Hey fellow designer,

嘿，同伴，

Since you’re interested in this topic, I suppose you want to pursue a freelance designer path. As exciting as it sounds, it is also equally tricky. This is why I decided to share a few tips on how to make this easier at the beginning — I’m going to talk about clients, rates, making money from projects and passive income.

既然您对此主题感兴趣，我想您想追求*设计师的道路。 听起来令人兴奋，但同样棘手。 这就是为什么我决定在开始时就分享一些技巧以使之变得更容易的原因-我将谈论客户，费率，从项目中赚钱和被动收入。

Before making any final decision, ask yourself these fundamental questions:

在做出任何最终决定之前，请问自己以下基本问题：

• do you have savings, that will keep you afloat for at least half a year? (and also to cover up some unexpected things, like your macbook/imac/ etc. crashing)
  您是否有积蓄，这将使您至少存活半年？ (以及掩盖一些意外情况，例如您的macbook / imac /等崩溃)
• are you able to stay motivated and positive even when things get hard?
  即使遇到困难，您还能保持积极性和积极性吗？
• are you enough self-disciplined to be your own boss?
  你有足够的自律去当老板吗？
• do you have enough industry experience?
  您是否有足够的行业经验？
• are you confident about your design skills? (going freelance is definitely not for juniors)
  您对自己的设计技巧有信心吗？ (*职业者绝对不适合初中生)
• are you ready to take lots of effort in promoting yourself and work extra hours? (often not very profitable — mostly at the beginning)
  您准备好投入很多精力来提升自己并加班吗？ (通常不是很赚钱-主要是在开始时)

If your answers are ALL yes, then it’s a good idea!

如果你的答案都是肯定的，那么它是一个好主意！

1.在哪里寻找客户？ (1. Where to search for clients?)

Most important rule: never spam people. Spamming of any kind (inviting strangers, cold mailing, etc.) will get you nowhere – it just makes people really irritated.

最重要的规则：永远不要向人发送垃圾邮件。 任何形式的垃圾邮件(邀请陌生人，冷邮等)都无济于事–这只会使人们非常恼火。

In a long run, you don’t want to reach out to people. You want people to reach out to you first.

从长远来看，您不想与人接触。 您希望人们首先与您联系。

Be visible online. Make sure that the examples of your work are easy to find. Before you launch your freelance rocket for good, take some time to open and work on social media accounts and public portfolios:

在线可见。 确保您的工作示例易于查找。 在永久发射*职业者火箭之前，请花一些时间开放并使用社交媒体帐户和公共投资组合：

Behance的Dribbble –赢得客户的最佳途径 (Dribbble, Behance – the best way to get clients)

1. Post regularly and monitor trends (this is important to get other users’ attention). Make sure that examples of your work are different styles/ for various devices and represent different industries (health, finance, wellness, fitness, ecommerce, etc.) and tag your work, so people searching for certain examples of products will be able to find you easily.
   定期发布并监控趋势(这对于吸引其他用户的注意力很重要)。 确保您的作品示例具有不同的风格/用于各种设备，并且代表不同的行业(健康，金融，保健，健身，电子商务等)，并为您的作品加上标签，以便搜索某些产品示例的人们能够找到你轻松。
2. Invest in advertising on Dribbble – this is a new, very promising feature on this platform.
   在Dribbble上投资广告–这是该平台上非常有前途的新功能。

Instagram –获取客户的好方法 (Instagram – good way to get clients)

1. Create a personal designer account, with most important information (your full name, profession, all necessary contact — include email in the bio — contact buttons are not enough)

1.创建一个拥有最重要信息的个人设计师帐户(您的全名，专业，所有必要的联系方式-包括个人简历中的电子邮件-联系人按钮还不够)

2. Post regularly. Simple tutorials, examples of your work, examples of cool UI, catchy quotes and helpful tips will help you gain followers and overall traction.

2.定期发布。 简单的教程，您的工作示例，出色的UI示例，引人注目的引号和有用的提示将帮助您获得关注者和整体关注点。

领英，Facebook，Twitter (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)

From my experience, they are not a good place to search for projects (especially in the beginning) – but still good to have those just in case. Followers are always followers – they may come in handy. Post inspiring quotes, helpful links to tutorials and freebies – and get involved in the conversations.

从我的经验来看，它们不是寻找项目的好地方(尤其是在开始时)，但以防万一还是不错的。 追随者永远是追随者–他们可能派上用场。 发表鼓舞人心的报价，教程和免费赠品的有用链接–并参与对话。

重新设计 (Post redesigns)

Know a product that could use some redesigning? Do it. Show before and after. Write a short case study. Post it on your social media.

知道可能需要重新设计的产品吗？ 做吧显示之前和之后。 写一个简短的案例研究。 将其发布在您的社交媒体上。

It is important to show something visually appealing and thoughtful (especially before/after so people can see the difference) – this backs up your skills and shows what kind of expertise you can offer to your customer.

重要的是要显示出视觉上吸引人且周到的内容(尤其是在人们之前/之后才能看到差异)–这可以支持您的技能并显示可以为客户提供的专业知识。

2.我需要为投资组合建立一个单独的网站吗？ (2. Do I need to have a separate website for my portfolio?)

No, not really.

