More than the printed sheet
A day in the work
A designer’s week has a rhythm: a problem from the product manager or the client, a little research (a few interviews, or a usability test over a video call), sketches, screens in Figma, then a review. In a remote team much of the review is written. Anyone who can view a Figma file can leave a comment pinned to the exact spot on the design, and the designer answers it and marks it resolved (Figma). So a client in America can leave fifteen comments in their afternoon, and you find them over your breakfast.
Research across time zones takes planning, because users must be interviewed in their own hours: for users in the United States that means your evening, for Europe your afternoon. Users in Nepal are easy to reach, and testing with them is good practice. The Nielsen Norman Group found that a test with five users finds about 85% of a design’s usability problems, as long as they use it in similar ways, and recommends small tests often: fix what five people trip over, then test again.
The drawing itself is done on a computer. Figma’s phone app lets you view files, comment and try prototypes, but not edit designs. Before a screen goes to the developers, check that people can read it: the web’s accessibility rules ask for text with a contrast of at least 4.5 to 1 against its background, or 3 to 1 for large text (W3C).
The pay, worked through
Design is often paid by the project, not by the month. There is no reliable figure for what a designer in Nepal is paid, so take a round US$1,200 only to show the arithmetic: an app’s sign-up screens, paid half at the start and half on delivery, by bank transfer.
1. Two transfers of US$600. Each intermediary bank on the way may take US$10–30 (Grey). If each payment loses US$20, US$1,160 arrives: US$40, 3.3% of the price, is gone. One payment of US$1,200 would have lost US$20, 1.7%. Fixed fees hurt small payments most, so ask the client to send with the charges code OUR, which means the sender pays all the fees.
2. In rupees, at Nepal Rastra Bank’s buying rate on 12 October 2026, Rs 154.48 to the dollar (your bank uses its own rate for the day): US$1,160 is Rs 179,197.
3. The bank keeps 5% advance tax as the money comes in (Republica, 2026): Rs 8,960. You receive Rs 170,237, about Rs 1.7 lakh.
The rate moves every day, and the bank charges differ: ask yours what it takes for a foreign transfer. What you earn for your time depends most on the contract. Write in it how many rounds of changes the price includes: a fourth round the contract doesn’t mention is work you aren’t paid for. And don’t start the second half until the first payment has arrived.
Your first portfolio project
Design for a problem in Nepal that you can test with real people. Two ideas built on public data from Open Data Nepal:
Air quality a parent can read. The portal’s realtime air-quality data gives readings for towns such as Bhaktapur, Pokhara and Dhankuta, as numbers. Design a phone screen that tells a parent, at a glance, whether today is a day to keep a child with asthma indoors. Test it with five parents, and change what confuses them.
Finding a dataset. Watch three classmates try to find one figure on the portal, such as how many students there are in their province, and note where they get stuck. Then design a simpler way and test it again.
Write each up as a case study: the problem, who you talked to, what testing showed, what you changed, and the final screens. Check every screen’s text contrast before you show it.
Questions people ask
- Do I need to be good at drawing?
- No. UI design is arranging text, pictures and buttons so they are clear, in a tool like Figma; UX is finding out what users need. Google’s UX certificate asks for no experience or degree.
- Do I need a degree?
- Not always. In the United States, employers may prefer digital designers with a bachelor’s degree in design, but people may not need one if they can show their abilities through earlier work or projects (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Your case studies are that proof.
- Can I start on a phone?
- Only to look. Figma’s phone app can open files, take comments and run prototypes, but it can’t edit designs. Do the designing on a laptop, with Figma’s free Starter plan.
- Is my English good enough?
- Your case studies and comments are written, and Nepal’s strongest English skill in EF’s 2025 index was writing (547). The interviews with users are spoken, and listening was the weakest (495), so practise by interviewing people in English and taking notes.
- Where can I learn the trade in Nepal?
- In a company that designs for clients abroad: Leapfrog Technology, with offices in Kathmandu and Seattle, lists design among its services. Ask a working designer to look at your portfolio before you apply.
Related
- Getting Paid in Nepal: how a client abroad can pay you, Nepal Rastra Bank’s rules, the 5% tax, contracts and scams.
- Software Developer: the people who build your designs; knowing their side makes your designs buildable.
- Data Analyst: numbers that tell you where users give up.
- Starting a Business in Nepal: registering, a PAN and loans if you start a design studio, and what work abroad pays and costs.
Sources for this part
The sheet’s own sources are listed on it, above.
