The year 2020 in Review — Freelance Designer

4 min readDec 31, 2020

Ohh What a ride this year was…

I wasn't gonna write this Year in Review because, like most of us, I was hoping to call 2020 a wash. But I think there are plenty of learnings and takeaways from this year, maybe even more so than previous ones.

I’m hopeful that we’re going to see some things turnaround in the next couple of months.

So let’s jump in.

1. Freelance Business in a Global pandemic

We all have been struggling with this global pandemic in our own little ways. I was privileged being in the service industries which still strived in these tough times

Here are some numbers

50+ Happy Clients

20 Pitch decks

30 Presentations

20 Logos

2. Clients & Feedback

While working on these projects, I got the chance to collaborate with some amazing & big companies.

Here are some of them ( Thanks Peoplefirst.design 😊)

This year didn't only brings us the lockdown, it also brought us time to sit and learn new things, like those social media trends we saw.

These clients gave me the chance to work with a different style of design like

Logos, Pitch deck, Salesdeck, Reports, Social Media Campaigns, Packaging & PPT Animation

I was blessed to work with clients from 4 countries & 12 cities.

Some kind words from them

3. New tools to upgrade skillset

Here are some new tools which helped me learn and upgrade my skills.

From left to right- Figma, Affinity Designer, Pitch, Keynote, Adobe XD

4. Create with No-code

While focusing on my main skills, Design. I also focused on some side projects which are still in pipeline. but to complete them I needed coding language and I have knowledge of coding only as much as a kid has knowledge of politics, None.

But I was saved by No-code tools, I got help from Peoplewho.build. They helped me in learning new tools & harness my creator side more without bounded by my technical knowledge.

I also got the chance to create their brand identity, so definitely got some brownie points there.

Some tools I learned from them

5. Getting Online

While focusing on finding leads, online portfolio sides also helped all of us to showcase our work and get in front of the clients.

23.5K Views on Dribbble

3.3K Views on Behance

6. Finding new passion

This lockdown gave us time to think & focus on what's important in life.

While some of us learned new skills like cooking. I discovered my love for teaching design. I was blessed to get 3 students in the middle of a pandemic who were as excited to learn about design as I was excited to teach.

I shared my knowledge of Logos, Adobe illustrator, and even freelance side to them and in the process learned new things.

3 Students
150 Hours

7. Creating a Work from Home setup

While we all were comfortable in our offices and surrounded by devices we loved and cherished. this lockdown pushed us to get back to basics and make work of what we had.

Here is my WFH Setup.
Devices included