Are you an interior, exterior or product designer? Maybe you’ve worked with CAD software and have handled creative design of any kind.
Whichever it is, it’s interesting to know that you can earn a decent living with a freelancer’s skill.
What better platform can you get started on than Upwork? It’s got thousands of clients who are constantly demanding design services.
But it’s important that you position yourself rightly, so you can make the most of the opportunities.
As such, you need to build the right Upwork profile overview. It will give prospective clients the impression that you’ve got the confidence and skill for any job opportunity they might have.
I understand that many freelance designers need directions on what it takes to draft an effective overview. That’s why this article addresses the fundamental details you need to know about Upwork overview for designer accounts. Let’s get started:
Five Points to Note When Getting Started
I won’t expect that you open your profile overview page and start writing out the first line of thought that comes to you. It’s better to give thought to some of the fundamental elements that will ensure that your overview doesn’t get overlooked by clients.
With that, I’ve identified five crucial points you should consider in your profile overview development:
#1: Your First Sentence Matters a Lot
Typically, clients don’t read profile overviews all the way through. At best, they’d skim or abruptly stop reading mid-way. Why is that? They’d generally have to go over hundreds of profiles to get what they want. The clients don’t have the time to meticulously digest each of them.
Therefore, your first sentence will determine how much attention your profile overview will get. It’s bets that you write it with the intention to attract and impress. Get the reader to want to know more about you. For instance, writing your biggest skill or accomplishment is an excellent idea for a first sentence.
#2: Keep the Addresses Open
Right out the gate: avoid using “dear sir/ma” or any other direct addresses in your profile overview. Why? The simple reason is that your overview is going to be read by different random people. As such, it will be a waste of time trying to give a specific salutation to the general audience. Instead, keep the tone professional and general, so it becomes easy for any random reader can relate.
#3: Be Brief Throughout
Don’t fall into the temptation of writing everything about yourself. That’s going to make the overview lengthy and clients will hardly read it. Try to pick the most important aspect of your design journey, like your most notable experience and qualifications.
Also, it’s best to keep the paragraphs short as well. For instance, two long sentences and one short one is an excellent technique you can use.
#4: Avoid Plagiarism
The last thing you’d want to do is plagiarising when writing an Upwork overview for a designer account. If – or when – a client finds out, you may lose a job opportunity and get a bad review for your efforts.
But plagiarism doesn’t end at blatantly copying and pasting someone else’s overview. If you use a template without changing much on it, it could count as plagiarism as well. Therefore, ensure that whatever ideas you’ve got in your overview are mostly yours.
#5: Round up and Revise
After all has been written, the last step you’d want to take is revise your work. Take out the time to eliminate the grammatical errors and other irregularities in the document. An easy way you can take is using an automatic grammar checker. However, another alternative I’d recommend is leaving the document for a day or two, and returning to revise. By that time, you can much more easily pick out any errors in the overview.
Sample of Upwork Profile Overview for Interior Exterior CAD and Product Designer
After we’ve gone over the fundamentals you need to note when developing your profile overview, let me show you an example of what your document should look like.
Overview Sample
I’ve got a master’s degree in Contemporary Design, with a long successful experience of five years in niches like Interior Design, Exterior Design, CAD or Product Design – I’m not an off-the-mill Designer, one might say.
In fact, I’ve completed an advanced study in Virtual Designing and published a research paper on it. In addition to all that, I personally manage a website of my own to archive my designs, research and set up a knowledge base from where I can teach others on how to master Interior Design, Exterior Design, CAD or Product Design.
I enjoy working on Interior Design, Exterior Design, CAD or Product Design projects on intermediate or expert levels. I have a great passion on it, and confident enough to deliver excellent results to clients. Since my formative years, I’ve always loved to make new designs and give products a new look. I am also expert on the following areas:
- Web Development
- Web Programming
- Adobe Creative Suite, such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver
- Graphical Aspects of Web Design
- HTML, CSS, Java, PHP and more
- UI development for Mobile Applications
- User Interface Programs and Agile Frameworks
You can reach out to me on Skype and Slack, if you’ve got questions and enquiries for me. Thank you
Wrapping Up
Managing a design account on Upwork can be a really financially fulfilling endeavour. You’d get a broader range of clients, willing to pay the rate you’ve set for your work.
However, before you begin to make money from your profile, it’s important that you get your profile overview right. That’s because the document determines how clients will receive you. Therefore, how do you begin to write an excellent profile overview for your designer account?
I’ve highlighted five things you must pay attention to above. As an extra tip, I’ve also included a sample for you to get a clearer picture of the result you should desire to get.
