Why & How to do a Design Project Reflection

I’m going to walk you through the 4 things I always do at the end of a project. They’re all important for different reasons, but for the most part my goal is to learn from the project so that I can continue to improve my skills, get work that I enjoy doing, make more money as a freelancer, and serve my clients better.

1. Project Data

I like to start with the stats. I record these in a spreadsheet but you can use whatever method works best for you!

• Client name & industry
• How they found you
• General scope / type of project
• # hours spent
• # weeks from kickoff to final delivery
• $ Earned

2. Reflection Questions

I think it’s so important to reflect and gather a different type of data after each project too. Data about how the project went from your own perspective. In your freelance business, you want to enjoy your work as much as possible, so by making notes about what went well and what didn’t, you can help steer your career in the right direction.

Here are the questions I like to ask myself. I don’t even spend a ton of time on this, just bullet pointing your thoughts quickly and saving this somewhere you can come back to will do the trick!

• Rate this project 1–10
• What did you enjoy?
• What did you NOT enjoy?
• Do you feel that the amount of work was worth the money?
• Do you like the end result? Will you add it to your portfolio?
• Did you learn anything new or gain any valuable skills?
• Would you work with this client again?

3. Feedback // Testimonials

Ask your client for their feedback. You can be transparent with them and let them know that with their permission you’d love to use any positive feedback as a testimonial and any constructive criticism to learn from and improve for next time.

Always thank them for taking the time to do this. I like to make it super simple for our clients by using a form on my website…