Why Freelancing Is A Smart Move To Your Design Career

We all want to love what we do and do what we love.

Sir Ken Robinson, who knows a thing or two about creativity (with more than 40 million views on his TED talk), believes this goal can be achieved if we combine between our passion and what we’re good at.

But this is tricky. We can be brilliant and passionate designers, but sometimes our day to day role isn’t working out the way we’ve expected.

Not every day is glorious.

Often we encounter problematic clients, boring projects or slow design processes that put a halt on our progress. We can’t control every aspect of our job, and that’s where freelance work can fit.

Being a freelancer means you have a lot more freedom.

You’re the master of your own domain, so you can choose your clients, determine your project’s timetable, and pick your preferable work method.

But with freedom comes along responsibility.

Working as a freelance designer usually means you’re a “one man show”, in charge of a vast amount of responsibilities. You often act as the UX consultant, visual designer, UI expert and sometimes even as the technical writer or front end developer.

Rather than taking these ‘added’ responsibilities as an obstacle, I prefer seeing it as a great opportunity.

When you freelance, you get to practice skills or areas of expertise you don’t usually get to explore, for whatever reason. For me, personally, this means I get the chance to work on a product from different angels; from UX and strategy, to UI and interaction, to branding and marketing.

Our ‘regular’ jobs usually allow us to focus on a singular domain, due to strict hierarchy structures and formal role definitions (‘UX designer’ is not a ‘Functional Architect’ though there’s an obvious overlapping between the two). We are confined by these narrow definitions and are encouraged to reduce our creativity and craftsmanship to the limits of our role.

But we are designers! free spirits of the world! problem solvers-creative-thinkers-magic-making designers!

We need freedom to explore and practice. And that’s exactly what freelancing provides: the freedom to be more involved in your project, and to create an holistic experience.

Having said that, and regardless of how fulfilling a freelance project can be, obviously there are some downsides to it. Freelance projects are not always fun and games.

All the familiar problems we’ve come to terms in our ‘regular’ jobs also exist when we freelance. But like any bad experience, the trick is to learn from it.

I’ve learned how to write better proposals, how not to sell myself short, and how to deal with long projects that took forever to finish.

Every freelance project has taught me lessons that were important to my development as a designer.

So… do you want to start freelancing yourself? great!

Here are my 3 top tips that will help you get started:

1. You should always choose a project that makes you tick

Money aside, you should always look for a project that interests you. If it’s not interesting enough to put your effort and time into, you should definitely walk away from it.

More importantly, working on interesting projects will usually guarantee you’ll have more fun doing it, which will make your end result to be as awesome as you’ve hoped it to be.

Try to think what’s important to you: a project with big challenges? a project where you’ll have to require a new skills set? or one with a great team on board?

There’s a world of projects out there. You should identify ‘what makes you tick’ and pick accordingly. It’s that simple.

2. Take the opportunity to grow as a business

When you freelance, you’re basically a business; you’re in charge of a wide scope of responsibilities other than design.

Marketing: You should know how to market yourself, how to get top dollar for your talent and how to use different negotiating tactics (in the end, every client wants more than what he asked for. EVERY SINGLE TIME).

Communication: You should be able to work independently, but also to be part of a team. You should be articulate and know how to pitch your ideas. And last but not least, know how to deal with feedback (even the ones you don’t agree with).

Self Management: You should anticipate time-related obstacles and take them into account. Think about how are you going to work: are you willing to work on weekends? will you answer emails at any time? how will you work efficiently so that both you and your client feel satisfied?

3. Don’t be afraid to lead

From my experience, if you’re hired as a freelance designer, this means you’re probably the only authority in the team/company who understands design.

No one else but you cares about typography or current design trends, which makes you the standard-bearer. Take the opportunity to lead and educate your clients. If they’ll be receptive, you’ll gain their respect and they’ll want to work with you again.

Try to treat your freelance project as more than just a contractual agreement. Show your clients you care. Demonstrate your expertise not just by supplying a designed solution, but with a clear vision on how to utilize it.

Send examples of case studies, similar to the ones you’re dealing with; share thoughts concerning the ‘next steps’; encourage discussions about new ideas that could have a positive impact on the project.

You don’t need to be aggressive; you simply need to trust your abilities and be confident. It will be worthwhile in the end.

** This is the second article of “4:min read”, short inspirational articles that span across design, user experience, innovation, content and technology **

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