Quieter work, heavier weight
2025 was quieter. But it carried more weight.
I’m creeping up on two years of freelancing full-time now, and it still isn’t smooth. The doubts still show up. The quiet months still bite. Some months felt steady. Others were white-knuckle survival, watching the bank balance, doing the mental maths, hoping the next invoice would land when it needed to. It never does.
That’s the bit people don’t always talk about when they talk about freelance life. The work doesn’t arrive neatly spaced out. Confidence doesn’t grow in a straight line. And stability, when it appears, tends to do so quietly rather than with any great announcement.
Last year, I worked with fewer clients overall. But the work went deeper.
Longer projects. More trust. Higher stakes. Less chasing. Fewer places to hide behind volume.
That shift wasn’t accidental, but it wasn’t easy either. I spent a lot of time unlearning the idea that being busy is the same as being successful. Instead, I found myself moving towards longer-term, more embedded design work, supporting organisations where I could actually understand the problem before trying to solve it.
Over the past year, that meant ongoing work with organisations like Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and BQR, alongside brand and design support for growing businesses such as All About Dog Food. Different sectors, very different challenges, but all built on trust and continuity rather than one-off transactions.
That’s where I work best. Embedded, not parachuted in. Trusted, not transactional.
As a freelance graphic designer based in Scotland, I’ve found that long-term partnerships create better work for everyone involved. There’s context. There’s shared understanding. There’s space to think beyond quick fixes and start building things that actually last. The stress doesn’t disappear, but it starts to make sense. It becomes part of a process rather than a constant fire to put out.
That clarity has shaped how I’m approaching 2026.
Alongside client work, I’m deliberately carving out time to build something of my own. It’s an idea I’ve been quietly circling for a while, half-starting and parking whenever client deadlines took priority. This year, I’m committing to it properly.
I’ll be sharing more of that process openly. Partly for accountability. Partly for feedback. And partly to stop building things entirely inside my own head, where they tend to grow legs and run away from me.
This journal will be part of that. Not polished case studies or carefully curated success stories, but honest updates about what it’s like to build a creative business slowly, imperfectly, and in public.
If you’re a business looking for long-term graphic design support rather than one-off fixes, or you’re interested in working with a designer who embeds into your team and thinks beyond the immediate brief, this is exactly how I like to work.
You can find more about that approach on my About page, explore selected work in my portfolio, or get in touch if you want to talk about what a longer-term partnership could look like.
Slow. Steady. Messy growth.
