Ask HN: Looking for a great Web Site Designer. Who do you recommend?

My best advice is to find sites you like with similar functionality to what you need and try to find out who did those. Often companies will share who they used. If it is an internal person then he or she might be willing to share inspirations or point to freelancers with similar approaches.

Note that this isn't really about the "look." Good designers are flexible enough to work in many styles and are always trying to solve your unique problem. What you are trying to spot is quality and familiarity with the technologies you need.