Freelancing is a lonely profession. You’re responsible for everything, from checking if clients paid their invoices to making sure there’s enough toilet paper in the guest restroom. And unless you rent an office somewhere, the only company you have all week is family and pets.

More important: You’re the one responsible for all the work you deliver. You call the shots on design directions, you decide when something is good enough. And if you’re having a creative block: Though luck, but the world doesn’t pause for you. Bills keep flowing in, deadlines keep coming closer and closer.

That’s why I always get excited when the opportunity presents itself to work on a project together with another designer. You get to bounce ideas off of each other, you’re no longer alone to defend a valid suggestion you made to the client and if one designer is stuck somewhere, there’s a big chance the other one has the solution within 5 minutes, can point you in the right direction or says something that gives you that lightbulb moment you needed to continue working.

But this isn’t as easy as it sounds. You can’t just put 2 designers together and expect them to immediately start delivering great work. There needs to be chemistry.

Look at it as a relationship. You need to be able to accept criticism and advice from each other without feeling like someone ridiculed your skills or undermined your position in the team. Don’t fall in love with your work, you can always do better. On the other hand, giving constructive critisism is equally important, if you come across something that could be a lot better, don’t be scared to speak up, it’s the best form of teambuilding there is. Your co-designer will love and respect you if you help him doing a better job. And of course, when you see something you like, don’t hesitate to give a compliment.

When you reach that level of mutual trust, magic happens. It’s like you’re able to read each others’ mind. It’s almost romantic.

So enjoy these projects, learn from them, and keep your fingers crossed it won’t take long before you can collaborate with another designer.

• Some examples: The original and iPhone version of the Remindness icon I did with @sambrown, and of course the Gowalla website and iPhone app @keeg and me worked on together.