I'm a fan of http://www.monfx.com/ -- Monjurul did the design for http://www.feedbackarmy.com and later http://www.afterthedeadline.com
Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
51–60 of 75 posts
Re: Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would cost around $8-12k for a decent sized website. Our website is pretty small and had the benefit of carrying over a lot of assets from the application itself so 3-4k? I am actually working on evolving the site because I am not happy with where it is right now. Of course design needs time to bake in the oven. You can't grind out a website every two weeks. I normally design a page and then forget about it for at…
Wow, I like your app a lot. Its beautiful and the idea is very good. I am co-founding a startup and much of the design work will be done by me. Would you be willing to share any tips? What I would really like to know is how are those 160 hours spent? (160hours*$75=$12000) The software life cycle is well documented in a number of methodologies: XP, iterative, water fall etc. But when it comes to the design phase of a…
At Guestlist we believe in short iteration and customer feedback. The best advice I can give you is to ignore the waterfall method of design that would have you believe you need to "gather requirements, sketch, create wireframe, etc." in order to be successful. There is value to such a method (if only to create a paper trail that you can use to sell your design) when you are working for clients, but when you are a co-founder the absolute best way to go about is to simple do it.
Start with a specific section of your app and create a mockup in Photoshop. Work on it until you are happy and then implement it. Don't do 10 different variations. Don't worry if you don't know how everything is going to fit together. Just get it working so you can move onto a different page.
The first designs we implemented at Guestlist were pretty terrible in retrospect. It had a lot of fatal logic flaws. We had no idea what our initial feature set would be. We knew we needed a public event pages so we started there. However, as we added more and more pages we realized our first couple of pages where shit so went back and iterated over them. Given enough time and iterations things will start taking shape. Just take a look at the very first mockup I did: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/410315/event.jpg It looks nothing like what we currently have. For reference here is the current public page: http://guestlistapp.com/events/7311
Now, it may seem like you could follow the 37Signals route and simply skip the Photoshop step altogether and get to using it faster. _Don't do this._ You cannot be creative with CSS. The Photoshop stage gives you a chance to do crazy things and not think with boxes.
This can also be applied to websites. The current Guestlist website is very weak in my opinion. It was created over a weekend. There is a much improved version in the pipeline. Not a radically different site, but an evolution that iterates over the weak areas.
The key is to never stop iterating. Never lock down the design. Never let somebody tell you you can't do something because it's inconsistent with the rest of the site. Just change the rest of the site too! Design must evolve constantly.
Re: Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
#53You sound like a programmer that is "difficult." It also sounds like you're the type of programmer that doesn't treat designers with any respect, so they likely reciprocate -- the type that doesn't like to collaborate, but just boss people around (it's more than apparent from your post that you sneeringly look down upon the design profession). In short, you come across like a huge jerk and I can't imagine what it mus…
No! I realize that I sounded like a bit of a dick in my post, but that's just how I write. Let me elaborate. I've contracted a designer before (an HNer, mind you) that literally told me that he was working on the design for about 3 weeks, without showing me any form of progress whatsoever. On the last day we were working together, he said, "I've been busy, and I haven't had time to work on it. Find another designer."…
This experience has nothing to do with the designer's design skills or work-style at all. This is an experience based on someone who didn't treat you well as a customer.
Find someone with good recommendations, contact the businesses they include in their portfolio and ask how the project went. Find someone who's clients would actually recommend and you're more likely to have a good experience because you've established that the designer has a track record for delivering a good product and providing a good customer experience.
Re: Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
#54You sound like a programmer that is "difficult." It also sounds like you're the type of programmer that doesn't treat designers with any respect, so they likely reciprocate -- the type that doesn't like to collaborate, but just boss people around (it's more than apparent from your post that you sneeringly look down upon the design profession). In short, you come across like a huge jerk and I can't imagine what it mus…
No! I realize that I sounded like a bit of a dick in my post, but that's just how I write. Let me elaborate. I've contracted a designer before (an HNer, mind you) that literally told me that he was working on the design for about 3 weeks, without showing me any form of progress whatsoever. On the last day we were working together, he said, "I've been busy, and I haven't had time to work on it. Find another designer."…
Set smaller goals. If you're using a designer for the first time, have a 15 minute progress chat every few days. Use it as a time to cover any questions that have come up, look at his progress so far, take about any scope changes, etc.
Also, how much were you paying? A lot of designers (well, a lot of people) don't want to say no. You can oftentimes talk people into working for less than they think they are worth... Which leads to them de-prioritizing your work. If you're the least lucrative bit of work that they have, it's not good.
And, when it comes to hiring (contractor or otherwise), you've GOT TO DO THE WORK. Ask them for references, call them, and ask them hard questions.
Re: Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's something vaguely saddening about the fact that the "you suck" post has twice as many upvotes as the highest-rated post actually answering the question.
Might it be pointed out, I never said he "sucked." He titled his post by stating that Designers "suck." Then he had a rant about why he thought Designers "suck." Then made a request for Designers to contact him if they want to work with him. All I did was quote from his own post, and point out how it came across. Apparently a lot of other people agreed.
Might it be pointed out, I never said he "sucked."
