For the past several months or years, you've been honing your design skills in order to become a freelancing graphic designer. If you've mastered everything, taken enough classes, and built a nice portfolio of sample projects, you're ready to start your career as a free-lancer.
But now, what is the next step? If you're trying to find your first clients, how do you know if they are paying or not? How do you persuade people that you're a good hire and that you can make a living doing it? We talked to a group of design mentors at RookieUp about ways to grow your business and find new clients.
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Be prompt about communication and responses.
Communication between clients and a work team online is important. You need to ask questions and give updates since the project will not be possible in person. There will be no in-person meetings so you need other means of online communication.
One of the advantages of working online is you can depend on asynchronous communication, such as email or workstream messages on freelancing websites. This means you don't need to be present and live at the same time as the client, which is especially useful when the client is in another time zone.
You can use other tools if you are not a good writer or client is better in their verbal communication. A project can be completed without ever having to speak on the phone.
Communication is not always two-wayIt's been a while since we've last had that sort of activity. I want my clients to respond to my questions and help me out with my work. If the client has a bad experience with communication, then it's likely to be frustrating. If you need to wait, ideally within a few days. You should remind your clients to send feedback on your latest draft if you're been waiting for replies.
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Take the work that you've done and put it in a portfolio. Do you don't have a sufficient number of projects? It's a good time to create some more.
Portfolios are one of the things that you need to keep an eye on in your arsenal. This is a great opportunity to show off your skills and let clients know which work you're most interested in. It's fine if you don't showcase much work from the clients in a portfolio, but if you're just starting out it won't be an issue.
Make your own projects while you're looking for real ones. Not only will this improve your abilities and bolster your portfolio, but it will have you ready to go once the projects do come in.” To figure out the best sorts of projects to work on when you're building up your portfolio, think about what aspects of design interest you the most and focus your projects around this. The easiest selling time to clients is likely the work that you showcase on your portfolio. If a client is interested in you, they want to be aware that you've done similar work before even if it's just from personal projects.
It's a hot debate in the design community if you should provide detailed written explanations for each piece of your portfolio. If you work in visual designing, you should do the work on your own and speak for yourself. A case study is more crucial if you're a UX designer. Regardless, focus on surfacing your best work as quickly as possible and don't showcase anything that isn't up to your highest standards.
If you need some additional project inspiration, check out these articles on Skillcrush HOW Design for some unique project ideas.
Once you find reliable freelancers, you won't want to stop there. Follow these five tips to help build and retain a stable of freelance workers.
It's easier than ever to take on freelance work thanks to apps and sites dedicated to connecting temp workers with hiring companies. On the employer side, hiring freelancers can help fill gaps in skills and expertise without hiring a full-time employee. However, while finding qualified freelance talent is one step, retaining your best workers and establishing a reliable base of gig-workers takes time and effort.
In the case of Darren Kall, managing director of Specific Clairity, a UX design consulting company, his business relies entirely on freelance UX designers, engineers and experts. The company builds and runs customized teams of UX workers for clients and using freelancers lets them cherry-pick specific skills to suit each project.
"If we had a staff of full-time employees, we would be limited by their skills, disciplines and experience. We would have to only take client work that they were expertly capable of doing, because we refuse to put people on a project that they are not qualified to deliver. Instead, with a pool of expert freelancers, we're able to put together just the right team of the specifically skilled people to get an exact project done for our clients," he says.
Freelancers not only help businesses fill these types of skill gaps, but they can also help alleviate workloads for smaller or understaffed teams. But retaining a stable of reliable freelancers takes work, time and energy -- you have to create an environment that keeps the best talent coming back.
[ Related story: How to manage workers in the gig economy ]
Get to know your freelancers
One of the first things you want to do when hiring freelancers is to determine what skills and experience you need on a regular basis that can't be found in-house. And the best way to do that, according to Kall, is to get to know your freelancers.
"To be efficient we must really know our talent pool's skills, disciplines and areas of expertise, relevant experience, and what type of work they are interested in doing. We think we're pretty good at it, but even after working with people for years they [still] surprise us. So, we don't count on our memory," he says.
Instead, they keep track of every freelancer and their relevant skills on a spreadsheet, making it easy to quickly search for a specific match. As they get to know freelancers better, they update the spreadsheet with new information, creating a rich database to pull from.
"Once we meet a potential person to add to our talent pool we have a multi-step evaluation process. This takes repeated contact to get to know their work and assess their fit, but finding the right people is worth taking it slow," he says.
[ Related story: 6 tips to help tech freelancers build a client base ]
Offer stability
This might seem obvious, but despite their non-traditional work style, freelancers want a regular paycheck just like any full-time worker. Since freelancers lack a centralized HR to handle their payments, they often have to juggle multiple payment systems and processes for each client they work with. The easier you can make the process, the better.
Focus first and foremost on keeping work and pay consistent, says Brandy Benefield, a senior content developer at Postali, a PR marketing firm for attorneys that relies heavily on freelance workers. "We provide steady work so that our freelancers aren't worried about where their next check is coming from. Some of our freelance writers are able to take enough assignments from us to be more or less a full-time equivalent job. That stability can result in better quality and productivity," she says.
Consider it an investment in your freelancers, she says -- offer competitive pay and interesting, consistent work, and you'll get better results.
Set expectations
One way to keep your freelancers around is to set clear expectations about what you want. This not only helps reduce the amount of back and forth between you and the freelancer, but it makes their job easier too. It's likely they work for multiple clients who all want different things, so knowing what you want, and being able to communicate that clearly can go a long way, says Benefield.
But avoid creating too much structure around your expectations of freelancers -- most of them are freelancing in order to avoid that traditional corporate structure in the first place. "For us it is providing freelancers interesting things to work on, unblocking obstacles to them doing great work, ensuring that reasonable time is scheduled for the project work, and making sure they know what they are doing will make a difference. All practical things we'd all like from our jobs," says Kall.
Provide feedback
You might be hesitant to provide feedback to a freelancer, since they aren't a traditional employee, but Benefield recommends opening the lines of communication. She always provides constructive feedback to freelancers -- it not only it helps establish expectations but it helps freelancers hone their skills for future projects and other clients.
"We treat our freelancers with respect and professionalism. If we have an issue with work, we communicate that clearly along with our expectations. Our freelancers appreciate the guidance and want to improve," she says.
