21 Productivity Tips for Freelance Web Designers

by Harry Williams Manager

Web designers are creative people always busy creating something new and unique. When you are a freelance web designer, then people often think you are a free bird. To some extent, it is true as you can choose your working hours as per your convenience and decide when to take leave. Being a freelance web designer means you don't need to wake up early, take breakfast in a hurry, and rush to your office.

But, the life of a freelance web designer is not a bed of roses at all. All these benefits can become a big problem for a freelancer as nobody is there to tell you how many hours you should work a day and when you should get up in the morning. Besides, most freelance web designers often face a big problem is completing the highest number of tasks in the shortest possible time and that too without compromising quality.

For a thriving career in freelancing, it is crucial to balance productivity and creativity. If you sacrifice either one for the other, it will create a problem for you. So, the life of freelance web designers is also full of pitfalls and challenges. But, being a freelance web designer, you can thrive in your career by following a few tips and tricks. All these tips will help you to boost your potential as a freelance web designer to the greatest extent.

Plan Your Priorities Before Day Starts

Once Benjamin Franklin said, " if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Being a freelance web designer, if you want to thrive in your career, then plan your priorities for the next day every night or in the early morning. After creating a to-do list based on your priorities, try to stick with it for the whole day. It will ultimately help you to remain focused and avoid distractions when you are working. You should also plan all your other tasks, whether it is professional or personal, in a better way.

If you want to do more work in less time to improve your performance, try to find out when you remain more focused and alert. For example, some people remain alert and ready in the morning, and so are more productive. On the contrary, some people remain productive at night. You can use some tools like Todoist, Omnifocus, etc. to establish a work schedule for yourself.

Jot Down Every Idea in a Notebook

Web designers need to think about their work. They are creative people always striving hard to get more creative ideas to create exceptional designs. But, there is no fixed that when ideas will come as they keep coming in your mind. It is better to keep a scrapbook or notebook with yourself to jot down the ideas coming into your mind randomly. Further, it will help you to make designs and speed up your process of web designing. Jotting down ideas in a notebook is especially helpful when you are waiting for some inspirational ideas of design to come to your mind. It will make your vision very much clear about your designing process.

Creating a To-do List

You may have noticed that your brain often gives a random idea to your mind about your work or make you remind bout some tasks suddenly. It is better to create a to-do list by writing the tasks on a priority basis. It would also help if you made a to-do list for your projects and the tasks you need to finish at home. All these will help you to stay organized and focused on your work. Moreover, you will become able to finish all your tasks before the deadline and without getting panicked at the last moment. Most people carry out their tasks without any plan and get panicked at the last moment when they need to provide a complete report about their work.

Break Down Your Tasks

Freelance web designers have to work on multiple projects, which may be big or small. There may also be a mix of professional and personal projects. The best way is to break down your big or small projects into smaller tasks in such circumstances. It will help you complete the more significant tasks as per your plan, and you can complete the small tasks whenever you get free time.

Tracking Time

It often happens that you think to browse various social media channels for a few minutes and waste several hours. If it is possible, then track the time that you have spent on your various activities. It will help you know where you have wasted your time and how many hours you have spent productive work. Further, you can organize your work and avoid spending time on unproductive tasks. You can use some tools like GetKlok, SlimTimer, and ManicTime to monitor and track your working hours.

Stay Focused on One Task

Most people think that multitasking helps accomplish multiple tasks at a time, but it is a myth. Our brain can focus on one task at a time. So, if you want to perform better and improve your productivity, then stay focused on one task at a time and complete it with full attention. It will help you to achieve the best results and allow you to do your tasks much faster than ever before.

Plan For Deliverables First

When you keep working without having a clear idea of your end goal, it will never bring your desired result. On the contrary, you will be left unorganized, working tirelessly and endlessly without any profit. Instead, it would help if you planned for those tasks that you can deliver efficiently and conveniently. You should work for deliverables and plan for deliverables as only this can help you achieve the desired result.

Using a Checklist

Using checklists helps a lot when it comes to avoiding last-minute issues while completing any project. Besides, it standardizes the flow of work. You can create a checklist for your every project regarding necessary inputs to invest in your project. It will keep you aware of your work's progress and what and when you need to do the necessary things to complete your project. Also, you can create a checklist for deliverables to confirm your success.

