Hi Toby, thanks for the feedback and kind words.

I do realise that I provide more value than purely pushing pixels but it is my confidence (impostor syndrome) that is limiting me. I've stopped trying to charge by the hour and I'm moving towards fixed pricing at the moment.I recently purchased Brennan Dunn's DYFR (thanks Black Friday) so I can learn more about pricing on value.

My learning isn't limited to design and I've started reading books about the business side of things. I'm a work in progress and I hope I can make major strides in design and freelancing/business over the coming 12 months.

Thanks Mr Marvelapp (Murat)

Invision isn't the only game in town, have a look at Marvelapp if you haven't already! https://marvelapp.com

This probably isn't the answer you want to hear but I found my first clients on Upwork, I had a few screenshot's of fictitious apps and home pages I'd created and they were enough to land my first few projects. My first 2 clients actually approached me which was really surprising.

In terms of proposals I try to send quality over quantity. I see tons of people applying for projects and their skill-sets don't match up with the project they are applying for. I think lot's of people on there apply with cut and paste proposals rather than spending time writing something unique and actually applicable to the project they are applying for. Also when your write out a nice proposal keep a copy of it saved in Evernote so you can tweak it and re-use it again. Rather than just talking about yourself and why your the best for the job ask them more questions about the project as it show's you have an actual interest in it.

That's what has worked for me anyway :)

hmm, that seems like quite a big jump. I'd honestly be too scared to ask for $50/hour because I think it would scare clients off.

Oh man, I'm not sure how I forgot to mention Sketch, it was part of the reason I got started. I've never used Photoshop to design interfaces and hope I never will :)

Designing - Sketch Prototyping/Presenting - Marvel and Invision Assets etc for devs - Zeplin (https://zeplin.io) Icons - Picons and Streamline Photography - DollarPhotoClub

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Thanks Adam, it's not quite years yet, another 6 months-ish and it'll be 2 years.

I think the modesty and humble demeanour is down to the fact that I'm just glad to be doing this. I had no marketable skills 18 months ago and basically started from nothing, now I'm doing something I love and can see a bright future. I pretty much wasted the previous decade and got nowhere so learning design created a future for me, taking this path was the best decision I've ever made.

I think this is settled now and instead of going to $40/hour in January I'll go straight to $50/hour and maybe look to increase it regularly if I get no push-backs.

Maybe they aren't so bad but I'm quite critical of myself as I'm sure other designers are. The layouts are ok but I think the elements are quite 'heavy' looking and lack finesse.

Hi Jenny,

It might be different for me as a UI designer but I definitely felt that for sure. Very early on I worked for a startup and they required quite a high level of polish on the designs, this was right at the beginning of my journey so I wasn't very good understandably but it definitely pushed me to improve my skills quicker than if I let it happen naturally.

I can imagine it could be quite different and a lot harder for a developer because of the nature of what you have to do. I've read many times that people get better much quicker when they are forced out of their comfort zone and it makes sense because maybe you wouldn't push yourself in such a way if left to your own volition.

I guess my only advice would be to give the clients an overestimation of how long you think a task will take and it'll give you a buffer to learn what you need to learn and maybe even finish quicker than expected (under-promise and over-deliver).

Lastly maybe you can get the client to nail down explicitly (the scope) what they want done before you start. When they ask for extra features you can point out that it's not part of the contract but you could accommodate it once the current contract has been concluded. If the task is too difficult you'll have the option to walk away.

Yes having good taste definitely is key to starting on the right foot. My eye has definitely improved over time too so taste isn't something that is fixed but actually dynamic.

That's a great video and I've seen it a few different styles I'm sure if it.

Thanks for the praise, maybe I'll do another post this time next year if all goes well!

https://vimeo.com/85040589 A better version of the same thing.

Still mostly through Upwork but not all of the projects actually take place on there. This is something I need to work on this year and diversify where my clients come from, I've seen a few other sites such as pickcrew, folyo and juiiicy that I'll sign up with sooner rather than later.

Hi Ege,

Thanks for the advice, I think your right about the typography and I could be more adventurous and experiment even if I did it on my own designs (rather than client work). I have Ellen Lupton's Thinking With Type so maybe that'll push me towards improvement!

Thanks Ming I really appreciate the kind words.