Hook: why this matters

Working across time zones and cultures is the norm for many Mumbai-based web designers. The real challenge isn’t just making things look good — it’s delivering performant, maintainable products that meet international expectations on schedule. This article breaks down the practical workflow, tools, and developer-friendly practices that make that possible.

Context: Mumbai as a global design hub

Mumbai has a dense mix of startups, agencies, and freelance talent. Designers here frequently take briefs from the US, UK, Europe, and Australia, which pushes work to be fast, scalable, and clear. If you’re a technical founder or indie hacker hiring remote designers, understanding this flow helps you set realistic timelines and quality expectations.

If you want examples and deeper case studies, see the full write-up at https://prateeksha.com/blog/day-in-the-life-web-designer-mumbai-global-clients or browse related posts at https://prateeksha.com/blog. The studio behind many of these workflows is available at https://prateeksha.com.

The core problems to solve

There are three recurring constraints when working remotely with global clients:

• Time-zone friction: meetings and feedback windows are limited.
• Handoff clarity: designs must translate into code without guesswork.
• Performance and accessibility expectations: international clients expect fast, accessible sites.

Solve these and you remove the most common delays that hit deadlines and budgets.

A practical workflow that scales

The workflow below is designed for clarity and speed. It’s what a designer-developer duo in Mumbai typically follows when handling global projects.

1. Brief & acceptance: turn the client brief into a one-page scope doc and milestones.
2. Low-fi prototype: wireframes in Figma for structure and flow; validate with stakeholders.
3. High-fi mockups + component library: build reusable UI components, create tokens for colors/spacing/typography.
4. Dev handoff & CI: export specs, provide a Storybook and a GitHub repo for developers.
5. QA & performance run: automated Lighthouse checks, cross-browser testing, accessibility audits.
6. Launch & iteratively improve: monitor Core Web Vitals post-launch and fix regressions.

This sequence keeps feedback loops short and reduces rework.

Tools of the trade (developer-friendly)

Use tools that minimize context switching and make handoffs explicit:

• Design: Figma (variants + design tokens)
• Prototyping: Figma prototypes or Framer for micro-interactions
• Code: Next.js / Astro for performant static + dynamic needs
• Component catalog: Storybook (with design tokens synced)
• Collaboration: Slack, Notion, Google Meet, Loom for async walkthroughs
• CI/CD & monitoring: GitHub Actions, Vercel/Netlify, Google PageSpeed + Lighthouse CI

Tip: keep a living UI kit in Figma and Storybook. When design changes, bump the token version and ship the changelog in the PR.

Quick implementation tips for performance and reliability

These are concrete actions your team can take right now:

• Images: serve modern formats (AVIF/WebP), scale with srcset, use lazy-loading for below-the-fold.
• CSS: extract critical CSS, defer non-critical styles, and prefer utility classes or CSS modules to avoid unused CSS bloat.
• Fonts: preload only the critical font subsets and use font-display: swap to avoid invisible text.
• JS: split by route, avoid heavy client bundles on marketing pages, and prefer server-side rendering or partial hydration where it makes sense.
• Testing: include Lighthouse CI in your pipeline and add a simple Puppeteer script to catch regressions.
• Accessibility: run axe-core in CI and fix top 10 issues before handing a build to QA.

These steps yield measurable improvements in Core Web Vitals and conversion rates — data clients actually care about.

Managing time zones and client communication

Efficiency here is more about process than hours.

• Schedule overlapping windows: pick 1–2 hours daily that align with the client’s workday.
• Use async updates: record a 3–5 minute Loom explaining design decisions and link the Figma file.
• Version everything: attach changelogs to PRs and keep decision logs in Notion.
• Set response-time SLAs: e.g., 24-hour response for non-urgent items, 4-hour for approved meeting windows.

This reduces surprise late-night revisions and keeps projects predictable.

A typical day (practical cadence)

A Mumbai designer balancing global clients often follows this cadence:

• Morning: review overnight feedback, update tasks, deep design work (3 hours).
• Midday: synchronous calls with UK/EU clients or internal standups.
• Afternoon: handoffs, dev support, asset exports, Storybook updates.
• Evening: US client overlap for reviews, async notes for the next day.

Conclusion: what to prioritize

If you’re building or hiring for global web projects, prioritize clear handoffs, performance-first decisions, and async-friendly communication. That triad removes most production friction and makes remote collaborations scalable and predictable.

For practical examples, portfolios, and a deeper case study on a Mumbai designer working with global clients, check https://prateeksha.com/blog/day-in-the-life-web-designer-mumbai-global-clients or visit https://prateeksha.com and https://prateeksha.com/blog to see how teams there structure projects and deliver results.