Sarada Sharma

Why this persona fits the audience

Runs a freelance UI/UX practice with four active clients, building marketing sites and small web apps. She switches between Figma, Webflow, and AI coding tools for custom interactions, and often handles handoff work herself.

• Age: 29
• Location: Bengaluru, India
• Occupation: Freelance product designer
• Income: ₹22L
• Education: Bachelor's in design
• Company size: Solo freelancer with 4 active clients
• Years in role: 5

“I build things that work, but I stay up late making them beautiful. The world doesn't need more perfectly spec'd products—it needs things that actually help people and don't get in the way.”

Sarada Sharma developed her design sensibilities through her undergraduate degree in design from the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, where she first discovered her love for creating intuitive digital experiences. After two years at a design agency in Bengaluru, she went freelance to gain more creative control and better pay. Now, she balances four active clients—two startups, a digital marketing agency, and a solo founder building a portfolio piece—while experimenting with AI tools to streamline her workflow. Her current stack includes Figma for design, Webflow for building, and custom JavaScript/CSS when necessary, though she's been exploring more no-code tools to reduce handoff work. She's particularly fascinated by motion design and spends much of her personal time learning new techniques, even considering offering it as an additional service. Sarada's recent decision to stop doing speculative work has been a financial boon, though it required some tough conversations with potential clients. She's currently in the late stages of building a small SaaS tool she's been side-projecting for months, hoping to launch it as a portfolio piece or even a small revenue stream. Money remains tight but manageable, with her biggest financial goal being the ability to take a sabbatical year to focus on her own projects. Socially, she's built a strong network of freelancer friends who provide both emotional support and professional referrals. Her parents remain skeptical of her career path, preferring the stability of a corporate job, but she's gradually winning them over with steady income and well-timed vacations home. Sarada's relationship with technology is pragmatic—she quickly adopts tools that genuinely save time but remains skeptical of fleeting trends, always waiting for a tool's ecosystem to mature before committing. Her current frustration is finding reliable developers for projects that go beyond her no-code capabilities, though she's learning enough JavaScript to handle simple customizations. As she approaches her first freelance anniversary in her new structure, she's focusing on maintaining work-life balance while building a more sustainable practice, knowing that the digital design landscape will only become more competitive.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Sarada's alarm goes off at 6:30am, but she usually lets herself linger in bed until 7:00 checking notifications. First, she makes strong filter coffee while her plant lamps turn on automatically. She starts work by 8:00am with a planning session—today it's a Figma workshop for a startup's admin dashboard. By afternoon, she's in Webflow building a landing page, constantly switching between the designer and code panels to tweak interactions. A 4:00pm client call goes over time as they debate font pairings. After work, she waters her balcony plants and does a 30-minute workout before joining her sister for dinner. Later, she'll spend an hour watching motion design tutorials, her current fascination, before trying to code one herself.

Lifestyle

Sarada lives in a cozy Indiranagar apartment she shares with her sister, who's in grad school. Her mornings start with filter coffee and a quick Instagram scroll through design portfolios. She blocks out her mornings for deep work, often in a nearby coworking space, then returns home for client calls and evening walks to a nearby park. She's trying to cut down on last-minute Uber Eats orders to save for a vacation, but her sister's cupboard raids often derail her grocery budget. Socially, she's part of a small group of freelancers who meet monthly for design critiques and badminton games. She's slowly learning to say no to low-paying speculative work, a habit she's been working on since her early freelance days.

Work life

Sarada's typical client is a small tech startup or digital agency needing a website or web app built quickly. She starts her day with a standup call with her four active clients, then dives into UI work in Figma, often using AI tools to generate variations or fix alignment issues. She switches to Webflow for rapid prototyping and uses custom code blocks when her no-code tools hit limits. Handoffs are a pain point - she often finds herself writing custom CSS or JavaScript to make things work exactly right. She's currently debating whether to raise her rates after finishing a project for a client who kept asking for 'just one more small tweak.'

Relationships

Sarada keeps in touch with her college friends who also moved to Bengaluru for work. Her parents visit from Chennai every few months and are slowly coming to terms with her freelance lifestyle. She met her closest freelancer friends through local design meetups, and they form her support network for work problems. Her sister, though younger, often plays devil's advocate about her pricing strategies, helping her see client interactions more objectively. She admires senior designers who've built sustainable practices and follows their work closely.

How they decide

Research-heavy with a pragmatic bent. She'll spend hours reading product documentation and watching tutorials before committing, but once she's comfortable, she moves quickly. Trusts direct recommendations from peers more than marketing. Hates being pressured into decisions but appreciates deadlines as motivation.

How they sound

Speaks in a measured but enthusiastic cadence when excited. Uses moderate design jargon but translates it for clients. Avoids overly technical explanations unless asked. Has a dry sense of humor that comes out more in written communication. Often uses phrases like "realistically", "for the immediate future", and "from a practical standpoint". Prides herself on clear, concise communication but will geek out about design systems when prompted. Occasionally slips into Hindi when exasperated with tool limitations.