This $20 design tool helps boost your portfolio and land more clients

TLDR: The FakeClients Brief Generator creates unique graphic design assignments to sharpen your skills and bolster your portfolio for just $19.99. 

Back in his 2008 book “Outliers,” writer Malcolm Gladwell pitched a theory that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to actually get good at something. From Bill Gates to the Beatles, he determined that those thousands of hours spent honing your craft were, in essence, an almost magic number and the true crucible that forged greatness.

Of course, 10,000 hours is a lot of time. And while playing instruments and performing for 10,000 hours may seem straightforward, how does someone with aspirations to, say, launch a graphic design career fill that 10,000-hour requirement? As many upstart pros will tell you, it’s easier said than done.

At first glance, it’s almost tough to decide if FakeClients is actually career training or a game. In reality, it’s very likely both. Either way, it’s an inventive, instructive way to get good at design work that feels like real freelance work.

Right now, you can try out FakeClients Design Brief Generator with a lifetime subscription to their Pro plan for only $19.99, an over 90 percent savings from TNW Deals.

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FakeClients is just that — fake clients who are asking you to complete a graphic design assignment. Whether they need a new logo for their pizzeria, website design for their digital storefront or a basic illustration for a poster or book cover, the brief you receive will outline what the company wants and when they need it. Now, it’s up to you to make it happen.

Once you put in the time to craft your best work, you can use it to fill out your portfolio, as well as get feedback from other FakeClient users. No two briefs are ever the same, so you’ll always be faced with new challenges for each assignment.

Since most up-and-coming designers can’t field this much real-world work, this teeming virtual freelance business is a fantastic tool to sharpen your skills and create a host of different design work to show your versatility as an artist.

With the Pro plan, users get longer, more detailed briefs, access to a cache of premium written briefs plus an interface with no ads, an eye-soothing dark mode and a variety of other features. Before you know it, you can start heavily chipping away at the 10,000 hour mark…plus, you’ll have some stunning design work to prove it.

A lifetime FakeClients subscription is a $600 value, but with this current offer, it’s only $19.99 for a limited time.

Prices are subject to change.