She also recommends remaining available to the freelancers just as you would an in-house employee, whether it's over a messenger platform, email or by phone. Whether they have questions or concerns, Benefield says you should remain responsive and treat it as you would any request from a full-time worker.
Stay flexible
Although freelancers appreciate steady, regular work, their schedules can be unpredictable -- and unlike your full-time employees, the chance is higher that they will have to turn down a project. Therefore, Kall says that anytime you have a project, especially if it's last minute, you need to consider a freelancer's changing workload.
"Freelancers are always busy filling their pipeline with project work, so their availability is constantly shifting. Freelancers often switch back to full time employment and stop freelance work altogether. Those shifting resources make it difficult to know the moment to moment availability of our talent pool. Adding someone with the right talent and interest to the pool isn't enough, we've got to maintain awareness of their shifting availability," says Kall.
They often request three-month availability updates from freelancers and also allow freelancers to update their own availability as needed. It's not perfect, but he says it gives a better picture of who is likely to take on a project at that moment. And as backup, Kall ensures that they have more than one freelancer on tap with similar skills, so that if someone is unavailable, someone else with the right skills can jump in.
Don't get comfortable
Once you've established a solid base of freelancers, try not to get too comfortable. "Since people's circumstances change, we must continually evaluate people to add them to our talent pool," says Kall. It's not uncommon for freelancers' work status to change, or there's a chance they signed on for a short-term contract with another client, preventing them from working with you.
Whatever the case, unlike filling an open position for a full-time employee, you shouldn't stop your search for more freelance talent -- you want to overstaff your freelance base. And you might have to get creative in your search -- for example, Kall's company continually attracts new talent by hosting meet ups for local UX designers to get together. It's a great way to provide networking opportunities for freelancers, while also getting a chance to meet future talent.
"In the corporate world, we would hire employees after a tiered but quick process of resume and portfolio review, phone interview, then an all-day interview with a lot of team members. But when building freelancers into the pool it is doing some of those same things, and but also getting to know the freelancer better over time, testing them on small jobs, and then knowing much deeper the value they can deliver before adding them to the pool," he says.
Over the last decade, the structure of traditional businesses has been challenged by an increasingly digitized professional landscape. An accelerating mobile workforce has resulted in attracting and retaining top talent to becoming a perpetual procedure for the majority of businesses. Even the most established companies are being pushed to adapt to changing worker’s needs, catering …
Over the last decade, the structure of traditional businesses has been challenged by an increasingly digitized professional landscape. An accelerating mobile workforce has resulted in attracting and retaining top talent to becoming a perpetual procedure for the majority of businesses. Even the most established companies are being pushed to adapt to changing worker’s needs, catering to a more dynamic and flexible workforce as we settle into the digital age.
While the digital economy has certainly challenged the conventional workforce, it has also seen the culmination of a boom in tech talent, markedly in the fields of user experience and design. Over the last 5 years, UX design has blossomed, and there are now over 900,000 user experience professionals currently registered on Linkedin. Companies today recognize the value of having a good UX guru on their team, as accomplished design can increase conversion rates and drive consumer interest, among other important metrics.
Here are how some of the world’s most successful companies access the most talented UX designers on the market today.
They don’t limit themselves
In the past, finding new talent was largely dependent on internal networks and word-of-mouth recommendations. While these are still perfectly legitimate ways to source new talent, some of the world’s most prominent businesses are recognizing the benefit of diversifying their network. Thanks to the development of advanced communication tools and connected technologies, even corporate giants like Paypal are working with contractors in order to increase access to the best talent available.
They look for thought leaders
Today, there is a wealth of freelance job platforms that provide diversified networks of freelance UX designers that specialize in everything from product design to social enterprise. Companies like Toptal, which was established just seven years ago and is one of the top freelance platforms in the world, are thought leaders in providing businesses with a diverse network of freelance talent. Employers are granted the opportunity to review each approved designer’s CV, as well as past project experience in order to streamline the hiring process. Toptal also employs a team of experts to carefully vet each freelancer that is part of their network, in addition to providing talent-matching services. Other platforms, like veteran talent platform Freelancer, which offers a comprehensive talent network that also promotes freelancers by allowing them to showcase their skills through contests. Those on the lookout for a new team member can keep on eye on any UX competitions that match their ideal candidate portfolio to find the freelancer with the both relevant experience and quality technical skills.
In addition to freelance marketplaces, businesses also extend their search to designer communities based all around the world. While the majority of design communities function as peer to peer networks that aim to help designers hone their skills and improve their portfolios, there are plenty that provide job boards and career networks with the purpose of connecting users to potential employers.
They invest in their employees
Companies that attract the best and brightest know it takes a lot more than offering a big paycheck. This means investing not just financially, but also in employee well-being. Companies that invest in their employees are more likely to attract top talent, based on a variety of factors from offering a balanced working environment to fair compensation. By breaking down each element of the potential responsibilities carried out by a user experience designer, you will be able to comprise a budget that meets current industry standards. In addition, more detailed analysis of tasks will help you identify what profile to look for.
Task-Result-Hourly Rate
User ResearchGathering information regarding what users expect and need, boosting the overall chances of a successful product 50 USD
PersonasPersonas help the UX designer realize the mock-up based on the profiles of potential users. These profiles are created based on the information gathered during the research phase 50 USD
DesignThe process of transforming wireframes into mockups, moving into the final stages of product development 100-200 USD
Product usabilityGathering real-time data and information testing the product with actual users which promote awareness and improves the product based on user feedback 30-50 USD
Follow up/ MaintenanceIt’s always wise to budget in routine maintenanceTBD
These numbers are based on the average hourly rate charged by freelance UX designers across several platforms
Depending on the complexity of your project, you can make a salary estimate based on the price of individual tasks that will define your designer’s position, such as cost of market research, wireframing, product testing and maintenance.
They know what they’re looking for
While it is the job of a UX designer to know user experience inside and out, and it’s the primary reason you are hiring them, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a solid grasp on what you are looking for during the vetting process. Before you start lining up potential candidates, take a moment to do your research and familiarize yourself with the position and the capabilities that a highly qualified designer should possess. Toptal provides various resources that are crafted specifically to help employers streamline the hiring process. Based on these resources, some of the key things to remember during the hiring process should include:
Craft a list of essential interview questions that cover the candidates design process, their knowledge of current industry trends and their approach to problem solving
Educate yourself on the common mistakes made by UX designers so you can be aware of what to keep an eye out while reviewing portfolios and during a skills test
Review a UX designer hiring guide that highlights what you should and can expect a UX professional to accomplish on a technical level, in addition to helping you assess which skills you will need most.
