#HTE

4 Things to Consider When Designing for Freelancers

Our newest 1-Hour Design Challenge focuses on creating objects and furniture for the freelance sector of the professional world, a group growing rapidly in the United States. As the popularity of this career path advances and the variety of freelance jobs expands, there are plenty of issues design can tackle to improve the life of an independent worker.

Here are just a few questions you can ask yourself in the midst of designing for our latest competition, any of which could help drive your product concept:

How do you outfit a home office or small work space?

This area is an appropriate one to explore if you’re interested in designing a furniture piece or standing object. Perhaps one issue to investigate and design for is having a piece of furniture that can adapt to any situation in your home office that may come up—whether it’s a meeting with clients or simply creating a proper space for you to work (take a look at Flexible Love’s chair prototype above for some inspiration in this regard). 

Not much space in your home office? Maybe there’s a way to re-imagine objects in your environment to save space—consider a design like designer Paul Menand’s incredibly clever take on stacking chairs. 

How do you make it easy to take your work on the go?

As a freelancer, you probably not only have to visit other people’s offices for meetings several times a week, but also might be traveling around the world. So what kind of products could you make to improve efficiency and overall satisfaction when mobile? 

You could, for one, sketch up a backpack or briefcase such as Aer’s travel pack designed specifically as a convenient carry-on when you’re having to go on short business trips. 

If you’re in a position where you’re still managing much of your freelance business in coffee shop environments, there may be some basic issues to consider such as having enough power throughout the day to power your electronics. Perhaps a helpful product to design would be something like the Solarbook, which allows you to stay powered in any sunny place. 

How do you create routines and stay organized?

Freelancers today rely on a number of software programs and apps in order to keep their appointments straight and get all their tasks done. 

One product to take inspiration from could be Evernote’s collaboration with Moleskine: a clever idea for a notebook that allows you to digitize your handwritten notes and automatically organize them within the accompanying app. 

Tranquilo lamp 

An important part of a routine might be establishing space for silence and concentration; one aspect of this could be avoiding your phone and people who might deter you from the task at hand. One clever solution to such a problem is this Tranquillo lamp concept by Avid Kadam, which only stays on as long as your smartphone rests on the base of the lamp.

How do you stay focused and avoid distraction?

Nowadays there are many apps available to help quell the temptation to procrastinate, and many people swear by them. Freedom, for instance, is an app which shuts down the internet on your phone and computer for a pre-determined period of time so you can focus on the task at hand. But are there any physical objects aiding in this self-motivational struggle? 

“Zip It” by Rae Bei-Han Kuo for Lund University’s In Our Office course

One great project we saw during Milan Design Week is a chair by Lund University student Bei-Han Kuo, which acts as a visualization of the idea that when we’re in a productive work zone we often need no opportunity for distraction. Her play on a wingback chair can be zipped up or down depending on the level of privacy needed at the moment.

Your design could also tackle problems specific to very small groups of freelancers—for example, writers. An interesting product called Freewrite is a source of inspiration in this field: aesthetically similar to computers from the 80’s, this machine incorporates an interface that allows you to write and only write. 

In a challenge like this, the opportunities for design are endless and we want to see them all! Read more about the rules here and contribute your submissions on our 1-Hour Design Challenge discussion board or Facebook group. Submit as many as you’d like! We want to see all your brilliant ideas.

Our latest 1-Hour Design Challenge runs until Thursday, June 23rd, so get to it!