Can UX designers work from home?

Working remotely from your own home as a UX designer is a whole different way of working compared to working in a big office.

Here are some tips and tricks to help you when you work from home as a UX designer.

Go outside. When you work from home nobody is watching you. This can be a good thing but there’s also the risk of a common pitfall. Since you don’t have to commute every day you might not take breaks or go outside at all. The daily commute is for a lot of people the only time they ‘exercise’ and a big part of their outside time. When you work from home, you lose these moments. By going outside and actually taking a break you’ll increase your productivity and take a step back. It is good for your health as well.

When you work on location, you have microbreaks when you run into someone at the coffee machine or in the hallway. Take those microbreaks when you’re working from home as well by going outside, playing with your pet, or something else to help you relax.

Stay in touch. An important aspect of doing remote work as a UX designer is communication. As mentioned earlier, you can’t just walk up to your colleagues like you would when you were all in the same building.

Make sure you attend weekly recurrences like reviews, Scrum meetings, and standups. In my own experience, it works well to have a short phone call with your stakeholders every week to check if you’re all still on the same wavelength. During this phone call, you can discuss current and upcoming work.

Keep practicing your design skills and tools. Since you cannot show yourself in real-life you have to make sure your work speaks for itself. Keep practicing your design skills. Keep learning. Always.