From the outside looking in, the freelance web design lifestyle is lavish – big houses, fancy cars, sleeping until noon, working in your pajamas and never answering to a boss. Wait, those are just the things people think make up a freelance life. Today’s article will go over the good, the bad and the ugly of the web design industry. After all, not everything is sunrises, rainbows and cute little bunnies – there’s dirt to dig and mountains to climb.

The good side of the web design industry

I know I joked in the introductory paragraph that there are misconceptions about freelancers and that it’s hard work, but there are definitely beautiful aspects of the web design industry, both as an art and as a profession. Below are a few from each side of the box that I think are important to note.

The good: Design related

Minimalist designs – There was a time when the clan websites were all the rage, but as a designer, you must know that minimalism is beautiful and should be held to a higher standard (in my opinion). The more you can say, with less, the better and minimalism design proves it.
Polished designs – Yes, a 14 year old can throw together a quick web page for their friends and call it a website, but a true web designer knows how to polish their work and ensure it’s of the highest quality. The css galleries prove it time and time again – awesome designs are, well, awesome.
Structure & Grid – You can design a website without using a grid, but for those who do utilize a grid to structure their content, the flow and usability of their website shoots up 100% compared to a website built without a grid. I’d recommend checking out 960.gs or the 1kb grid for inspiration and resources.

The good: Business related

Freedom from the clock – As a self employed web designer, you’re able to set your own hours, take time away from the computer whenever you need to, and in essence, never need a ‘lunch hour’ ever again. Just remember to manage your time wisely.
The community vibe is great – The web design community online is an awesome thing to be a part of. People are there to bounce ideas off of, shoot the breeze with and learn from on a daily basis. It’s never dull online and with websites like dribbble popping up, it just keeps getting better.
You name your price – You did not get hired in to a 9-5 job, so don’t pay yourself like it. You set your price, your clients pay it and you couldn’t be happier. When you set your price, you’re giving yourself the freedom to make any amount of money you want (as long as there’s someone there to pay the price).

The bad side of the web design industry

Below are some of the bad aspects of the web industry – nothing too drastic, but things that you should definitely look out for if you’re thinking of taking up web design as your profession.

The bad: Design related

Auto-starting music – This is so 1990. If you have a client who requests auto-starting music (or even worse, the music that plays without a stop button) please step away slowly and never return
More ads than content – If you want to build spam websites, fine, but don’t try and pass them off as high quality website designs. If your ad to content ratio is tilting in the wrong direction, your visitors will be as well.
Horrible UX – UX is User Experience and if your website lacks in that department, it’s a failure, no matter how “pretty” it looks. Just like the saying “it’s only marketing if it sells what it’s offering” the same can be said for a website design – it’s only good if it does it’s job.

The bad: Business related

It can feel a bit anti-social – Yes, you’ve got people you can talk to at the drop of a dime on twitter, facebook, email, message boards, blogs and so on, but the real life interaction will start to feel like it’s lacking and you can quickly get engulfed in your “computer life” without evening noticing it happening.
Cliques are not just in high school – The web design community online is a great place, but you’ll have to be blind to not see that there are cliques of designers who always promote each other, talk mainly to each other and shut out the ‘others’. Don’t mind them though, just keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be fine
The feast or famine cycle – If you haven’t heard of the Feast or Famine cycle before, Freelance Folder has a great piece on it and how you can avoid it. Basically, you’ll be faced with times where there’s a ton of work to be done, and then times where it seems all of the work dried up and you could end up broke (if you don’t manage your money right).

The ugly side of the web design industry

Now we get into the dirty side of the web design industry. The things that people don’t want to tell you about. You know, the first and second rules of fight club? It’s kind of like that, except these are actually bad things being hidden by the no talking rule. I’m not saying that the entire industry is made up of these negatives, but they are out there so it’s best that you know about them and watch out for them.

The ugly: Design related

Animated GIF’s – If you thought there was nothing more annoying and amateurish than auto starting music on a web page, you were wrong. Animated gif’s are outdated and annoying and you need to avoid them at all costs.
Tables and inline styling – We’re not barbarians, so can we stop using the outdated items please? Tables and inline styling are not only outdated, but they’re ugly and hard to update. That’s three strikes – you’re out.
Good designs will be stolen – OnWired, 31three, Tim Van Damme and others will tell you this – if you’re a great designer, your designs will be lifted by the scummier side of the design industry. People might even resell your designs. Generally though, these people only work with the low end of the food chain, so there’s not much need to panic, just out them and move on.

The ugly: Business related

Stress levels can get extremely high – When you’re working for yourself, the stress grows because you lack the paycheck to paycheck method you’re used to. Add to that the stress of dealing with unruly clients and you can see how a little stress can stretch and bend and turn into something major.
Trendy beats originality with most clients – If you’re in a position to where you can pick and choose which clients you work with and only take on jobs where you can do what you want, you’re in a great place. Most designers though have to accommodate their clients needs and wants, thus making sure we recreate the trends of the web on an almost daily basis.
Invoices, Taxes and Contracts OH MY! – (like what I did there?) This is the tough spot for a lot of freelance web designers; the paperwork. You can be the best designer to ever access the internet, but if your paperwork for your business isn’t right, you’re going to be in for some major headaches.

What do you think? Got anything to add?

We’d love to have the readers comment on the good, bad and ugly of the web design industry and share some things we may have missed along the way. Drop a comment and spread your knowledge – you know you want to.

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