Successful Freelance Designer AMA

>>312018
nice
tell more about ths

>>312020

What specifically?

More about the clients, or what the projects consist of?

>>312021
Micro sites, WordPress, bespoke, frameworks?

>>312030
a pretty large website. Doing front-end development and design for the entire project. Unfortunately, using bootstrap for the sake of other team members. My front-end will be transitioned into a WP theme from the other devs.

The second project is a prototype to validate an application idea. After the prototype is tested and the workflow feels right, we will be moving into making a demo-able react native app to pitch to investors.

The third project is a small squarespace site to sell a product. Would of probably done something custom, but the client had a minuscule budget and an extremely tight deadline.

how did you find your clientele: through other clients or did they find you (advertising etc)

>>312049
Some are recommendations from current clients or friends.

I've found some recent success e-mailing local agencies or messaging them on linkedIN asking to help them as a freelancer. Usually works because a lot of them have too much work anyway.

Have not done any advertising.

>>312031
can u put the site link here?

>>312018
For how long have you been doing web design? Do you haven't any degree?

>>312102
It's a WIP so no. The project just sold and has only just started, sorry.


>>312108
I've been learning design/web design for 5 years, but have been working professionally for 3.

I do not have a degree or any certs. I dropped out of college during my 3rd year.

>>312018

How much did you earn last year, and what do you expect to make this year?

>>312018
Do you know how to code?
What do you think about webflow?
What's your process like?

>>312112
I worked for an agency last year and worked full-time at $47.5K. If things keep up I'm hitting at least $60K this year.

>>312113
I do know how to code. I write front-end mark up and styles with a little bit of interactivity from JS.

My opinion for Webflow is it sucks and whoever needs it should learn how to code instead. I've never used it personally, but I have no need for it. I'm also assuming the exported code is bloated and probably buggy for responsiveness.

My process depends on what my project is. Usually, things initiate with a meeting with overall goals.

Then I whiteboard out a workflow or map of how everything should work and how pieces should connect.

Then I start sketches loose of the components with some basic information hierarchy.

After I have a good idea of how everything fits together and what the basic structure is, I start doing a barebones layout based on whatever framework I'm using.

Functionality starts to come into play after everything has a strong foundation. and Finally I start designing visually and iterate until I'm content.

How long does it take you to make a website, for instance a portfolio website?

>>312110
What methods did you use to learn?

>>312121
Always depends. Mostly on the complexity of design, how many pages, and browser support, etc. I would say for a simple 3-5 page portfolio site about 3 weeks, maybe 6 tops.

>>312139
I learned graphic design at the university. But for web development and front-end I used teamtreehouse.com

What kind of experience with js frameworks do you have, and which, if any, do you actively use?

My inexperience with JS makes me too nervous to start applying for work in this field. I still need my hand held with it

How did you get your first job?

>>312018

Would you post your Behance?

>>312170
Actually not that good with JS. Anything i use is usually in Node, jQuery, or react.

>>312192
First job was a contract to hire in St. Louis. I was desperate at the time and probably applied to 50+ agencies and the creative recruitment services. Got really lucky and impressed some people at their small agency during an interview enough to get an offer(the only one I got.) I was hired on as a front-end doing WordPress themes for a short 3 months and was terminated due to lack of experience.

>>312193
Don't have one. I have a dribbble that is pretty mediocre and not popular with shots of my logo design concepts.

>>312236
What did that lack of experience consist of? Could you also tell what was your day like while you worked there?

>>312236
And in front end , what experience you get there?
You work only wit css html and wordpress?

>>312236

God that sounds fucking depressing.

Congrats on making it to the other side, though.

Keep up the good work

File: 1491386042883.jpg (195KB, 798x770px) Image search: [Google]

195KB, 798x770px

>>312246
But he is not graphic design , is normal for web developer find that kind of job

>>312240
Just being too slow and not knowing how to build custom themes in WP. They offered me a place to grow at the time because they knew I was green, but then changed their minds because it was too much work to teach me.

>>312244
I was pretty decent at HTML and CSS. Mostly got WP experience. Their workflow was shitty tho and I ended up learning great workflows and dev practices after I was terminated.


