The Truth About Being A Freelance Web Designer [Infographic]

There is a whole misconception going around about freelance web designers. It seems the general perception is that it is a laid back, carefree and ultimately creative profession. I can honestly say that if it was even a fraction of that, I think most freelance web designers would be the happiest people in the world. I am sorry to say that unfortunately it isn’t. The perception couldn’t be farther from the truth. The reality of it is that the profession is more stressful than you can imagine.

Being a freelance web designer involves whole lot of problem solving each and every single day. The creative outlet that people think you have is really quite limited. Sure, if you are designing stuff for yourself, you of course have 100% control. However, that is never the case when you are a freelance web designer. You will have to toss out your own ideas, destroy them even, and follow an abstract thought that your client has tried to share that makes little or no sense at all.

If you ever implement something genius, groundbreaking and utterly wonderful into their website, they will most likely ask you to take it off since they haven’t seen it one of the multinational companies’ websites before. The mindset is, “If it ain’t there, it can’t be good.”

There are a lot of freelance web designers who have tried to share their frustration with the world through different kinds of creative outlets. Most are hilarious and quite touching on the edge of the truth. However, when it comes to hilarity and creative outlet combined, this infographic is probably the one that is the closest to the truth, at least that I have found.

It’s presented and created by The Maple Kind and is called The Whole Truth About Being A Freelancer In Web Design. Through this piece of awesomeness, you get a true glimpse into the profession of being a freelance web designer. In many ways this is exactly how it is. Of course, some things are greatly exaggerated, especially the distractions section. I can’t remember ever being distracted from a project just because of the Internet. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember even having time to be distracted.

Now that you have gotten a little better, more truthful, insight into what it means to be a freelance web designer, do you still want to be one? Are you still looking at this profession with watery eyes thinking your biggest dream will never come true? The question should really be, are you prepared to give up your entire creative life just to make enough money to live it?