Utilizing these resources crafted by industry experts will help you understand the breadth of a UX designer’s skill sets and allow you to identify your specific needs, making the interview process much more accurate and efficient.
While the majority of user experience designers have a variety of skills under their belts, don’t expect them to be a unicorn. Some of the above-mentioned tasks are often split between user experience designers and user interface designers. While UX and UI designers often collaborate, it’s important to differentiate between the two positions. To ensure that you are appealing to the best UX professionals out there, it’s imperative that you provide a balanced working environment that respects their capabilities and promotes growth within your company.
Today’s gig workers don’t just include your local Uber drivers or handymen on TaskRabbit. More knowledge workers are looking to the gig economy as work.
Today’s gig workers don’t just include your local Uber drivers or handymen on TaskRabbit. In fact, there’s a growing subset of knowledge workers who are looking to the gig economy as a viable alternative to full-time employment.
Upwork’s 2017 Freelancing in America study predicts freelancers will become the majority of the US workforce in a decade, with younger generations primarily driving that acceleration in freelancing.
That’s happening right now — the survey estimates nearly 50 percent of millennial workers in the US are currently freelancing.
The promise of freedom, flexibility and the chance to be their own boss is leading the next generation of workers to reimagine what they want from a career.
But the reality is that separated from organizations where personal and professional growth can happen organically, independent knowledge workers will find themselves under increasing pressure to upskill and build new competencies across their specific areas of expertise as well as across business-centric subjects.
Without organizational support and a predictable income, they are solely responsible for their own development and that means understanding the core tenets of things like marketing and finance as well as their core area of expertise if they want to be successful.
Expanding into a new world
“We will be free agents in the future, with our own personal brands, selling our skills to those who need them.” That’s where 47 percent of respondents in PwC’s 2017 Workforce of the Future Survey, believe we are headed.
But from the moment they decide to take the plunge, gig workers need a value proposition to market their strengths and services. As work finds them, they have to understand client requirements, but also know how to pitch their own ideas.
They have to grow a network, build relationships, ensure repeat business, create a pipeline of opportunities as well as get a handle on things like finance and accounting. Despite the growing appetite among organizations to tap into the gig economy, success still depends on an individual’s ability to navigate these complexities and wear many professional hats.
Take, for example, a freelance UX designer who has years of design experience and has built up loyal clients along the way. A change in personal circumstances such as a new family might be a catalyst for re-structuring work from full-time to becoming an independent contractor.
So the need need to broaden skills and knowledge beyond the core technical domain of design now becomes critical to start up a new business.
Building future-focused capabilities
In Deloitte’s 2018 Global Human Capital Trends Survey, companies listed complex problem-solving, cognitive abilities, and social skills as the most needed capabilities for the future, with “businesses clamoring for workers with this blend of skills, not pure technical competency.”
Context matters more than ever in the evolving labor market, along with a worker’s ability to connect the dots. To succeed, gig workers need to develop future-focused capabilities like strategic thinking, analyzing, influencing, and integration, combining these with soft skills like creativity and lateral thinking.
Independent workers have to find the sweet spot in the ‘T intersection’, a framework developed by Heather McGowan, a consultant at Work to Learn. The basis of the framework is that in order to keep up with a changing world, professionals must evolve from “disciplinary” or “vertical” workers, to “multi-disciplinary” or “T-shaped” workers.
The horizontal intersection, which determines their success, is how they are able to influence clients, manage stakeholders, think laterally and create value. In the examples shared above, a UX designer would need to learn client relationship skills, master new ways of communicating including how to develop and deliver a pitch, and how to build and leverage their networks.
Developing a 21st century skill set
With technology accelerating change at the workplace, a college education is no longer enough to stay competitive. Learning has become a way of life, not a stage in life. The problem is compounded for independent workers. They have to constantly reinvent themselves and stay agile, but a 24/7 workday leaves no room for rigid or traditional classroom programs.
Besides upskilling to stay relevant, they have to acquire a brand new set of skills to stand out in the dynamic labor market, where their competition spans the world. To stay ahead of the curve, every one of them needs 21st century skills – continuous learning, resilience, adaptability, and the capability to shift course and grow into other areas as professionals.
Upwork’s survey found 65 percent of full time freelancers update their skills as jobs evolve, versus only 45 percent of full-time employees. The most successful gig workers constantly prepare for the future and have successfully made the transition to lifelong learners.
They embrace formats like online learning which gives them the balance and flexibility to learn with unpredictable schedules. Learning online also gives them access to the in-demand content and future-ready competencies that are critical for their success in the gig economy.
No one is as connected to the future of work as the independent worker. In The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman best framed the challenge every worker will face in this labor market of the future, “Today’s workers need to approach the workplace much like athletes preparing for the Olympics, with one difference. They have to prepare like someone who is training for the Olympics but doesn’t know what sport they are going to enter.”
Four UX design pros on breaking into the industry, how to advance, how they approach projects and what they love about their work.
When legendary IBM industrial designer Eliot Noyes expressed this opinion in 1944, he was referring to how the best everyday physical objects wed functionality and aesthetics. Now, seventy-five years later, that same focus on intentionality and un-fussiness also serves as true north for digital design — especially user experience (a.k.a. UX) design.
Often conflated with digital graphic design, UX is essentially the process of improving and simplifying the user experience for a digital product — it's not all about how a tech product looks when you use it. The way a brand’s logo pops up when you click on an app isn't really UX. But the way your favorite restaurant directory or weather app defaults to your current location — that’s a deliberate UX choice.
We talked with four UX design pros — some emerging, some long-established thought leaders — about breaking into the industry, how to advance, how they approach projects and what they love about their work. Those who shared their insights include: Sydney-based Adham Dannaway, a freelance UX designer and UX Twitter luminary who’s worked for Qantas, Growth Giant and more; Kevin Lucius, creative director of SmartFinancial (and HGTV-featured printmaker); Lauren Howerter, senior UX designer at Solstice; and Laura Klein, an industry veteran who co-hosts the What is Wrong with UX podcast and has written two books about UX.
HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTO UX?
ADHAM DANNAWAY
Freelance UI/UX Designer and Front End Developer
I actually started out studying computer science at UNSW Sydney. I was lucky enough to get an IT internship after that, where I discovered my passion for websites and design. I then studied a Master of Digital Media to learn more about design, and built websites on the side to pay the bills, mainly helping small to medium-sized businesses with branding and site design. After my master's, I worked at start-ups, tech companies (Campaign Monitor, Freelancer.com), agencies and larger corporations (including Qantas, St. George Bank and Westpac) to gain experience and build my skills.
KEVIN LUCIUS
UX Designer at SmartFinancial
I always loved art and design as a kid, so I decided to pursue it as a career without knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I got a bachelor's degree in technology and studied visual communication. The curriculum included web design, photography, graphic design and marketing. One of my first jobs out of school was at a commercial sign company. We designed way-finding signage for hotels, airports and hospitals. That was my first experience at a professional level designing something with a user in mind. Our goal was to move people through a space and guide them toward an endpoint. So later on, when I got more into web design, I found it interesting that the same concepts applied. I picked it up quickly and really enjoyed it.
LAUREN HOWERTER
Senior UX Designer at Solstice
Like many Freelance UX designers, I started off in a more traditional graphic and print design job then worked into digital. UX design is similar in that, as a designer in general, I follow the same core design principles that a graphic designer or print designer or web designer might follow. But as a UX designer, the scope of my responsibilities and work has increased. I'm thinking big picture, thinking strategically. And that involves a lot of not-so-glamorous design work, like diagrams and whiteboarding — a lot more collaboration than any other realm of design I've worked in.
It's really a more objective design practice in that very little of what I do is dictated by subjective opinions, whereas marketing design or brand design is very subjective. You collect feedback that's like, "I don't like blue," or, "I don't like the color of this thing," or, "I don't like the type style." And in UX, I’m thinking so much more about how someone interacts with what we're designing. What's legible to them, what colors are visible on a screen in daylight. The mindset is very different in that way.
LAURA KLEIN
Principal at Users Know
Author (Build Better Products, UX for Lean Startups)
I started off doing user research at a think tank. I was very low level but got to learn from some really experienced folks and got really lucky. Then I went and learned how to program. People who were actual interaction designers at that point, the ones that I knew, all had master's degrees in it — and that was not me. So I went off, learned how to program, then became an engineer.
I had started a master’s program in computer engineering, but then a friend offered me a [role] at her design boutique she had just started. They liked the fact that I knew how to do research, how to write well and how to do end programming, so I could do prototyping (creating early test models of designs in order to gather feedback). Turns out, if can do research and know how to prototype, they can teach you the middle part, which is the actual design part. So mine was a weird kind of wandering road.
DO YOU THINK THERE’S A “TRADITIONAL” PATH TO BECOMING A UX DESIGNER? IF SO, DID YOUR OWN PATH MIRROR OR DEPART FROM THAT?
Dannaway: Back when I finished high school, there was no such thing as a “UX designer.” These days there are private courses you can study to get into UX design. My path wasn’t a particularly efficient path, but it made me the designer I am today and gave me strong technical foundations in development, which have been helpful in my career.
Lucius: There are plenty of educational opportunities to learn UX now, but when I was in college the term wasn't widely used, if at all. I probably followed the same career path as a lot of other designers from that time. I graduated with a basic foundation of web design knowledge that I continued to build upon. As the industry has changed, I’ve had to adapt and learn a new set of skills — which is not a bad thing.
Howerter: I think it's very common for UX designers to have a background in print design, and it's also common to see people that come from a lot of different backgrounds. I've known engineers who’ve converted to design. I was a biochemistry major and ended up taking the long, scenic route to a design career. I don't think UX design is brand new, but I do think tech is so booming and changing and evolving that it’s attracted a lot of different kinds of specialties in the industry. And I think you see that in design as well.
Klein: I started working in the mid-'90s, so there was no traditional path into any of this. None of this existed yet. When I started, I think there was still a website that listed all the new websites on the web. If you talk to folks who've been doing this stuff since the early- to mid-'90s, some were doing it as human vector stuff (for example, creating scalable, digital illustrations) or information architecture. We all had super weird career paths — because that's what there was. And there were way more generalists back then. There was a point where I was a webmaster because I could kind of design and kind of code and kind of write, so that meant you were a webmaster!
IS A MASTER'S DEGREE NECESSARY FOR GETTING A GOOD JOB IN UX?
Dannaway: Even though I gained a bachelor's degree as well as a master's, I don’t actually think either of them are necessary to be a good UX designer. The most important thing in my opinion is the practical experience gained by working on projects with other skilled people. There are also a lot of UX design articles and books to learn from, and you can always get involved in a side project for some extra practice. [Note: Dannaway compiled this list of 10 must-read UX design books in 2015.]
Lucius: I would never discourage someone who’s considering expanding their education, as I’m sure it would be very beneficial. But in my opinion, there’s nothing more important than experience. To be hands-on with different projects, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes, is what makes you better as a designer. I had a professor in college who would often say, “The most important thing we’ll teach you is how to learn.” That’s always stuck with me and is a good reminder to always keep pushing to get better.
Howerter: That's such a difficult question, mostly because of the astronomical cost of education. There are some really good programs out there. I think if you do post-secondary education, do a lot of research and figure out what programs are best. Even an MBA coming into the field with exceptional business knowledge can be super valuable, or coming with a human-computer interaction degree could be super valuable in this realm. I think there's plenty of opportunity for people who study outside the direct realm of design to get into the field. Channeling those different backgrounds can really set you apart.
Klein: Let's just say that I’ve seen people with those degrees and without those degrees, and I have not seen any sort of pattern. The interesting thing is that some of the best design and product people I know just seem to think in a particular way. They're able to think at the high level and low level at the same time. They're able to think strategically about what the user needs, and they're very good at digging down into the details and all the secondary stuff. They don't get hung up on just doing the process. So, yeah, I know good designers who had all kinds of education and I know good designers who I would also say that wasn’t true of.
WHAT ARE THE CAREER ADVANCEMENT PROSPECTS LIKE IN UX?
