7 Useful Tools For Freelance Web Designers
Being a freelancer sounds very cool… You have 100% freedom in deciding what projects you will work on, the way you will organize those projects as well as the tools you will choose to work with. Not even mentioning that you decide whether you will work from home, office, cafes, park or any other place you like. Awesome right? Well yes and no. Both, yes and no, are because of one reason: 100% freedom. When you are given the freedom to decide on everything, from working hours, to working place and working tools, then often you might get lost. You are distracted by things that normally people with ordinary jobs do not encounter, you need to create the “system”, you need to find the right tools and use them in the right way, and all this should be done on time or before due or deadline. If this doesn’t happen…the freelancer is out of game.
In today’s article we recommend 7 tools we believe are useful for every freelance web designer. Let’s take a look:
Simple time tracking, fast online invoicing, and powerful reports. With this tool you can track your time spent on projects from your web browser, mobile phone, or desktop. It also allows you to create invoices fast, with customized logos and translations, and invoice in different currencies. Harvest also enables you to keep track of your expenses, as well as to send professional - looking estimates to your clients. You can check Harvest pricing here.
It is a great tool to get a new project to work on. Clients post projects for free and if you are one of the matching designers then you are notified via email immediately. Freelancers post bids to win contracts.
3. Shadowness
“Our vision is to create a simple and powerful tool to allow artists and designers to connect to each other and share their work. We’re tight-knit, pretty picky about our work, but always friendly, ready to help and learn”. This simple tool allows you to design your portfolio, be awarded as you contribute, join and create art groups, participate in forum topics, access to instant chat messaging between members of the community etc.
4. Vecteezy
It is a community of vector art! Members create and exchange free vector graphics like vector icons, vector patterns, vector swirls, or flourishes. Check it out!
5. FreeAgent
Great tool to manage your books and accounts. This tool is specifically targeting small businesses and freelancers. They say: “FreeAgent launched in 2007, hewn from the frustration that managing company finances was just too damn hard for most small businesses and freelancers. Since then we’ve doggedly stuck to our mantra of demystifying accounting and redefining the relationship people have with their finances”.
6. IconFinder
This tool helps you to find a variety of high quality icons in an easy and efficient way. It is said to be the first search engine focused on icons and “with millions on icons downloaded every month it is among the most popular icon sites”. So maybe it is worth to try it!
7. FontForge
It is an open-source application for font design. FontForge allows you to create your own postscript, truetype, opentype, cid-keyed, multi-master, cff, svg and bitmap (bdf, FON, NFNT) fonts, or edit existing ones. “Also lets you convert one format to another. FontForge has support for many macintosh font formats. FontForge’s user interface has been localized for: (English), Russian, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Greek, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, German, Polish, Ukrainian”, is explained on FontForge official website.
We hope you will find these tools useful. Any other tools you would like to recommend?
