Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Punit Web

Designers like You and I have probably ‘tried’ a lot of things to improve our career and lifestyle, but there’s a high chance the resolution we made for this year, has already gone in another direction. However, there is still hope and a few things that You as a designer / artist / writer or any other type of creative *Must* follow this year, to not only earn more money and be more creative, but to have ‘less coffee’ — a phrase I’m coining for a better and happier lifestyle.

“Make more money and be more creative, but have less coffee“

Start Making Actual Extra Pocket Money

I spent enough time in 2017 working for free and making $0 for a lot of things I did. But thankfully, I found a couple of effective ways to get some extra pocket money and get some credibility on the side.

> Test Websites & Apps for $$$

There are a few websites that test websites and get feedback from real users around the world. These are much different from surveys, in the sense that they ask you to record your voice and give your thoughts on websites and apps in real time. You get a few tasks, totaling 15 to 20 min in all, and the entire screen and voice recording is then sent to the company. If you’ve followed their instructions and completed the tasks properly, you can earn anywhere from $10-$100 for the task. Pretty good for just talking and pressing a few buttons!

I’d suggest taking a look at User Testing, since they pay on time, have a simple system and seem to get the most clients as well, so you won’t have to wait for tests that long. Remember, you don’t even have to be a designer to work, just sign up and thank me later.

Visit User Testing: https://goo.gl/wG2Kw5

> Sell Your Designs & Illustrations

Now, I’m sure you have a couple of designs lying around in your archive or your desktop, which are just lying around. Why not make some extra bucks selling them online to people who’d need these for their own projects; There’s not much to explain here. I’d suggest go check out Uplabs for UI and UX work and Creative Market for illustrations.

Visit Uplabs : https://goo.gl/Ho8zN4

Visit Creative Market : https://goo.gl/Q6zrbt

> Just Ask for Money

Trust me, it never seems needy to just ask for money, specially if you just call it a Donation. In fact, rather than explaining let me show you.

Donate and help a fellow designer : https://www.paypal.me/punitweb

See, there was absolutely no shame in doing that. This is something that works in all areas in life, if you want something, just ask.

Take Your Creativity to the Next Level

You’re probably working very hard to make sure that your design skills are up to date and look good to everybody. You’ve been working hard, but it’s finally time to start working in the right direction. Here are a couple of things you *Must* try this year to up your design game.

> Learn from Popular Design Guides

A lot of brands like Duolingo, IBM and BBC make their design guidelines public. These design guidelines include color palettes, illustrations, UI kits and designs, and a lot of other free resources. You can learn from these guidelines and build your own style of designing. In fact, I was so inspired by these guides, that I went and wrote an article about them 👇.

Design Style Guides to Learn From in 2018

All these design guides have something that all designers look for, i.e. uniformity. That’s one key you can take away from these.
Also, these guidelines often help you get out of a designer’s block and move forward. They help you get your creative juices running and give you some inspiration to get started with your next project.

> Experiment With New Software and Alternatives

Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Sketch & Gimp ( in order from left to right )

I’ve often been in a position where I’m actually uncomfortable to shift to or even try a new software for designing my projects. It always seems weird trying something new out. Trust me, once you get out of this zone of feeling uncomfortable, it’s a smooth ride from there on. You *must* try different software on different OS ( operating systems ) as well. Software like Sketch and Principle are only available on Mac OS. However, there is a workaround for using these software on windows or linux, by using a virtual machine.
An ‘alternative’ for adobe illustrator would have to be affinity designer. Affinity designer is a less expensive alternative to adobe, and provides photo and illustration software which are similar to photoshop and illustrator. So if you want to try something new, that’s the direction to go.

Also, there are some open source alternatives like Gimp. Don’t let ‘open source’ scare you. Gimp is actually a good lightweight software for designing, say a quick illustration.

> Stop Making Bad Color Choices

We’ve all been there, and we’ve all tried to come out of it. Making bad color choices is not a pleasing experience, especially when you get comments from people about your ‘okay’ color choices. Hey, I’ve been there too and I’ve also made bad color choices. I’ve once tried to mix teal with magenta, thinking it’ll make a nice gradient, well it didn’t 😑.

Pantone Colors for Designers

I’d suggest checking out what Pantone has to offer rather than sticking to the boring old RGB and CMYK options. The article I’ve linked above gives a great overview of Pantone and how to get started. Remember, start experimenting, you’ll definitely end up with something that really speaks to you.

Drink Less Coffee, Almost Literally

You’ve probably heard the stereotype that designers often live on coffee and energy drinks, they wake up till late at night and eat unhealthy. Well, I have none of those habits and I’m one of the happiest designers around. Changing your lifestyle and improving it will not only help you be healthier, but also help you be more creative. Here are some ways you can boost your lifestyle:

> Cut Down the Sugar

Cutting down on artificial sugars and cane sugar will change your life. You’ll feel low on energy for the first 3–4 days. After that, you’ll feel like you could conquer the world! It’s almost like a super power. Try it.

> Sleep More, Period

You’re most creative when you’re well rested. Getting 7–8 hours of sleep on a daily is crucial for designers. Doesn’t matter if you have a big project on hand. Sleeping more will automatically force you to manage your time better and eventually be more productive. As simple as counting sheep 🐑.

> Don’t be Dependent on Coffee and Energy Drinks

Have you ever heard of ‘substance abuse’ ? Well, if you drink 6 cups of coffee or guzzle down Redbull to keep yourself aware and awake, you’re practicing substance abuse.

Alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine are the most widely consumed psychotropic drugs worldwide. These drugs can all create dependence, as understood in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV)

— U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health

Now that I’ve made such a bold statement against Redbull and coffee, I’ll have to be on the lookout for lawsuits from various companies and organizations.

Hope you Liked this article, and my style of writing. Give a couple of claps to this article and Follow Me.

Also, support a young designer by donating to my paypal
here — → https://www.paypal.me/punitweb

Even $5 goes a long way 🙂

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Things Designers *Must* Try to Succeed This Year was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Things Designers *Must* Try to Succeed This Year

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Things Designers Must Try to Succeed This Year