Dannaway: In terms of career advancement, I think the career of a UX designer is quite flat. You can stay a UX designer for a long time and progress to work on larger more complex products. Some UX designers become team leads or managers, others go into product management or service design. Once you’re confident enough, you can become an independent consultant and contract directly with companies (rather than being an employee). Some UX designers use their unique skill set to start their own businesses. It really depends where your passion lies.
Lucius: Absolutely. It’s a growing field, and it feels good that so many companies now understand the importance of design. In the past, I think it was oftentimes overlooked and sometimes written off completely. But good design is what makes things work. It attracts customers, builds desire, solves problems and makes things easier.
Howerter: It depends on where you work. I work at a consulting firm and there’s a lot of potential to move up quickly, but it might be different in house. I think a good question to ask going into a job is what sort of advancement structure exists. How many levels do you have for UX design? Within the realm of design, what are the levels? Is there a director position? Is there a VP position?
And then if you have an opportunity as part of an interview process to talk to other designers, you can ask how many times they've been promoted, how long they've been there, where did they start that. But in general, in tech, just the way that companies are scaling up quickly, a lot of opportunity comes with that.
CAN YOU CLARIFY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A UI AND UX DESIGNER? HOW INTERRELATED DO YOU SEE THE TWO?
Dannaway: User interface (UI) design is simply part of the user experience design process, which roughly includes: researching user needs, defining the problem, coming up with ideas to solve the problem, creating prototypes (this is done by a UI designer), validating the ideas via user testing and finally creating the visual designs (this is also done by a UI designer). As you can see, UI designers perform a subset of the tasks that a UX designer does.
Lucius: I think UI is very important, but it’s just one small subsection of the overall design process. It sits alongside research, analysis, prototyping and testing. UX is the all-encompassing communication that a company has with a user.
Howerter: It's a common point of confusion. As the industry has evolved, we've started to hear the phrase “product designer” come up a lot more. And I think part of that term is an attempt to eliminate confusion between UI and UX. At Solstice, UI and UX are very interrelated. We expect the UI designer to do typical UX activities like wireframing and information architecture and things that are less visual design-related, as well as the visual work. And then work with developers to make sure the thing is being built to spec. So our UX design role is really more like what you might hear in the industry as a product design role, which is somebody who can use design from end to end. Some companies separate it out, which allows for someone to hyper-specialize in one thing over the other and get really, really good at it.
I've worked at companies where the two are split out, but I really like an approach where, as a designer, I'm able to see something through. And I think that also eliminates any gaps that exist in handoff. Anytime you hand off, say, wireframes to a visual designer, there's always potential for things to get lost in translation, which can cause delays and just not be the most efficient.
WHAT'S THE SCOPE OF YOUR WORK?
Dannaway: I like to be involved in the entire design process. It usually involves conducting research to understand user needs, defining the problem, coming up with ideas to solve the problem, creating prototypes, validating the ideas via user testing, designing the interface and building the front end (although I do less development work these days). It’s also important to balance the user needs with the business needs during the design process, which can be tricky.
Lucius: SmartFinancial is both a B2C and B2B brand, so I'm constantly shifting back and forth between the two. Each one has its own unique audience and objectives, so it can sometimes be tricky. On the consumer side, we provide a library of articles and guides to help shoppers fully understand the complexities of insurance. We also provide a platform that allows customers to compare insurance rates side-by-side from national carriers and filter their options however they want.
On the business side, we provide insurance agents and carriers with tools to help them reach new customers and grow their business. In either case, it’s my job to oversee all design and interaction we have with our customers. I fall somewhere between a creative director and UX designer. We’re a small company so we have to be lean and aggressive and work very closely as a team.
Howerter: My role at Solstice encompasses everything from early strategic work with clients — figuring out what to build, which usually includes a lot of workshopping, an ideation session. From there it usually involves collaborating with product and engineering to figure out, now that we know what to build, how should we build it. So that's really early, like wireframing (outlining a design layout) and just putting things in a loose framework. Usually that includes testing. So we have user experience researchers and bosses who own most of the user research that we do. Then once we collect user feedback, we take our designs to high fidelity — so design that's ready to be developed, basically. So we'll have good documentation for all the animations or interactions that we want to include, and then working with developers when they're being built to make sure that they're doing so correctly.
WHAT DO YOU FIND MOST REWARDING — AND CHALLENGING — ABOUT WORKING IN UX?
Dannaway: I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of solving problems and the creativity required to build things. I think that’s why I love designing websites and apps so much. There are always new problems to solve, and in my field these problems are usually solved by building a new website or app feature, or tweaking an existing one. It’s rewarding to make problems disappear and to have some fun in the process.
Lucius: I love solving problems using design. It is, however, certainly challenging at times. It’s a delicate balance of art, design and science. The key is to solve the problem, but do it in a way that’s beautiful, sexy and meets the needs of both the business and customer.
Howerter: I love how fast tech, and the digital realm in general, moves. I love that I can design something and two weeks later it's a real thing that real people are using, and we're getting live feedback. It's such a close feedback loop, and it's really gratifying to either have success really fast or fail really fast.
Also, you learn at an accelerated pace. And as a UX designer, I love working with people from different walks of life. I was on an agriculture project about six months ago and went to farms and saw how it all works. You realize it's really not about the tech; it's about the lives of these people. It's about how they do their work, and finding opportunities to make that easier. Being able to connect the work I do on my computer screen to real people in real situations is always really motivating and inspiring.
Klein: I still just really like making things that make people happy, things that they like using and make their lives better. The other day we were testing out features and someone who had just received access to a new feature Slacked me and said, “Oh my god, I showed this to my associate, and he was so jealous and wanted to know why he didn't get access to it!” She was like, “I just did the tasks I had to do in record time, and it was so great.” And hearing that is the best feeling in the world. So that's why I do the challenging stuff.
I spend a lot of my time talking people out of ideas and kind of having the same conversation over and over. “Oh, that’s an interesting feature. Why do you want to do that? What do you think you're going to get from it? What other things do you think we could do in order to achieve those same results?” Like, some people just come and say, “We should add machine learning.” And it's like, no, we 100 percent should not. Or maybe we should, but let's talk about what you think you’ll get from machine learning and figure out if there's a cheaper way to get something similar.
WHAT’S A TYPICAL PROTOTYPING PROCESS LIKE FOR YOU? HOW MANY ITERATIONS DOES A PROJECT NORMALLY GO THROUGH?
