Having just passed the $1million milestone, we're bringing you this special interview with our no. 1 ranked designer, who you know by his moniker - PB. Since joining the community, PB has steadily climbed the DesignCrowd designer rankings, producing winning designs and delighting customers. But this curious, hard-working and self-described 'nocturnal' designer didn't get to the top by accident, or instantly, in this interview we take a look at PB's career as it spans two continents and tens of thousands of designs later.

With over $1million earned so far on DesignCrowd, PB has earned quite the reputation as a designer in the fields of web design, WordPress design, and logo design. This Indian born designer, who travels regularly between the UK and India, shares his approach to winning freelance design contests and tells part of the secret to his success is his total focus on making his clients happy.

DC: Let's kick off with an easy one: Why do you use DesignCrowd (and not other sites)?

1. Very amicable staff and a great support team;
2. A solid variety of projects in all business verticals that get updated everyday (I've never have seen any other sites like this); and
3. The participation payment concept.

DC: How has joining DesignCrowd changed your life/career?

PB: It has turned my lifestyle upside down. From a £1750 earnings / month as a full time employee and working under my dull-headed boss, it has zoomed up to more than £6000 / month, on average. I worked in UK for six years as a designer, then I discovered DesignCrowd. When I began [entering contests and started to win] at DC, I quit my job and commenced working full time at DC.

DC: What did you do before you were a designer?

PB: I graduated as an Electronics Engineer, working with breadboards, diodes and transistors.

DC: What was the catalyst for the switch from engineering to design?

PB: When I graduated I saw all my friends getting placed in jobs and I was on the streets looking for one, I knew electronics was not my cup of tea; so I learnt Macromedia Flash (as my first ever computer software tool), then learned HTML and then started with Photoshop 6.0. Developing those skills turned my life around and I started getting hired as a graphic/web designer). So, yeah I am a self-taught designer!

DC: Wow, that's quite a change from engineering to visual design, how long have you been a full-time designer?

PB: I've been designing for over 10 years now.

DC: Where did you grow up?

PB: I grew up in Delhi, India from a very small family. Just me, mom and dad.

DC: How many languages do you speak?

PB: English, Hindi

DC: Describe yourself in 3 words.

PB:

1. Nocturnal. I'm a night owl. All the design samples/ layout sketch I do late at night or after midnight.


2. Never Say No. I never say no to any projects, even if it's a not guaranteed project and the project brief is vague, I spend time on it and try to make designs for the client and send them across across for feedback. That's a key part, coaxing out of the client what they really want. Once they see a design, the client quickly engages with new ideas, specific feedback, examples and references.


3. Friendly. I am friendly with all the clients. A client from March 2012 came to me recently and requested changes / corrections, which I was happy to oblige. This keeps clients happy.

DC: What advice would you give to DesignCrowd designers who would like to emulate your success?

PB:

1. Read the client's brief in detail and make sure you follow the brief closely in all your design submissions.


2. Considered use of colours and font-type as per the client's business.


3. Prioritise client feedback - when a client gives feedback, focus on that first rather than working on other projects / designs.

DC: Describe your design style

PB: I focus intently on the client's design requirements, sometimes that means the designs can range from the edgy to very professional to super-corporate.

DC: What's your best design skill?

PB: I am very good in website layout designs and also in implementing it into HTML, CSS. Now I am working on HTML5 too. Besides that my experience as webmaster for the past 12 years has taught me coding/development too. I also work on open source tools like Wordpress and Joomla amongst others.

DC: Briefly describe your design process.

PB: I normally see the business category and try to visualize the design theme as per the client color scheme in my mind. Then I try to emulate the same in Photoshop.

DC: What does your workspace consist of?

PB: I've got a pretty simple workspace - a laptop and a printer/ option scanner.

DC: Where do you draw your inspiration?

PB: I spend free times on webmaster forums and I try to learn new technologies, software, plugins that been released in the market. So I visit over 100+ new sites everyday and I get lot of ideas from them.

DC: What hobbies do you do outside of design?

PB: I'm super-work focused, that's really my passion! I keep my Gmail window opened for new mails to come from DC and to reply to them and do the corrections/changes. I spend almost 18hrs on the site and working on projects everyday!

DC: What are your favorite design websites?

PB: Deviant Art and LogoPond. I always visit to see daily updates.

DC: What are three tech or design tools/apps/gadgets you can’t live without?

PB: Dropbox, iCloud (connects my ipad & iphone and MBP) and Skype

DC: Which DesignCrowd designers do you admire?

PB:

Thanks for your time PB!

After seeing PB's work on DesignCrowd, it's easy to see why this designer is ranked #1.

PB really goes the extra mile for his clients but more importantly his experiences show that if you are hungry to learn new skills and follow your passion for design, you can succeed with a lot of hard work!

As PB shows, earning top dollars through crowdsourced designs, even without a professional design education, is definitely a possibility.

This interview was orginailly published on March 15, 2013.

Read more designer interviews:

Or dive into the blog archive to discover interviews with other top DesignCrowd Designers.

Written by Jo Sabin on Thursday, April 28, 2016

Jo Sabin is Head of Designer Community at DesignCrowd. She's led the company's public relations and social media programs since 2012. With more than ten years' experience working with Australian and international tech startups in the creative industries, Jo has been instrumental in meeting DesignCrowd's objectives in Australia and abroad. Get in touch via Twitter.