And I guess I just wanted to close the EP off on something – like where I started off, because you listen to ‘hurts 2 hate somebody’ and it’s a lot about getting over resentfulness and blaming other people. But it’s definitely been a journey – I’m a very pessimistic person, so I think closing it off on the note of “my life sucks and I wanna change everything” is kind of interesting.
You mentioned how the songs are about figuring things out in terms of your personality and your career. Do you feel that pursuing music has brought you a sense of purpose, or have you found that it’s also important to keep that separate from your sense of identity?
Yeah, I mean, music and especially this project and the art that goes around it is a lot of my personality. [laughs] I think I would actually like to separate it maybe a little bit more, since it does take up a lot of my life. But also, I kind of embrace it; a lot of my friends I’ve made through music and through playing shows or creating music videos and stuff like that. So I think it’s just learning where to become your actual person who has relationships and, you know, a friend when somebody needs one and separating it from your career.
I’m curious – at the very end of ‘Fabric’, what’s the sound that interrupts the recording?
[laughs] That’s my boyfriend’s dad. So my boyfriend, Mickey [Brandolino], he also produces on the record with me. And we’re kind of doing this really emotional guitar part, and his dad was upstairs and the studio is downstairs. And he just does this massive sneeze. And yeah, we decided to keep it. I think it’s funny.
Did you decide it right then and there or did you do another take?
No, that was it. That was the last take. We just committed.
It definitely helps end things on a lighter note. With that said, what are your plans now that the EP is out? Have you been working on your next project?
Yeah, I just started writing two weeks ago. So yeah, definitely more music, and then maybe something in between then as well.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this segment.
This week, we got another exciting preview from Madlib and Four Tet’s upcoming collaborative project, the downbeat and hypnotic ‘Dirtknock’; Arca and Radiohead collaborator Oliver Coats teamed up on the stirring and sublime 9-minute track ‘Madre’, while Hand Habits’ latest, ‘4th of july’, is richly moving and expansive despite its relatively short runtime; New Pagans delivered the fiery and anthemic ‘Christian Boys’; Bristol songwriter Clara Mann shared her second official single, the beautifully intimate ‘Thoughtless’; and finally, Cassandra Jenkins turned what could have been a meandering spoken-word track into something poignant and compelling with her latest, ‘Hard Drive’.
Grandmaster and World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen is an icon with chess fans. From an early age he has been considered a top player, even playing the God-like Kasparov at the age of thirteen and drawing.
Based on Walter Tevis’s novel, the Netflix limited series drama The Queen’s Gambit is a coming-of-age story that explores the real cost of being a genius. The series follows Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) as she develops into an impressively talented and glamorous outcast while striving to break the boundaries set by the men-dominated chess world.
In this nearly ten minute long video, Carlsen breaks down Netflix’s drama series The Queen’s Gambit and its most iconic scenes.
Fuzzed-out guitars, crunchy bass tones, and sweet vocals coalesce in Pom Poko’s deliriously unhinged music. Following up their thrilling 2019 debut Birthday, the Norwegian art-pop quartet – consisting of vocalist Ragnhild Jamtveit, guitarist Martin Miguel Tonne, bassist Jonas Krøvel, and drummer Ola Djupvik – once again prove they simply wouldn’t have it any other way: with the wackiness ramped up and the confidence more firmly on display, their latest not only bursts with as much colour as its predecessor, but is also at times both catchier and more adventurous. Even if the 33-minute LP does little to further the band’s stylistic progression, it succeeds in the tricky job of retaining the quirky punk fervor that made them exciting in the first place.
Albums as frantically playful and chaotic as Cheater can feel like an overload on the senses, especially for those not attuned to this particular brand of indie rock, but one of the record’s charms is that it ensures the listener is in on the fun. “Goodbye, my friend/ Go out, explore,” Jamtveit entreats on ‘My Candidacy’, as if for a moment encouraging both her bandmates and the listener to explore their wildest creative instincts. But the key to the group’s chemistry is that its four members never fall out of step with one another, and here, they tighten up the arrangements and production so that the unrelenting force of their music feels even more deliberate, the result of intense collaboration rather than a fortuitous half-accident; the frenzied ‘Like A Lady’ offers the most remarkable example of this, a song that’s executed with as much boisterous energy as electrifying precision.
Considering the band quickly developed a reputation for their explosive live shows, it’s no surprise many of the songs here are designed to thrive in a live context, with Jamtveit commanding “clap your hands and everybody get down” on the blissfully psychedelic ‘Andy Go to School’. So it helps that, for all their experimental tendencies, Pom Poko’s approach to songcraft owes a lot to traditional pop structures, lending a surprising immediacy to cuts like ‘Andy Go to School’ and the seemingly related ‘Andrew’. But while there’s no doubt these songs are optimized for maximum enjoyment in either a live setting or on an individual basis, they don’t always manage to create a cohesive album experience in a way that’s comparable to some of the band’s most obvious influences.
This is partly why Cheaters’ most engaging tracks are those that find the band revelling in loud-quiet dynamics, from early, snappy highlights like ‘Like A Lady’ to the jazzier/proggier direction the album careens toward on its back half. There’s nothing really matching the surprisingly intimate ‘Honey’ or the 5-minute epic ‘If U Want Me 2 Stay’ that stood out on their debut, but songs like ‘Look’ and ‘Baroque Denial’ suggest the band is more than happy to embrace different dimensions of their sound. There are also vague hints they might be looking to augment their off-kilter aesthetic with lyrics that gesture towards similarly absurd narratives, but those are far from developed here. For now, it’s safe to say Pom Poko deliver enough dizzy, genre-mashing exuberance to keep us itching for the return of live music.
Let’s face it, we all have one life and we want to live it to the best of our abilities. But that being said, it is also quite difficult to ensure that we do that, when in some cases, we don’t know what we want to do. You may be facing a decision about education, perhaps deciding on whether you want to continue it or study in a specific area. Maybe you are faced with the decision on what you will do for your career. Where you will live or the lifestyle you want to lead. However, we can all be influenced in a positive way, and there are some great ways to seek out inspiration. With that in mind, here are some of the ways to find it.
Social media
One of the first big influences that we can have when it comes to our lives is social media. After all, we all check our status updates and feeds on different platforms various times of the day. The information we consume can have an influence on our lives. So whether you see somebody living a certain lifestyle, someone doing something specific or visiting somewhere, it can make us feel and think that we would like to do that to. This is why influencer marketing for businesses is so big right now.
Influential people
There will be, however, influential people specifically in different areas that can also have a big influence on our lives. This could be famous people or maybe someone specific in their field. Whether it is someone specialist in their field like Travis Preston, or whether that is someone who is a CEO of a large corporation, these people can influence us based on their experience and what they have done with their lives. It is always worth looking at what people share and their journeys.
Specific schools or universities
It might be that you are looking at specific schools and universities as an influence to help you make your decision. It could be that you think you need to read reviews of how people have experienced their time in these establishments before you can make the decision of what is right for you and the next step in your journey.
Your parents, friends or other family members
There is no denying that one of the biggest influences we can have are the people that are in our lives daily. This could be your parents, your family members and even your friends. You will value their opinions, their journeys and the experiences they have and it could help to influence you in making the right decision for you.
TV and films we view
Last of all, there are the things that we see on the TV. The series we can get engrossed in and the films that can have a big impact on how we think and feel. Documentaries, history programmes and even just standard films, they can all help us to see things in different ways and perhaps influence what we do in our lives.
Let’s hope this has pointed you in the right direction for where you can seek some inspiration.