I was paraphrasing. I believe it was a fair enough summary of your point. To make sure we're on the same page, I'm mostly looking at this part:
Let me see, according to you, designers that are "great to work with" (the ones that just shut-up and do whatever you tell them) produce "eye pollution". The ones that are "difficult" (have opinions and give input whether you want to hear it or not) end up producing "incredible work", but you just hate working with them.
Deliberately or otherwise, that is needlessly condescending and aggressive. What's more, you pulled your parenthetical statements out of the air - the OP never explained what made certain designers difficult to work with. You simple assumed that the worst plausible interpretation was the correct one.
All I did was quote from his own post, and point out how it came across. Apparently a lot of other people agreed.
I can't speak for anyone else, of course, but from my perspective the argument I was just pointing out how he comes across; I didn't actually say he was like that is entirely unsatisfying. (Whether other people agree with either of us or not is, I feel, immaterial to my point here).
For instance, I could suggest that your original post gives me the impression that you are a not-entirely-pleasant person who is looking for opportunities to be miserable - it would be rather unfair of me to then immediately backtrack by saying "I didn't say you were like that, I just said it gave me the impression you were like that."
The possibility that the OP was legitimately frustrated by working repeatedly with designers who actually did suck was apparently not entertained by you - instead, you leapt from his expressed frustration to the hypothesis[1] that he is, more-or-less, an asshole. Behaviour of that sort reduces the value of the discussions that go on here, imho.
[1] If I were in a less charitable mood, I would say "conclusion".
Re: Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
No! I realize that I sounded like a bit of a dick in my post, but that's just how I write. Let me elaborate. I've contracted a designer before (an HNer, mind you) that literally told me that he was working on the design for about 3 weeks, without showing me any form of progress whatsoever. On the last day we were working together, he said, "I've been busy, and I haven't had time to work on it. Find another designer."…
Draw a triangle. On each corner, write: > Quality Work > Timely Delivery > Economical Price You're ONLY ever allowed to choose TWO. > If you want quality work produced in a timely fashion, then expect to pay top-dollar. > If you want work turned around fast and don't have any money to spend, expect the quality to be crap. > If you want quality work and don't have a big budget, expect it to be attended to whenever the…
I had the same kind of experiences as the OP. Part of what I found frustrating is that they don't respect the "2 out of 3" rule (which is mostly for engineers btw). What the designer in OP's case showed was an astounding lack of respect and common sense. I doubt compensation was a factor.
Some time ago I tried to find a copywriter to help me with a marketing campain. I talked with two people, and both were very interested, actually enthusiastic when I told them the concept. Both said (which made me protest and feel rather unconfortable) that they don't want to discuss compensation in the beginning, part because they want to give the project a shot anyways just to see what it looks like, and part because they don't know the amount of work beforehand.
After a week one of them didn't answer my phone calls, and the other sent a couple of texts completely off-topic, and obviously not very worked. I ended up writing the texts myself.
The moral of the story is that it's not a money problem. But that a percentage of "artistic types", in both mine and OP's experience, tend to show less professionalism then desired.
Re: Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
#57The best way to judge whether a designer is suited to your project is to have a look through their portfolio. Design work can be very much in the eye of the beholder, so you need to find someone who has a style you like.
Unfortunately, this won't tell you what they're like to work with so maybe ask for a reference. Setting a series of project deadlines / goals upfront should also help.
It can also be tricky to work on a brief over email if you've not met the client in person. I find it's always a good idea to speak to any remote clients on the telephone as that gives them the opportunity to talk you through their ideas and brief. A proper conversation can bring up questions and ideas that wouldn't necessarily come up in an email exchange.
In the past, I've found it hard to find good developers. If you're not a developer, it's difficult to tell whether someone is good just by looking at the sites they've worked on. I've come across several developers who talked a good game but couldn't deliver before now. The agency I used to work at for example, hired a few developers who weren't up to the job. At least with design work, you can judge the visual aspects.
Links to my portfolio and company sites are in my profile if you're interested in working with me.
Re: Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
#58Big fan of his work: http://radnauseam.com/
He put together the redesign of ErrorHelp for us (and the new Disqus and Etherpad, too, I believe).
Also, we've been having decent luck at 99designs, where we're trying a contest right now for TinyArrows: http://ta.gd/99
Re: Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
#59Big fan of his work: http://radnauseam.com/ He put together the redesign of ErrorHelp for us (and the new Disqus and Etherpad, too, I believe). Also, we've been having decent luck at 99designs, where we're trying a contest right now for TinyArrows: http://ta.gd/99
be careful of spec work (in the end nobody wins).
Re: Ask HN: Can someone refer me to a designer that doesn't suck?
#60You sound like a programmer that is "difficult." It also sounds like you're the type of programmer that doesn't treat designers with any respect, so they likely reciprocate -- the type that doesn't like to collaborate, but just boss people around (it's more than apparent from your post that you sneeringly look down upon the design profession). In short, you come across like a huge jerk and I can't imagine what it mus…
Having had some experience with working with Nick Kezhaya in the past, I can attest he's as caustic and annoying as his writing reads. Decent code/server monkey, but we quickly hid him in the back room after he hurled racial epithets at a potential business partner who happened to be Jewish.
Obvious troll is obvious.