Freelance Web Designer

Hiring a freelance web designer is often cheaper than going to an agency because they have less overheads. They are also usually more responsive as the client will always have direct contact with the freelance at all times. A Freelance Web Designer will usually specialise in a few different skillsets and can help you build whatever you are looking for from small brochure sites to full eCommerce builds.

All freelance web designers will charge for projects slightly differently. I charge on a per project basis, so I would ask you to send me a brief outlining your requirements. That way I can see if we'll be a good fit and if I believe I have the skills needed to bring your project to life. I can say that my prices for bespoke design & development typically start at around the £2,500 + VAT figure.

So I usually break the project into two payments. The first 50% is paid upfront as an initial kick off invoice. The remaining 50% is paid when no more changes are required on the development server and the site is ready to go live.

Every Web Design Project will be broken down into various parts with a typical brochure site taking around 6 - 8 weeks from start to finish. A more complicated build or something eCommere based could be anywhere from 8 - 20 weeks depending on the size and how complex it is. For a rough breakdown of an average timeline please see the below table:

Research & Initial Meetings	Week 1
Concept / Design stage	Weeks 2 - 4
Development Stage	Weeks 4 - 5
Testing / QA Stage	Weeks 6 - 7
Launch	Weeks 8

For the best possible start to your project it's always best that you have everything you need to hit the ground running. It's not a deal breaker if you don't have these ready it can just make things take slightly longer.

• Branding - I'll ask you to supply any brand guidelines you have before we begin. If you dont have any that's not a problem, simply supplying your logo in an SVG format will suffice.
• Photography - If you have an image library I'll ask to access to this, again if you don't have this we can look at sourcing images for you from stock libraries like Shutterstock or Unsplash.
• Content If you have already planned out your content with sitemaps and corresponding documents outlining all the content that goes on each page, fantastic! If not, I will ask for a rough content plan so we know what needs to go on each page and then we can fill the pages with placeholder 'lorem ipsum' until you have written the content.

Yes. If you already have a web designer on board and are looking for a web developer to bring it to life then feel free to get in touch. My only requirement is that the designer you choose will need to be able to supply me with hand over files in a modern format such as, XD, Sketch, Figma or anything that's larger used for web design.

Yes. I can supply your developers with full hand over documentation using InVision and design the vast majority of my sites using Sketch or Figma. This means that your developers will be able to export all the assets they require in an SVG format which means the site will look crisp across multiple devices / screens.

While a premium theme can be a great starting point, it's not always the best solution for every project. A lot of times they can be restrictive, difficult to customise and don't always offer the best or most up-to-date design trends. In most cases, I would recommend starting with a blank canvas and building your site from the ground up. This will ensure that your site is truly unique and reflects your brand and business exactly how you want it to.

If you're interested in working with a freelance web designer, get in touch today for a free consultation. We can discuss your project in more detail, outline a proposal and provide you with an estimate of costs

Unfortunately, I don't work on existing websites. This is because every project is unique and requires a bespoke approach to achieve the best possible results. Creating a new website from scratch will allow me to take into account your brand, business and target audience, resulting in a site that not only looks good but also functions perfectly for you and your visitors. If you're interested in working with a freelance web designer, get in touch today for a free consultation. We can discuss your project in more detail, outline a proposal and provide you with an estimate of costs.

Yes. I'm an advocate for content management systems (CMS). Using a CMS like WordPress means that you will be able to easily edit your website yourself with ease, without the need for any programming knowledge, by adding/editing pages and blog posts, etc. A training session will also be offered to make sure that you are comfortable updating your website.

Yes. I always make sure that my websites are search engine friendly and follow all the latest best practices. I also pay close attention to Google's Core Web Vitals to make sure the website is as fast as possible, this includes modern coding practices like using WebP/SVG imagery and if using a CMS caching plugins will be utilised to again improve the performance.

While I don't offer web hosting directly, I do work with a couple of chosen providers whom I have worked with for the last 10 years. They are Nimbus Hosting and Kinsta, neither of these is cheap but with web hosting you get what you pay for. If you want a site that's secure, scalable and fast then you need to pay for a host that can offer you that.

As a web designer I often use WordPress to power the majority of my websites. Clients often like to use this as it's open source (meaning it doesn't require an expensive yearly licence to use) and it's very easy to use. I do work with other PHP based CMS's such as Craft & Perch.

I often compare this to the Windows vs Mac argument from several years ago where Apple were proudly boasting that "Mac's don't get viruses" the reality of this is fairly obvious when you think about it. Windows had a massive market share compared to Apple at the time so the hackers were focusing their efforts on this because they could target a larger audience. Things have changed since then and at the last open tally the latest version of OS has more open vunertabilities than the latest version of windows. So what does this have to do with WordPress? Well WordPress powers approximately 40% of the web and has the largest market share by a huge amount. WordPress itself isn't inhereintly unsecure, but when you pair things such as weak passwords, bad web hosting and not keeping the plugins/core files up to date then it's a recipe to get hacked. The truth is that any website that has a database/public facing login is at risk of being hacked if proper security precautions aren't followed. If you want your website to be as secure as humanly possible then consider ditching a CMS altogether and going for a flat file build.

I enjoy working with a wide range of companies and individuals, and I bring the same skills to my work for small clients that I do for larger ones. I'm just as interested in working with small businesses as I am are big ones, and because I'm a local business, I have an edge when it comes to meeting the demands of developing organizations.

I have worked on projects with companies and individuals all over the world and I'm always open to new opportunities. I have a good understanding of the web design process and what it takes to deliver a project on time, so whether you're in the UK, US, Europe or Asia, I can work with you. If you'd like to work with me on your next project you can get in touch here.

I opted to use a brand rather than my name to set myself apart from the competition. The majority of other freelance web designers just use their names. I can't honestly say why the name Lonely Pixel jumped out at me but after many domain searches it was the only one that stuck!