Mistakes of a Freelance Web Designer and How to Avoid Them

Working as a freelance web designer can be tough. It is true that we are our own boss and we manage our own time. You are your own assistant, accountant, scheduler and it can be tiring. Sometimes, it seems easier to be employed in a company and work from nine to five. As a freelanceweb designer, you can and will make mistakes along the way. It’s better to know what you need to avoid and how to avoid these mistakes before you even encounter it.

Struggling to find clients

Freelance web designer’s biggest frustration is finding clients. They constantly chase clients to hire them which should not be the case. You can offer complimentary services to your previous clients or clients you already have. By offering these services, you are increasing your income, and you are not chasing clients. Word of mouth will be your biggest ally to gain clients. Make sure that you do your best and your clients will definitely promote your work to others.

Doing everything by yourself

You are your own company when you are a freelance web designer. You find clients, attend meetings, answer the phone, and prepare documents, answering email and so on. This should not be the case. You can hire someone to do these things for you. You can hire a virtual assistant. You can set a margin for the salary. This way, you can meet with your clients and find new prospects. There will be less stress on your end.

Failure to communicate

Clients would like to know what improvement can be made totheir website, how long a maintenance or tweak in their website will take. They don’t want to be guessing and left hanging. Respect your client and let them know everything they need to know. Always loop them in whatever you do.

Spend time on Testing the website

Regardless of whether you are very proud with your work, you need to put it in a ‘test phase’ just like all websites. It may be time consuming but it will definitely save you the trouble of having to having to fix the problems when the site is already launched. It’s best to make sure that the design and code of the site are both flawless.

You do too much

Some designers literally do too much that it complicates the work more rather than making it problem free. If a problem occurs, it is better to address it using basic clarity solutions. 

7 Guidelines on User Interface Design on Websites

If you are a web designer, most likely you are also a user interface designer. This is applicable whether you are a graphic designer, freelance web designer or full time web designer. Web pages these days are very easy to navigate but with new technology, web designers need to create a more dynamic and customized web experience.

User Interface Design focuses on the user or customer’s experience with the product. It’s goal should be making the user’s interaction as easy, simple and efficient as possible.

There are 7 things that you need to remember about designing a user interface website.

1.       Everything should be clear – Every user will avoid or gear away from elements or icons they don’t know. It is human nature that people will ignore things they are not familiar with. When designing a website, stay away from things that will make people ask what that thing does or people will most likely ignore because no one will bother finding out.

2.       Preferred action – Each user would feelcomfortable if they know and understand what to do next in a certain website. Everything should be clear and the next step that the user is supposed to do next should be obvious. The website will be a flop or will receive assistance requests if the users are not familiar with how to navigate the page.

3.       Context – Users expect to see elements or icons that they use close to each other. If not close, then, they should be somewhere visible on the page.

4.       Default settings – Default settings can be and will be very powerful.  All default values of the website you are designing should be as useful and practical as possible. Most people don’t change the default settings of their phone, TV even their fridge.

5.       Guide for the action – Users don’t usually do something unless they are asked to. If you designed a pop-up question every now and then, then that’s the only time the user will follow your instruction or answer your question. If you want the users to do something, then ask them to do it.

6.       Feedback – Users want to be in control of the page they are navigating. Create elements that will make users in control and in return they will use the product or program again.

7.       Ease – Make your website less complicated and more engaging. Show the users the step by step process of whatever it is that you would want them to do in your website. Remember that users hate boring, hard and overwhelming things in a website.