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Ask HN: How do you go about finding designers?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you go about finding designers?

#31

Post by pyronicide »

mdasen wrote: post #12

Get friends who are artsy. In all seriousness, I like working with a designer rather than hiring one. Part of it is how one sees design. Is design something you can just purchase? If so, isn't code just something you can purchase? I think that part of the reason we're here is that we realize that you can't just buy your way out of code problems. Code is important, it takes dedication and hard work not the fulfillment…

I wholeheartedly agree with you, I'm really interested in a partnership with someone that can lead the design (and not just the art).

In my world though, I don't even know how to start getting friends that are artsy. Any good suggestions there?

Re: Ask HN: How do you go about finding designers?

#33

Post by pyronicide »

eddorre wrote: post #21

I don't know why this is question is asked so much, really. Ask yourself this, "Where do you go about finding programmers?" A good answer for this is usually at local meet up groups. Programmers don't have a monopoly on such things. Some ideas for local meet ups: http://refreshingcities.org Full disclosure: I'm a co-founder of Refresh Portland ( http://refreshportland.org ) http://www.ixda.org/ http://www.sigchi.org/…

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I didn't even know that designer meetups existed. Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: How do you go about finding designers?

#34

Post by mdolon »

hajrice wrote: post #18
mdolon wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope this is not in poor form but I too am a freelance UI designer/developer. From the HN crowd, I did some work for raffi (designed FeedbackArmy and AfterTheDeadline). My portfolio is at http://mdolon.com/ and my blog is http://devgrow.com/ .

I like your stuff. We should work together.

I'd definitely be interested, hit me up on GMail and we can discuss it further (mdolon at gmail).

Re: Ask HN: How do you go about finding designers?

#35

Post by patricia »

word of mouth referral, always. If i can outsource, i absolutely will. it can save a lot of $. if i work U.S. based read proposals carefully. lots of developers charge in three hour blocks and will ding you for three hours to put a line of code from google analytics on a site -- which takes 3 minutes.

Re: Ask HN: How do you go about finding designers?

#36

Post by srik1234 »

I've used elance for finding designers. Though it worked out for me, it is not guaranteed that we always hook up with a good designer. I think we've to make sure that portfolio is decent and also make sure you write terms and conditions with low upfront fee/very close 1st milestone with at least 1 web page design. If you feel that it is not going in the right direction, dont hesitate to back out. I think the first few days of design activity is crucial and you need to make sure you've interacted sufficiently with the designer, before cutting the relationship.

obviously, if you find someone good, hang on to that relationship.

Re: Ask HN: How do you go about finding designers?

#38

Post by masterj »

larrywright wrote: post #28

In addition to Sortfolio, which has been mentioned by others, check out the work on http://dribbble.com/ - there are some really great designers posting their work there. Shouldn't be too hard to find one whose work you like. Edit: Fixed the link.

There are three b's in dribbble :)

http://dribbble.com/

Re: Ask HN: How do you go about finding designers?

#39

Post by ryanjkirk »

pyronicide wrote: post #31
mdasen wrote: post #12

Get friends who are artsy. In all seriousness, I like working with a designer rather than hiring one. Part of it is how one sees design. Is design something you can just purchase? If so, isn't code just something you can purchase? I think that part of the reason we're here is that we realize that you can't just buy your way out of code problems. Code is important, it takes dedication and hard work not the fulfillment…

I wholeheartedly agree with you, I'm really interested in a partnership with someone that can lead the design (and not just the art). In my world though, I don't even know how to start getting friends that are artsy. Any good suggestions there?

Check with your local AIGA chapter. The very best designers are usually affiliated with the AIGA.

You could also call up a print shop. They know plenty of print designers, though to be fair they're not always up on web design.

Re: Ask HN: How do you go about finding designers?

#40

Post by MDX »

My company does UI/Design and usability testing for developers (as well as development for designers/ad agencies).

Although I tend to work more on the development side of things I can tell you that finding competent, knowledgeable designers who understand how to create usable interfaces that will help increase conversion rates and still look appealing to the target market is no easy task.

We interviewed about 100 designers before we found a few that understood that design needs to support business objectives and solve business problems (like how do we get more sign-ups directly from our home page?)

Many of the designers out there are simply focused on making websites/interfaces that look good but don't actually support business objectives or customer needs.

The best designers take a problem solving approach instead of a purely aesthetic one. So when interviewing them be sure to ask plenty of "problem solving" type questions. This will help you weed out the "artsy" types from the serious designers.

One more piece of advice: stay away from sites like 99designs etc since the only designers on there seem to be ones who are just starting out and have very little experience solving real world problems. 99Designs may be great for small mom and pop outfits (think local deli, florist, etc) but it doesn't work well for serious start ups that will need to launch with an interface optimized for conversions.

If you are looking for a rock solid design team that also understands the development process, give me a shout. We're currently wrapping up some work for another incubator.

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