Ionut became passionate about design around 10 years ago, when he first started experimenting with Photoshop. He started his full-time freelance career in 2011 after realizing how many great opportunities this lifestyle could give him. He thinks that a successful freelancer has to be passionate and respect clients and deadlines…
1) Hello Ionut, thanks for taking part in our freelancer insides series. Firstly, can you tell us bit about yourself and what are you up to these days?
Hi there. Thanks for the interest in interviewing me. So, I’m Ionut Zamfir and I live in Bucharest Romania. I am a UI/UX Designer and I´m working as a freelancer since 2011.
2) So, where did your interest for design come from and when did you know that was going to be your career?
I’ve started to learn design back in 2007, while I was messing around in Photoshop. I got my hands on some interesting design tutorials and then I’ve started to experiment a lot, trying to see if I can copy an existing design from top to bottom. Obviously, this really caught my attention and I became really passionate about it, so I continued in this domain. After couple of months of learning design, I got hired by a local design agency and then I knew this is what I wanted to do for a living.
3) What was your inspiration and when did you actually decide to become a freelancer? How long have you been freelancing now?
I worked for several local agencies for about 4 years as a full-time designer and I must say I really enjoyed that. However, back in 2011 I got drafted to Dribbble and my life changed completely. I started to get these really interesting inquiries about all kind of cool projects from awesome people from all around the world. I worked for several projects that were coming from Dribbble, but also kept my full time job. And then, at some point I realized that it was a much better idea to do something on my own, so I switched to freelancing and became my own boss.
4) Was it difficult for you to start? Is there any particular challenge that you specially remember? Did you ever want to give up?
It was a bit difficult to get out of the comfort zone and leave my full time job. Also, I remember being a bit stressed about having all of these conversations and meetings directly with the client and being my own Project Manager. But I never wanted to give up. I’ve always enjoyed it and I knew this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.
5) Now tell us, how do you find new clients that are interested in your services? Could you share any marketing tips and tricks with our freelancers?
Dribbble and Behance Network are my main source of project inquiries and clients. Almost 90% of my projects are coming from Dribbble, but I also get requests from LinkedIn, Facebook and even Instagram. I don’t have a particular set of marketing skills, but I can honestly say is that being focused and always interested in the new trends out there is one of the secrets.
6) What does a typical work day look like for you? Do you work a “normal” 9-5?
It depends, I had periods of time where I’ve worked like 12-16 hours per day, but right now I’m a bit more relaxed. I wake up around 9.30am and work till 6-7pm. I think that working for maximum 6 hours (without any distractions) should be enough and I’m trying to achieve that.
7) Do you use any specific tool to communicate with your clients or for project management? What are in your opinion the top tools every UX/UI designer should know and use for work?
For communicating with the client, I either use email, Skype or Slack. When it comes to presenting the project to a client or gathering feedback, I’m using InVision (which I’m a huge fan of, by the way). For wireframing and designing, I switched to Sketch completely. However, I still use Photoshop from time to time, if the client requests that. Oh, and recently I’ve started to experiment a bit with Adobe XD which also looks promising.
8) Do you use other freelancers or companies to provide skills that you don’t possess? If so, what is it to work with other freelancers?
Yeah, I usually work with a team of great developers. The process is pretty simple, I just introduce them to the client and then provide the assets to them. I know them for a long time and the process is really smooth.
9) What are you most excited about for your business in the future? Do you have any special projects coming up?
Yeah, I have a personal project that I’m working on (it is a mobile app) and I’m in the process of starting my own design agency with a really good friend of mine (that used to be one of my clients).
10) What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about starting a freelance career? And what does it takes to be successful as a freelancer?
I think that anyone can become a successful freelancer. However, there is no shortcut to that. You have to be passionate about what you’re doing, always respect the clients and deadlines and have this self discipline that keeps you focused and organized. Also, the ‘successful freelancer’ path can be simplified by following the right people on these design networks. For example, I’ve always looked up to amazing designers, such as Mike (Creative Mints), Dash, Eddie Lobanovskiy, Bill Kenney and Julien Renvoye.
Where to find Ionut:
Website: www.ionuss.com
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Pic: Ionut Zamfir