Dannaway: Every project varies in size and complexity, so I don’t think there’s an average or “correct” number of prototype iterations. You need to keep iterating on a prototype until it works. For example, you might be tweaking a sign-up form to try and reduce the number of drop-offs. You may only be able to come up with one new idea that you believe is worth testing. Whereas if you’re lucky enough to start building a new app from scratch, you might have several different directions you’d like to test.
I think a prototype should look and feel as close to the final product as possible to yield the best results. Sometimes I create a quick website with a dummy back end; other times I can get away with an InVision prototype (a set of images linked together using clickable hot spots). Once you’ve validated that the prototype meets the user needs, it’s time to build the real thing.
Lucius: I like to go a bit old school and begin with paper and pen sketches. To me, that’s still the best way to start getting your initial ideas flowing. From there, I’ll continue to refine the design, build a prototype and then start getting some feedback from users. At SmartFinancial, it’s sort of an unwritten company motto to not overthink things too much. By that I mean, we’re given the time we need to research and design a product, but we also try to get it in front of our customers as soon as we can. That can sometimes be hard to do when I feel it’s not yet perfect, but it always pays off. We’re able to get real, actual feedback from customers and then continue to improve it. None of our projects are ever really done; we’re always adding new features and improvements.
Howerter: Iterations vary. It's very rare that you'll do anything right the first time — extremely rare. So an early prototype, we'll go through five, six, seven revisions, until it’s at a place that’s ready to be tested. And then after testing, depending on the question you hope to answer, it might go through several more rounds of iteration. It’s all really determined by the confidence level that the team and client have in investing and building that thing. That's what that early phase is all about: Is this at a place where we all feel confident that our users are going to be able to use it, engage with it, find value in it. Then at the point where we feel confident that it's worth the investment, then usually you pull the trigger.
I've used everything from framers to Proto.io to InVision. I think it's always determined by the objective of the prototype. So if I know that I'm prototyping something that we're going to put in front of our client customers and we want to learn about how they place the return online or something like that, we'll figure out what we want to put together. I like to create a storyboard. Sometimes we'll use sticky notes so they can move things around. And then based on that storyboard, based on what we know we want to learn from the test, I'll figure out what tool does the job most easily. And I think fidelity in the prototypes means a lot too.
So if you're trying to learn a really specific thing, and you need some interactions in there to really get close to what the actual experiences look like, then it's a good time to move into something like Proto.io, where you can really do some careful animating and create interactions to give customers a real feel of the experience. But if you're early on and you're like, “Hey, is this even a feature that you would find valuable?” It’s not necessary to get to that level of detail. You can do something more low fidelity. So it varies on the objective.
Klein: I wrote a blog post about this called "The Right Deliverables," which talks about all the different kinds of prototyping. Well, more deliverables and artifacts, but that includes a lot of prototypes and all the different levels on how you might decide: Do you need a sketch? Do you need an interactive prototype? Do you need a pixel perfect mockup? Because those are all things I've heard people call for. So I’ll do anything from a description and a user story to a Balsamiq mockup to a quick sketch with the engineers to a fully interactive prototype to a somewhat interactive prototype with annotations. That's my favorite. It just depends on what I need to do.
WHAT’S YOUR USER RESEARCH PROCESS LIKE? ARE THERE ANY METHODS YOU SWEAR BY OVER OTHERS, OR IS IT ALWAYS SITUATIONAL?
Dannaway: User research in a nutshell is asking users the right questions to figure out their needs. Interviewing users or watching them as they perform their tasks is usually what works best. During an interview it helps to have two people; one doing the talking, and the other observing and taking notes. You can also record the interview session to play back later to take further notes.
Lucius: This might sound obvious, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to fully understand the problem you’re solving and clearly define the goals before you get started. It’s easy to get caught up and breeze through this step faster than you should. This part of the process should not be overlooked. It’s where you can uncover possible issues and determine the best way to solve the problem.
Klein: Direct observation and contextual inquiry are the gold standard. I can even do remote contextual inquiry in many cases, especially if it's a screen-based [project]. Remote is not the same as unmoderated, obviously. But again, it depends on what I want. I’ve written a lot about [the decision-making process of] when to use qualitative, when to use quantitative, when to interview people, when to observe them, when to run a diary study, when to do a survey.
Do you find that what clients say they want and what you observe differ at times?
Yes, 100 percent. And in fact, I almost never ask people what they want. I mean, I'll ask people what they want. And then the follow-up question, of course, is, “What do you hope to accomplish with that?” Or, “What do you think that will give you, or how will that help?” In some nice, non-confrontational way.
WHERE DO YOU SEE UX DESIGN HEADING NEXT? WHICH MAJOR TRENDS EXCITE YOU?
Dannaway: UX design is still in its infancy, especially in larger corporations. I’m hoping that the user-centric design principles that underpin UX design will continue to spread across different industries and technologies, like AI, voice interfaces and virtual and augmented reality. UX principles are already being used by service designers to help improve services.
Lucius: When someone thinks of UX, their mind probably goes straight to digital. But it’s more than that; it extends to the physical world as well. I think you’ll continue to see more of that. Companies are understanding and embracing the idea of looking at the big picture. Every interaction a company has with a customer, whether in the digital or physical world, is now being looked at in the overall design strategy — especially as the two worlds are becoming more interconnected. I think that’s really exciting.
Howerter: I think “product design” is a term you're going to continue to hear more and more frequently as more companies embrace the idea that design is really not limited to a certain skill set or creating certain deliverables. It's really about creating an experience. And I think there's going to continue to be a move toward leaner and more nimble teams. So designers who are really collaborative and work closely with product people and engineering leads on a daily basis will have the most success moving forward.
Klein: This may just be the circles I run in, but I’m seeing more ops stuff — design ops, research ops. We just did a podcast on this. I'm seeing more research around that and talking to more people who are keeping design consistent across large organizations and coming up with tools to support — which is great. You know, something beyond the shared sketch file, which is a lovely start, and 100 percent not the final answer. So I’m seeing more, “How do we make it easier for large groups of designers to design collaboratively across teams?”
Instagram is a good place to find inspiration and insight on web design. The visual platform is full of user experience and user interface designers sharing their work. Here is a list of UX and UI feeds to follow on Instagram. The feeds are from freelance designers, in-house designers, agencies and, resource sites.
