Productivity Tips for Web Designers 

How many times did you start a new design project and got distracted by some insignificant matter? Staying productive and efficient is important no matter what you do, and it largely depends on the habits you form and the tools you use. Discipline is one of the key elements that will help you focus on the most important parts of your work while staying away from distractions like checking your phone all the time or not getting enough sleep, which also reduces your productivity levels. 

Even when you create to-do lists, you need to be smart about them because too many items can make things even worse, and you’ll be constantly thinking about the amount of work you need to do instead of simply taking one step at a time. Streamlining your process can greatly boost your efficiency. First, you can create a standardized work process for every project you take. 

These could be things like briefing your clients, preparing templates, or having design mockups ready. You also shouldn’t forget to use project management tools like Asana or Trello to keep all your project information organized. Let’s look at some useful tips that will help you become more efficient at what you do.

1. Eliminate Distractions

We aren’t talking about skipping breaks and dinner time – those things are essential to your well-being, along with hobbies and time to rest and relax. But here’s the thing – you shouldn’t do those things sporadically because it’s easy to get distracted if you do everything on a whim when you have a project to work on. Creating a schedule will help you boost your life-work balance, maintain a healthy sleep routine, eat regularly, and finish all your tasks on time. 

When it comes to gadgets, you should really pay attention to the time you spend on the Internet. Naturally, you need to stay online to receive your work-related slack notifications and be available to your clients in case they need to verify some details. Otherwise, you can turn off notifications for the apps that might distract you from your work, such as social media and messaging apps.

2. Make Sure Your Device Is Up-to-Date

This is an obvious tip, but we have to mention it nonetheless. When working with web design, you need your laptop or pc properly configured to provide you with a smooth working experience. Any online project starts with a powerful device that allows you to work fast and a steady online connection that lets you use all the necessary project management tools. 

If you’re using a laptop or a Mac, you need to perform regular updates and check-ups to avoid touch id problems and various performance issues. The same goes for PC-owners – if you experience even the slightest lag during your work process, deal with it immediately so it doesn’t turn into a more serious issue.

3. Use the Eisenhower Matrix

Whatever you do, it’s important to prioritize the tasks according to their urgency and importance. Sometimes, we get hung up on things that could be done later, avoiding those that should be done first but require more effort. Try creating a list of tasks according to this criteria:

• Important tasks that are urgent (e.g., they have deadlines and immediate consequences).
• Important tasks that are not urgent (e.g., there are no clear deadlines and they can be postponed for some time).
• Unimportant tasks you can delegate (e.g., the ones that don’t need your skills and can be done by someone else).
• Unimportant tasks you don’t have to do at all (e.g., something unnecessary or a distraction).

4. Use Web-Design Time-Saving Tools

The Internet is full of productivity-enhancing tools that can greatly speed up your design creation process. Try using tools like Sketch and Figma to optimize various tasks. You can even create mockups using AI to explore more options. These tools can also help you collaborate with developers more easily by translating your designs into code. There are various browser extensions you can use to save precious minutes of your workflow. Use ColorZilla for some last-minute color-picking or gradient-generating. If you need to quickly identify a font, use the WhatFont Chrome extension. Reap all the benefits of automation by using Zapier which can be used for both building apps and web pages.

5. Eliminate the Constant Back-and-Forth

Having to check every little detail with a client is the greatest time-stealer. It can also ruin your workflow in no time. Of course, the back-and-forth of revisions, feedback, and approvals can’t be avoided, but you can try various project management tools to streamline the whole process. There’s a lot of software you can use for this, like Trello, Monday, Jira, ClickUp, Zoho Projects, and others. Look for tools that allow you to:

• Collaborate with clients or team members in real time.
• Let clients leave comments on your designs and ideas where you can check them fast.
• Track the history of changes and design alterations to compare different versions and choose the best one.

6. Master Time Management

Whether you’re working alone or in a team, you need to learn how to use your time efficiently, be it for work or leisure. Time is one of your most valuable assets, and it can either be your master, or you can learn how to implement simple techniques to use it wisely. Try the Pomodoro Technique to eliminate stress and cope with tasks faster. 

You can work in focused 25-minute bursts followed by breaks that will help you get more things done in smaller timeframes. You can create a to-do list to manage your activities and track your improvements. Time-blocking your day is yet another option that allows you to have designated hours for work and rest. You can also allocate specific hours for certain tasks you need done ASAP and spend the rest of the day in a more relaxed way.

7. Use the Pareto Princinple

This principle states that 20% of your effort leads to 80% of the result. You’ve probably noticed that when you start working on a new project, you can complete most of it in a short amount of time (if this is not something you need to spend weeks working on). If you’re creating a site for a client, you may spend up to 4 hours before you have a decent draft on your hands. That’s 80% of the work already done, and this is a good place to stop, rest, and take a break. You’ll still have to fine-tune the site, but you can continue doing that when you restore your energy and get some rest. This approach allows you to:

• Avoid trying to achieve perfection.
• Deliver a draft when it’s 80% ready to get valuable feedback.
• Work less to achieve more.
• Have more free time for other things.

Conclusion

In this day and age, you don’t have to do everything yourself, even if you’re a lone designer and do freelancing. Still, your productivity depends on you and your ability to organize your work process. Discipline is one of the first things you should work on when it comes to boosting your efficiency. Next, create a basic schedule that will allow you to maintain a healthy life-work balance. Getting enough sleep and taking regular breaks are just as important to your productivity as having a few to-do lists and using automation tools. 

Use as much software as you can to streamline your workflow. We’re talking about project management tools that allow you to have all the details of your work gathered in one place. You can also use this software to eliminate the constant back-and-forth that can distract you from completing your tasks on time. These tools also make it easier for clients to leave feedback, and you can connect to other team members effortlessly without the need to use additional messengers.