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Connect with New Clients: The Benefits of RGD's Designer Directory
01/10/22
RGD Members share how up-to-date Designer Directory profiles have led to new projects and client connections.
The Directory contains a comprehensive list of contacts in the Canadian graphic design industry for those seeking to hire or engage designers or creative agencies and those looking for reputable suppliers that provide products and services to the communications industry.
In addition to featuring questions that help potential clients and employers learn about you and your work, Certified RGDs and Team Members can post upto 10 images and Provisional RGDs can post up to 5 images to showcase their work. Each individual under Team Membership gets their own profile. Affiliate Members also get a directory listing, excluding the images.
To complete your profile, simply log on to the Members-only section of website and update the 'Profile' section. Watch a video on how-to update your RGD Designer Directory profile here.
One Member is selected bi-weekly to be a 'Featured Member' on the website and they get an opportunity to be profiled in an issue of our e-newsletter RGD Word and on our social media channels reaching over 70,000.
Below is how having an up-to-date RGD Directory has helped our Members:
The RGD Directory is a helpful resource for sourcing talented designers, but I never imagined it would bring me new business! On more than one occasion, I've been approached by potential clients who found me through the RGD Directory. They contacted me to start a conversation — which resulted in new work!
Esther Sunghee Byun RGD, Senior Designer, Pentagram
Having my profile included on the RGD Directory has led me to being contacted by new clients across Canada. Since the clients have already done the research on who I am as a designer and which design services I offer, they know what my design specialties are. This allows them to deliver a detailed and specific project proposal. I've had a variety of clients approach me to tackle different avenues of design that I specialize in. There were also opportunities to continue having ongoing contact with these new clients. For example, a client who contacted me for a visual identity design project reached out again a few months later for a new editorial project. Without the RGD Directory, I wouldn't have had the chance to work with these new unique clients. It has always been a pleasant surprise to be found and contacted!
Raymond Cheah RGD, Creative Director at CIFAR:
I was approached by two different companies that reached out to me about freelancing because they believed I would be a good fit for their projects. On both occasions, they mentioned they discovered my work via the RGD. At the time, my profile was highlighted as the “Featured Member” and both requests came in within weeks of each other after that profile piece. It was great exposure for me and it confirmed people/companies are using the RGD Directory to find freelance talents to help them.
Karen Ng-Hem RGD, President and Creative Director, KAREN NG-HEM INC.:
Like most, I approach the first day of the New Year with intention. The cliché is true: how a series of small actions creates momentum for bigger ones. January 1st, 2022, I made it a priority to update my RGD profile.
On January 19, 2022 a digital agency in Calgary, Alberta contacted me via my website. By 6:00 pm I was onboarded! New projects typically come through referrals. Curious, I naturally said in the meeting —“I have no clue who you are…how did you find me?!” Because of the agency’s model, they’re constantly on the search for creatives whom they put into categories of where they think people fit, based on the work that they see. The President answered me, "When our client came to us for their annual, I thought I’d reach out and see if you wanted to work on this. We’d been following your work for a while and found you on the RGD website.”
In July I was contacted again, this time by a non-profit think tank in Ottawa, Ontario, who works with all levels of government and the public/private sector, post-secondary institutions, NGOs and Indigenous groups to improve policy outcomes for Canadians. The client (a designer herself) in charge of creative and brand, turned to RGD's Member Directory in search of an editorial/publication designer for a final report culminating a three-year initiative on safeguarding digital human rights in Canada. The lead came to her as a suggestion from a coworker on their Comms team (who is also an RGD!).
Check out the RGD Designer Directory here.
RGD Members are invited to update their Designer Directory Profiles in the Members-only section.