Work in Iterations

When you keep working more extended hours tirelessly to complete your project, it ultimately harms your creativity, and your mind starts losing focus and energy. You should complete your tasks in drafts like first to complete your overall task and then repeat it to make improvements. Also, you can complete your project in proportions. It will help you to keep yourself energetic and stay focused on your work. You will also remain interested in completing the project as people often start getting bored when they keep on working on some projects for long hours.

Get Feedbacks Early

Whenever you are working on some freelance projects, always remember to get early feedback. Ask your team or client when you have completed the first iteration of your web design process. It will help you understand the mistakes you have made initially and give you enough time to fix all the errors. Further, you will become able to create a fast, better, and significant deliverable.

Keep Your Devices on Silent Mode

When you need to remain super focused on completing your critical project, it is better to keep your devices like computers, laptops, or phones in Silent or Do Not Disturb Mode. It will help you to remain concentrated on creating more creative designs. You can check for important calls or notifications after completing your tasks or taking a short break from your work.

Taking Breaks at Regular Breaks

Working on some projects for long hours tirelessly and without taking breaks can lead you to lose your energy and creativity. It is better that you should take regular intervals while completing your work. You can take a short break after every 25 minutes during your work time. During your break, eat some healthy food and refresh yourself while listening to your favorite music and doing whatever you like.

Know Your Body Rhythm

Circadian rhythm is a natural process that regulates the wake-sleep cycle in everyone's body. Everyone has a unique circadian rhythm that gives people some specific hours to remain the most energetic and creative. You should know about your body's circadian rhythm and try to work on the most important tasks during those hours.

Reward Yourself

It is well known that rewards help make people interested in achieving more and more goals. It would help if you also gave yourself rewards in various forms after completing your tasks. For example, you can go for dinner in a good restaurant, spend time watching your favorite show, take a short break to spend some time on your favorite travel destination, etc.

Delegating Minor Tasks

To improve your productivity, you should focus on completing the main and more significant tasks. Meanwhile, you can assign minor functions to the members of your team. It will further help you focus on your main tasks while putting you more energy and driving your productivity. Some minor tasks that you can assign to your team members are correcting color, retouching photos, removing the background, etc.

Checking Design Galleries

You can get inspiration for your various design projects from checking out galleries or Ulpie or Dribble. Also, you can check Bing or Google for getting inspiration for your designs. In simple terms, there is an abundance of sources that can help you in your design project if you are a freelancer.

Using Graphic Templates

Whether you are a seasoned web designer or a beginner using graphic templates is the best way to bring your various costs down and increase your income. Graphic templates offer high quality and exceptional starting point for your web projects related to branding, social media, and other clients. You can use graphic templates available in the market and save your time. Also, you can customize them according to the needs of your client.

Keep Your Desk & Desktop Tidy

When you keep your desk organized, it further helps you save your time, reduce your stress, foster your creativity, and ultimately establish you as an exemplary professional. First of all, you should clean your desktop and desk and close the unwanted apps and tabs. It will help you to remain focused on your project, thus increasing your productivity and efficiency. A healthier workspace is favorable when it comes to increasing productivity.

Learn Shortcuts & Use Them in Your Work

Instead of reaching your mouse for every command or click, it is better to learn the shortcuts and use them in your work. It will help you to increase your productivity and speed up your work. You should know the keyboard shortcuts for Windows or macOS and practice them while doing your job. You can also memorize the shortcuts that you often use for some standard programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

Creating User Personas

Creating user personas help you to list down the motivation and goals of your target audience. When you build an understanding of your users' requirements and incentives, it helps you produce products centered explicitly around your users' needs. It is straightforward to create personas, and you can take the help of various tools such as Make My Persona.

Using Batch Processing

Batch processing is immensely helpful for automating various tasks such as changing the formats of images, applying compression, resizing multiple photos, and many more. It is cost-effective and the most efficient way to handle several tasks at once and at a time. Many design applications, along with Adobe Photoshop, support batch processing. The process will help you speed up your tasks and save your time and make you more productive.

Additionally: Usability Testing

It is the novel and most effective approach to help you resolve your various problems related to web designing early. You can get relevant feedback from your users and avoid multiple issues that may come in later stages. All these will help you remain stress-free about your work and speed up your web design process.

Source: https://haribook.com/blog/21-productivity-tips-for-freelance-web-designers