As websites and digital experiences become increasingly prominent parts of our daily lives, the importance of quality UX design has grown for organizations. Many businesses have begun to augment their internal teams with independent professionals who can help them excel in various types of design. This includes UX/UI design.
An experienced UX designer understands how to create outstanding user experiences online. They bring the experience and expertise needed to engage users when they first land on the site, creating a visually appealing and easy-to-use layout. Since Google announced it would use user experience from the moment a person lands on the page as an important algorithm indicator, UX design has become critical.
Those who want to launch a freelance UX design career will find there’s a wealth of opportunities. Here’s what you need to know about launching your career as a UX designer.
Freelance UX designers: What do they do and is it right for you?
UX designers have the difficult job of bringing together the unique requirements of a website—including usability, functionality, branding, and marketing—into a single design. They work to understand the needs of a user landing on a specific site or mobile app and create an experience that addresses their desires while also encouraging the potential lead to keep engaging with the organization. Designers want to create helpful, beneficial experiences for visitors.
These designers can help with various user interactions across multiple platforms. For example, they might make it easier for visitors to navigate a website, progress to checkout, or find information and articles that interest them.
To thrive in this type of work, freelancers need to understand how websites work, how users behave, and how they can improve user engagement Since professionals in this field often work with other team members, they must also bring excellent communication skills to the table. The ability to explain the thinking behind UX design choices, collaborate on the implementation, and give and receive feedback on design ideas is critical.
UX/UI designers will perform several functions in this diverse field. Here are five key responsibilities:
- Research user needs and behavior: User research, including exploring the targeted audience and what they want to see on websites, is critical. The better a designer understands how customers move throughout the site, the better strategist they will be with their site design.
- Recommend aesthetic and functional improvements: A freelance UI designer can expect to provide aesthetic and functional recommendations to the client.
- Test and validate recommendations: As they provide recommendations, the UX professional should also plan to test and validate these recommendations.
- Conduct usability tests: A UX professional needs to make sure they always understand a website’s usability and how customers navigate the site.
- Create site maps and organize the information architecture: UX designers will also help determine how site information is organized and put on a site map. This helps with search engine optimization (SEO) and maintains the website organization.
6 keys to finding freelance UX design work
As you begin your freelance UX career, you’ll need to dedicate a lot of time to finding clients and growing your business, as with any startup. There are several strategies and practical tips that can help as you build your business.
Whether you’re just making the transition to freelancing or are seeking new clients and opportunities to grow your business, these suggestions can help.
1. Acquire relevant skills and respected certifications
A UI/UX designer needs to have different skills and certifications that signify they have the experience required to thrive in the industry. Regardless of whether you are new to UX or have an established career and want to transition to becoming a full-time freelancer, nurture these skills and pursue certifications in the ones that matter most to your work:
- Excellent communication skills: A UX professional often works with other people on projects, such as the product team and marketing team. Strong communication helps ensure that everyone’s on the same page.
- Experience prototyping and creating wireframes: You need to present your ideas clearly while gaining a better idea of the usability of the site or app you want to create. Wireframing and prototyping allow you to accomplish this goal.
- The ability to understand customers and users at a deep level: You need to grasp user personas, understand how people navigate sites when they land on a page for the first time, and how you can create a user-friendly site.
- Technical skills like coding and analytics: Although many UX designers work with developers to create sites and apps, you still want to understand coding and have a conversational ability in the major languages. This will help you work better with the rest of the team and pick up a wider range of projects. Similarly, understanding analytics will provide you with better insight into the performance of your site and user behavior. This allows you to continually improve the design.
- Understanding of common platforms: Clients will also seek familiarity with platforms commonly used in visual design, such as Adobe and Figma.
- Skill creating pages that encourage people to engage in specific behavior: Understanding how to craft language that engages people—even brief language on buttons or page headlines—is important. Similarly, knowing how people respond to images and how to make them interesting can help create great visuals.
2. Engage with online UX design communities
Getting to know others in the UX design community can help you as you build your business. When you learn from others who have more experience in the field, you can make helpful contacts, get tips for improving your business, and continue to build your skill set.
3. Develop a diversified portfolio
With the highly visual nature of the deliverables in UI design, it makes sense that most potential clients want to get a good feel for your skills and style. Therefore, you want to take the time to create a diverse portfolio that can showcase the different types of projects you’ve worked on.
Try to create a portfolio that reflects the industries you would most like to work in. For example, the skill sets in designing the front-end of an e-commerce site will be significantly different from those involved in building a business-to-business (B2B) software as a service (SaaS) site or a news site.
Consider the industries where you have experience. You can create new designs from scratch or ask past clients if you can use the design you created for them in your portfolio.
As you build your portfolio, use a platform like Upwork to post it. On Upwork, independent designers can showcase their skills, search and bid on jobs, and easily communicate with clients from a single location.
4. Market yourself and seize new opportunities
Particularly when they start freelancing, many freelance UX professionals will find it challenging to bring in new clients. Whether you want to work part-time or make this your full-time job, you need to market yourself and get your name in front of people likely to need a UX professional.
Social media can provide an excellent place to get started. Take advantage of the visual aspects of these platforms to showcase your work, let people know about your services, and even build a page for your business. You can use social media to engage with those interested in hiring you for different web design projects. Other platforms, such as LinkedIn, can make it easy to network and let people know about your business.
5. Ask for feedback and recommendations
As you gain clients who hire you to help with projects like product design or user interface, ask for feedback and recommendations. People generally trust recommendations, and securing some from past clients provides you with an excellent opportunity to grow your brand.
The best way to secure recommendations is to provide excellent customer service and build your interface design skills to provide high-quality products. When you receive positive feedback from clients, let them know that you appreciate reviews—such as on social media—and personal recommendations.
6. Never stop learning
The UX design field is always changing. Even those with years of experience know that design process best practices, the strategies behind user flows, and interaction design change regularly as technology and digital trends develop.
Therefore, those interested in excelling in this field need to remember the importance of continually learning. From learning how to make a better and more engaging mobile app—including apps that work for both Android and iOS operating systems—to finding ways to improve design systems, independent UX designers need to nurture and build their skills as they move forward with their careers.
Find clients in need of your UX expertise with Upwork
Those interested in a career as a freelance UX designer will find that the field offers ample opportunity for motivated and talented professionals. The importance of the digital ecosystem in our modern world can’t be underrated, which means that those who have the design skills needed to excel can find freelancing to be a rewarding choice.