Instagram is a good place to find inspiration and insight on web design. The visual platform is full of user-experience and user-interface designers sharing their work, design process, resources, questions and answers, and endless inspirational images.
Here is a list of UX and UI feeds to follow on Instagram. The feeds are from freelance designers, in-house designers, agencies and, resource sites.
Yael Levey — @iamnotmypixels
@iamnotmypixels
Yael Levey is a UX and design lead, based in London, and the creator of the I Am Not My Pixels blog to spread UX thinking everywhere. @iamnotmypixels contains wireframes, design processes, inspirational quotes, and ideas. 19,900 followers.
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@ux_ui_wireframes
@ux_ui_wireframes
@ux_ui_wireframes is a source of inspiration for UX, UI paper prototypes. 41,000 followers.
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@uitrends
@uitrends
@uitrends is a popular feed for daily UI and UX digital inspiration. Along with inspirational images and examples, it also poses design questions and features follower answers. 111,000 followers.
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@uxdesignmastery
@uxdesignmastery
@uxdesignmastery is a popular feed from the creator of the UX Design Mastery blog. It features UX ideas and tips, work inspiration from designers and agencies, design questions, and random questions. 117,000 followers.
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@gifux
@gifux
@gifux provides daily inspiration from the best examples of UI and UX animations. 64,500 followers.
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@cadabrachallenge
@cadabrachallenge
@cadabrachallenge is by Cadabra Studio. It holds challenges twice a week where designers do tasks within an hour. 1,800 followers.
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@dailywebdesign
@dailywebdesign
@dailywebdesign features daily inspirational images on UI and UX, as well as broad web design. 154,000 followers.
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@humble_ux
@humble_ux
@humble_ux features a curated collection of hand-drawn wireframe and setups. You can also find prototyping and wireframing templates at HumbleUX.com. 34,400 followers.
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Nicholas Tenhue — @nicholastenhue
@nicholastenhue
@nicholastenhue is a UX design and strategy feed from Nicholas Tenhue, host of The UX Blog Podcast. The feed contains images of the design process and informative diagrams on design ideas. 10,500 followers.
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Jessica Robbins — @uxmemo
@uxmemo
@uxmemo from Jessica Robbins features inspirational notes and small moments of big brand experience thinking. 4,300 followers.
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Jürgen Leckie — @uxjurgen
@uxjurgen
@uxjurgen is from Jürgen Leckie, a freelance UX designer from Amsterdam. The feed showcases the sketching and conception phase of the process. 5,200 followers.
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Nick Buturishvili — @nick_buturishvili
@nick_buturishvili
@nick_buturishvili is from Nick Buturishvili, a freelance product designer working to solve design problems. The feed features a variety of clean interfaces and UI elements. 4,600 followers.
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Giga Tamarashvili — @gtamarashvili
@gtamarashvili
@gtamarashvili is from Giga Tamarashvili, a freelance UX designer and art director. Along with website and interface design examples, the feed also features color palettes from colours.cafe. 14,000 followers.
The freelance grass is always greener from the other side.
I have freelanced as a UX researcher alongside full-time jobs for almost my entire career, but I recently am coming out of a long stint where I was strictly a freelance UX research consultant. During this past year or so, freelancing was my only job, I had no other full-time gigs, besides a (very) part-time job as a UX Research instructor at Pratt.
I have had many people comment on freelancing as a UX researcher, and have had many people ask me, “should I do it?” I won’t lie, it sounds idyllic to most people, but before I answer that specific question, I want to delve deeper into my experience as a freelance user research consultant. Note, this is just my experience, so it very well will be different from other people’s experiences. It is best to ask a few different people in order to get a holistic view (heyo, user research on user research freelancing).
I’ll go backwards because I like ending on a positive note.
The Ugly
This is (potentially) your only source of income. This is bolded, and number one, for a very good reason — it is very difficult to rely on income that is not guaranteed, at least not in the same way a salary from a full-time job steadily flows into your bank account. This part can be very scary, and can often make or break your career. I know people who do side jobs (dog walking, Uber driving, check out at a grocery store, bartender) to help finance their freelance, but keep in mind, this takes away from your freelance business
Be very aware that you will no longer be given benefits (such things like health insurance). If you have a partner that can cover you, that is great. I did not, so I had to buy health insurance, which was extremely expensive compared to the health insurance you get through being a full-time employee. Keep this in mind as an added expense!