不，不是。

I know many designers who post all of their work on Dribbble (the new version of the platform offers a great way to showcase your projects in a case study manner) and use it as the one and only online portfolio on a daily basis (and get many clients this way).

我知道许多设计师都将他们的所有工作发布在Dribbble上(该平台的新版本提供了一种以案例研究的方式展示您的项目的好方法)，并将其用作每天唯一的在线投资组合(并获得这样可以吸引很多客户)。

And, Behance is, well, all about being a personal portfolio. Yet, I believe that investing your time in Dribbble will be more profitable.

而且，Behance就是要成为个人投资组合。 但是，我相信，将时间花在Dribbble上会更有利可图。

3.固定价格还是小时费率？ (3. Fixed price or hourly rate?)

固定价格 (Fixed price)

Good for your customer, worse for you (the probability that you will end up doing countless feedback rounds and crying yourself to sleep is high).

对您的客户有利，对您不利(您最终将进行无数次反馈并哭泣入睡的可能性很高)。

每小时收费 (Hourly rate)

Worse for your customer, good and safe for you (you get paid for every hour you spend on a project, even for countless feedback rounds).

对您的客户来说更糟，对您来说又安全又好(即使您花在项目上的每一小时，您也会获得报酬，即使反馈回合数不胜数)。

If the project is small (private person, a small startup, not that much work – less than a month) – try with the fixed price. It will be easier to estimate it for a small amount of work without going too low/risking too much of your time.

如果项目规模较小(私人，小型创业公司，而工作量不足一个月(不到一个月))，请尝试使用固定价格。 只需少量工作就可以轻松进行估算，而又不会花费太多时间/浪费太多时间。

If the project is bigger (established company or startup, lots of work, seems complicated – more than a month of work) – go for an hourly rate. It is almost impossible/extremely hard to estimate the amount of time it is going to take you. Hourly rate seems like a safe option here!

如果项目规模更大(老牌公司或初创公司，很多工作，看起来很复杂-超过一个月的工作)，则按小时收费。 几乎不可能/很难估计要花费多少时间。 每小时收费似乎是一个安全的选择！

4.如何获得被动收入？ (4. How to make a passive income?)

It is better to have even a small passive income each month, than none at all – extra money is always extra money, even if it only buys you a coffee every morning. In a designer world there are plenty of ways to do it:

每个月甚至只有很少的被动收入总比没有要好-多余的钱总是多余的钱，即使它每天早晨只为您买咖啡。 在设计师世界中，有很多方法可以做到这一点：

卖东西 (Sell goodies)

Think icon sets, 2d/3d illustrations, vectors, photos, etc. on the platforms like Dribbble or Creative Market.

在Dribbble或Creative Market等平台上考虑图标集，2d / 3d插图，矢量，照片等。

出售未使用的项目 (Sell unused projects)

A logo that was not accepted by the client? An unused UI design for a project that did not start, or the client did not pay? (Sadly, it happens). Don’t just throw it away — make use of it (make use of everything you do, basically). You can sell unused projects (ideally, at a slightly lower price) on the platforms mentioned earlier.

客户不接受的徽标？ 未启动的项目或用户未付款的未使用UI设计？ (可悲的是，它发生了)。 不要只是丢掉它-加以利用(基本上是利用您所做的一切)。 您可以在前面提到的平台上出售未使用的项目(理想情况下，价格略低)。

开始在Medium / Youtube频道上写作 (Start writing on Medium/Youtube channel)

You don’t need to be a professional writer or have brilliant movie editing skills. Use what you know and what you can do to start. You will become better as the time goes/as more you write/as more you edit.

您无需成为专业作家或具有出色的电影剪辑能力。 使用您所知道的以及可以做的事情开始。 随着时间的流逝/您编写的次数越多/您编辑的次数越多，您将变得更好。

思考产品 (Think products)

Being a freelance designer doesn’t mean you can‘t invest in your own product or startup idea — actually, I would strongly encourage you to think about what product you could potentially sell. Even if it’s an ebook or a video course — it’s definitely worth trying. Having an idea for an app? Talk to a fellow programmer and create something (even just for fun). Who knows, maybe you’ll invent a new TikTok?

成为*设计师并不意味着您不能投资于自己的产品或创业理念-实际上，我强烈建议您考虑可以销售的产品。 即使是电子书或视频课程，也绝对值得尝试。 有一个应用程序的主意吗？ 与其他程序员交谈并创建一些东西(甚至只是为了好玩)。 谁知道，也许您会发明新的TikTok？

Remember that taking the first step is always the hardest part. Making sure you’ll gain income from different areas is a key to success. Try to stay visible online and post your work regularly, so the others could acknowledge you and your skills. Don’t give up and stay positive.

请记住，第一步始终是最难的部分。 确保您将从不同领域获得收入是成功的关键。 尝试保持在线状态并定期发布您的作品，以便其他人可以肯定您和您的技能。 不要放弃并保持积极向上。

Good luck and fingers crossed! ????????

祝你好运，手指交叉！ ????????

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获得“ Designing Interfaces”一书(评级为⭐⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️️4.99)，其中包含有关设计UI的最重要知识的近500页！ 我写有关设计的文章，也是HYPE4设计驱动软件代理商的联合创始人/首席设计师。