>>312246
Not the first or last time I've been terminated from a design job. I've been fired from 3 agencies and had a mutual parting from a 4th. Which is why I freelance now. Having a job blows and I can't stand being somebody's design slave. Never works out in the end.

Front end is for retards

>>312284
What do you mean? I was considering learning this.

>>312018
wordpress is pretty easy to dev on. I normally just do 3 current browser versions back. for a 3-5 page site with the theme i am used to can be done in around 1 week or less. depends on how distracted or complex the user wants the site. first year at a small web agency. its fun, can be annoying working on larger more complex projects with clients that are too picky and change their minds a lot.

>>312284
Wrong. Front-end is for the real web designers. I'm assuming you're mad because your'e not talented enough to produce anything besides a mediocre PSD comp.

>>312292
Learn it. If you can design and do front-end you make yourself more valuable. Which translates to charging more and attracting more work.

>>312099
Agency co-founder here. This is no joke. Reach out to your local agencies looking for overflow work. It's also one of the best ways to get your name shortlisted for hiring. Our fulltimers all started out freelancing and taking on overflow work. When it comes time to staff up, agencies will sooner tap those talent pools than post job openings.

>>312282
>I've been terminated from a design job. I've been fired from 3 agencies
This is my greatest fear, as I suffer from the impostor syndrome.

>>312284
>>312284
i agree with u , i prefer work with php and mysql and little javascript

>>312340
Same. I can only wear the mask for so long before it starts to slip. This is why I have dedicated myself 100% to freelancing and am no longer pursuing employment.

>>312365
Hm. Coming from a back-end perspective "front-end is for retards" only pertains to programmers. Perhaps I was a bit harsh in my last response due to lack of context of the opinion.

If you have a designer who can be a front-end workhorse, that's the guy you want on your team. He's keeping you from the tedious work of markup and browser support so you don't have to match a shitty comp. Not very common for people to do both.

>>312372
>Not very common for people to do both.
Yet somehow most job requirements list both. As if I can manage to learn this all in a couple of months and also be proficient with it.

>>312372
>>312340
>>312246
>>312236

this is what worries me the most honestly. i finished my second internship really bummed out because i keep making small mistakes that made me more and more anxious and even though i know i have good ideas, skills and creativity i also know that doesn't necessarily translate to "working good".

even though i like to think i could have a better time in an agency with more coworkers because that agency was basically a family bussiness of two designers where i was the only employee

>>312236
>Don't have one. I have a dribbble that is pretty mediocre and not popular with shots of my logo design concepts.
I highly recommend pushing your dribbble a bit. The more followers you have the easier you get new interesting projects. Dribbble is perfect for freelancers.

>>312498
>The more followers you have the easier you get new interesting projects.
Not him, but I was thinking of changing my location to SF/NY because I live in a second world country and there's no opportunity here. The problem is what if the client wants to meet with me face to face?

>>312498
If I had a problem finding new work and clients I would probably push my dribbble harder. DESU I prefer working locally with clients I can meet. Remote work is sometimes a pain in terms of communication.

>>312330
Hijacking thread cause I'm on the verge of scaling up myself.

How did you scale? Was it keeping your current workflow and client list, then adding on "trusted" partners to serve more clients under your workflow. Or did you partner up with someone equal to you (skill/financial), with their own workflow and client list, and more or less combined income and shared resources but still operate independantly?

>>312914
Kind of the second one, then the first one. At the very very start, I partnered with a couple of people who had totally different skillsets to my own. They weren't even designers. One knew how to code but couldn't design for shit, one knew business and handled sales/project management. We all stepped in to do video. Once we were established and had a steady client base, we started staffing up. First in video, so we could all go back to doing/managing the things we knew best, then in sales, then design, then web. Getting more staff in sales and project management was arguably the most important thing. Each of us was perfectly capable of handling shitloads of work, but we decided to start staffing up well before we hit critical mass. That was smart on our part, because we were able to transition to that next level workload without bottlenecking and watching our invoices dry up.

Do customers care if you are not really good at what you do?

Can I charge people, even if I was the worst student in my graphic design class?

Can you design some stickers for me?

>>313240
it's the free market, pal