Being a freelancer can be difficult for those who are introverted. I am an introverted person, which means it is difficult for me to constantly be networking and selling my brand. I wrote an article on networking as an introvert in order to help those similar to me. It is something you can improve at (I definitely have), but it can be very exhausting at times, especially when you just want to do work and get paid
People may reach out to you, seemingly very excited for an upcoming project that (typically) has to start soon. You decide to take the project. You might turn down other opportunities because of said project. Suddenly, you are experiencing the work equivalent of getting ghosted. The original project is no longer happening and you are scrambling to control+Z (undo) all the projects you turned down for this one. This is an ongoing cycle
Companies have a hard time distinguishing the difference between UX research and UX design, especially in the freelance world. You will often get pinged for projects that are very UX design heavy. Freelance user research is still a fairly new concept to companies, so it takes a lot of patience and education
The Bad
You have to learn how to market yourself as a service, essentially. This means coming up with a brand. I have a brand called “The Product Therapist” that I have been using (and working on) for many years. When I decided to pursue freelance as my career, I had to work a lot on establishing my brand — this was through Facebook, a website, twitter, Medium, network, etc. I had to prove that I was a valuable candidate for jobs, and could offer something revolutionary, something that people needed right that second
As a freelancer, you are constantly on the look-out for work — whether that be for an immediate project, or something you can schedule into the future. Job websites and LinkedIn will become your two most frequently visited pages. You will troll the internet for work, especially work that is “contract-based” or freelance. It isn’t easy to find freelance work, in general, especially in user research, so you will always be searching and crossing your fingers that one of your connections has a connection to another connection with a project
Not a lot of people understand how user researchers can freelance, and I don’t necessarily blame them. It makes more sense for engineers or designers to hop into a project, complete their work and then leave. User researchers should be an internal part of a team, as they need to deeply understand the product, users and team dynamics. You need to make sure you have questions to how you would effectively bring actionable user research insights to a team in such a short amount of time
Although you don’t have a 9–5 job and office desk, you may also not have a weekend. Sometimes project timelines will get moved up and, suddenly, on a Friday morning, you get an email that a project deadline is now Monday. Since you weren’t there, it is hard to always keep track of changing deadlines or needs
When you are primarily working from home, it can become quite isolating. As someone who is naturally introverted, there would be days where I wouldn’t speak to another human or go outside. Of course there are ways to combat this, I went to the gym, ran errands, walked my dog, but certain days, it would have been nice to be working in an office, with a team
The Good
Setting your own schedule is really freeing (but you also have to set boundaries for yourself). I could, and honestly did, turn on the TV and watch a show for 30 minutes (or an hour) as a break. Or I went shopping and ran errands. I (used to) go to Trader Joe’s to get groceries at 10:30am. I could go to the gym during off-hours. My hours were my own, and I molded them around my priorities (which were, at times, not well thought-out). Freelancing is a very flexible job, and come sometimes work better than a full-time job, depending on your life circumstances
A very cool part of freelancing is the ability to be on so many different projects, which can lend to a high variety of industries, products and team dynamics. It is really neat to see how differently people think about and want to implement user research. Seeing these differences is a really wonderful learning experiences — you build more diverse experiences in a shorter amount of time, which can give you more tools for your research toolkit or help you work through problems with different perspectives
Working from home is wonderful. I can’t tell you how much I loved hanging out with my cats and my dog. I can take my dog out for a midday walk, after I make myself lunch, which gets me out of my home office and into the fresh air. I could also choose to pop into a cafe or library if I needed a change of pace. Also, having no commute was super cool — I could wake up and start my day without worrying about train delays, weather or traffic
You can make a lot of money. You aren’t working for anyone, so the money goes straight to you, and you are able to charge a good amount, since you have to take into consideration the fact that you aren’t getting any of the securities you would from a full-time job. When I got my first freelance job, I timidly stated my hourly rate (you can do hourly or project rate), which felt way too much. If you are successful in managing projects and time, you can really rake in a lot of dough
Should you do it?
My boyfriend (a product manager), would be thrilled to hear me use his favorite product manager phrase, “it depends.”
Are you at the beginning of your UX Research career? I would highly recommend not going into freelance as a full-time job. Most companies who are looking for a freelance UX researcher want someone who has had a decent amount of experience, can lead projects and think about research strategy. A good way to get into freelance is to do some on the side during a full-time or part-time job. I would highly recommend you gain some experience before you jump into a freelance project.
Do you like structure? Unless you can create (and stick to) your own structure and have a sense of self-discipline, freelancing might not be the best idea for you. Oftentimes, you have to set your own schedule and it is 100% on you whether or not you get your work done on time. You will usually be working from home (many temptations reside there), and won’t be in constant communication with teams, so you really have to push yourself to stick to your work hours.
Where do you live? This can go both ways — there is often a lot of opportunities in bigger cities, but that also lends to a more expensive lifestyle. I freelanced when I was living in Brooklyn, New York. There were months where I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to pay rent. I was able to charge more, but it didn’t always mean I was constantly making enough. I remember when I had a vet emergency close to the holidays, the combination between the vet bill and how quiet it gets over the holidays was extremely stressful.
Have you worked in the field in a more structured environment and are looking to try something new? Maybe it is time! Freelance is a great way to get a plethora of varied experiences in a short amount of time, and it can be super fun!
So, how do you do it?
Start by asking yourself why you want to go into freelance — is it because it seems easy or looks cool? Probably not the best reasons, as it looks more glamorous from the outside
Look around at the “competition” out there — what are other freelancers saying or doing? How does this compare with what you want to do? I recommend doing a small SWOT analysis on what else is out there. It can give you an understanding of what you are getting into and what you need to convey
Begin by branding your freelance service. This includes a number of things, such as a clear website that states your services, being active on social media (twitter is a big UX place), having case studies/portfolio pieces to showcase your skillsets and decide if you want to be an LLC (helps when working with bigger companies). I would recommend completing some brand exercises to help you define your brand. These can focus on tone, language, color schemes, logo, font, as well as things like vision, values, etc. It may seem “flooffy,” but this is important step in creating cohesive stories on your website. I used this guide (it was awesome).
Generate a pitch for yourself. How would you pitch your services? What makes you special or valuable? What do you offer that people can’t do/find on their own? Have a small pitch ready in your mind for when you go out networking.
Make sure your LinkedIn profile is super professional, up-to-date and includes important keywords (qualitative research, usability testing, etc). A controversial idea is to say you are available for projects in your title — some people say this is a bad look, since you seem “undesirable,” but it can also let recruiters know you are looking for work
Create business cards! This is more fun :) It is important to have them for networking!
Set an hourly rate for your work. What should you charge on an hourly basis? It does depend on your skillset, where you live, general expenses, etc. I used this calculator, which is really robust, to help me determine my hourly rate. There are others out there, so it may be worth trying a few to see what the average is. Also, consider thinking about project rates. I switched over from hourly to project rates once I understood, in general, the number of hours certain tasks take me. I now prefer project rates, as it is more straightforward for clients and I don’t need to set a number of hours. Start with hourly until you have a good understanding of how long tasks take you and then go from there
Network all the time. Every chance you have to go to a social event (in your industry, not cocktail hour), go and bring your business cards. I can’t begin to count the number of meetups I went to or the number of conferences I attended. This is the best way to meet people in your field who may want to hire you for a project. This also means you don’t onlygo to UX research meetups, but also product or tech ones, which may give you a wider range of people looking for help. Even though you are looking for work, make sure you approach people in a genuine way — they are not just there to get you a job, they are people too
Overall, before you dive into the world of freelancing, make sure you think about it from both sides: what will you gain and what will you be giving up? Carefully weigh the pros and cons, as there are pros and cons to both sides. Talk to all the people you can who have gone into freelancing, they don’t have to be in your particular field, but it helps. Also, make sure you think about anyone else in your life that may be affected by this decision (including pets!), as the instability can greatly impact others!
Either way, freelancing is definitely an experience I recommend people to have, when they are ready. You can always jump ship and go back to a full-time job (which I’m doing)! The only thing I urge you to do is really think about and consider all sides! Happy freelancing!
