Hey there! If you’re reading this right now, you probably searched for things like “freelance web designer”, “web designer” or “web design” on Google. If you’re an aspiring web designer too, say hi by leaving a comment down below! I would love to get to know you and perhaps we can work on a collaboration.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for someone to create a budget-friendly web design, then you’ve found the right person! Drop me message via my contact form or email me [email protected]!
Before I begin, I want to put it out there that besides using this platform as a portfolio for my work, I would love to keep a small part of it for my personal thoughts. Time to time, I will be updating about my journey as a freelance web designer in Singapore so if you’re interested, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter. (I promise there are no spams, just pure updates!)
Okay, enough of all those. Let me get the real purpose of this post!
When did I realise I wanted to do freelance web design?
It didn’t come to me immediately that I wanted to dive into web design. The very first time I was exposed to web design was June last year where I had to help the company I was working for do a revamp of their website. Prior to that, I knew nothing about web design.
I have always loved designing. Though I had no experience creating one from scratch, everything came into place easily and smoothly. I loved working different typography, colours, patterns, and creating different layouts for each page but still maintain some sort of consistency throughout. As I continued to work on the revamp, I realized “Hey, I think I like doing this!”.
So you ask me when I realized I wanted to do freelance web design? Well, it took me a while to get to where I am right now – getting my website up to offer my services to people looking for affordable web design. To be exact, it was only in February that I decided to kickstart this “project” of mine.
Why did it take me so long to decide on it?
A huge part of me was really worried about not having an actual design background. I did not study design nor do I have any experiences in coming up with web design (unless you count the one I did for the company I worked for back then). I constantly compared myself with other freelance web/graphic designers. I was afraid no one would like my ideas and think I was less capable than those with actual background in design.
A small part of me wasn’t sure if I could juggle between school and working as a freelancer. I wanted a healthy work-school-life balance. I didn’t want to compromise any one of the three for another. I’m pretty sure many of us have been through this phase where we can’t start on something, just because we’re afraid of failures and judgements. That was me.
Until a few months back, when my friend gave me an opportunity to work on another project – to create a web design for a jewelry business, that I finally decided to give it a shot.
“Take a leap of faith!”
This is one phrase I’ll always remember. A friend once told me “You’ll never know what the outcome would be until you take a leap of faith!” and so I did. I decided I wasn’t going to be afraid of anybody and anything. It may seem daunting at first but as you dive deeper into it, you’ll realise that its all worth it.
I believe what’s most important is self-confidence. If you make mistakes, receive critics from professionals and even your friends, take them in as pointers for improvements. You may not succeed on your first try but you will never succeed if you don’t even try.
Have I considered any other career options?
As a Year 2 Marketing student, I’ve been exposing myself to many different fields. The very first marketing field I was exposed to was digital marketing. To put it simply, it basically involves all marketing efforts that uses the Internet and online-based technologies. So you could be working on getting engagement through social media, reach out to people via email marketing and even work on search engine optimization (SEO) to increase your visibility on search engines.
There are a variety of areas of expertise in the field of digital marketing. Having tried out content marketing and SEO for a quite some time, I knew they weren’t what I want to do as a career in the future. However, I don’t see those few months as a waste of time. In fact, I’m really happy to be exposed in the field because now I’m even more certain that I can eliminate it from my list of career options.
My ultimate goal is to work as a UX designer. I’ll share more about this in a separate post!
Can anybody start a career in web design without any design background?
I believe anybody can start a career in web design so long as you are willing to learn. There are many self-taught designers out there who are just as successful as those who graduated with a degree in design. With that said, you will definitely need to invest a substantial amount of time and money into it.
You will need to invest on design software, dedicate time to watch and learn from YouTube videos. It requires a lot of self-determination and self-discipline because you are doing it at your own pace while design students are more “on track” given their deadlines etc.
Am I going to work as a full-time web designer after I graduate from school?
I’d definitely continue web designing even after graduation! However, just like I’ve mentioned earlier, I wish to pursue a career in UX design. From now till then, I’ll be working really hard to build my portfolio on that!
