

Ask HN: Good Web UI Designers - ucdaz

Anyone recommend searching on odesk or elance for a good Web 2.0 UI designer? Any particular companies I should consider? What are some good attributes I should look for?
Thanks! 
Nick Leung
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josefresco
There are some (not many) UI designers on HN, like me for example.

/shameless plug

I would stay away from Elance type sites unless cost is your only factor.
37signals job board will attract the exact opposite candidates as Elance
(read: expensive/overpaid)

Ever think of hiring local?

Attributes to look for would be experience not only in creating the 'web 2.0
look' but also solid experience in eccomerce and application development. Too
many designers only know how to make something look good, and fail to consider
that you're doing business on the web. Avoid designers who rely on wiz-bang
features, even a boring business like portfolio is better than one filled with
tons of Flash and AJAX.

~~~
STHayden
I agree.. us UI designers are rare on HN.

Hiring locally could be really good.. In general I think it's hard to find
some one with an application portfolio though. Most are advertisement websites
and it can be hard to gauge if their portfolio match your values.

Most UI jobs I see are either salary or long term contract. but I might be
biased as that is what I look for.

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bmaier
It always surprises me when people go looking for good AND cheap. There is a
difference between cost and value.

~~~
notauser
You frequently don't get what you pay for - there is very little correlation
between price and quality.

Take Drupal for example - cheap AND good. Compare with our new Mega Corp CMS
which had a 7 figure price tag and a work flow so atrocious it had to be
scrapped before deployment was complete.

If you want good products then by picking something that is already good and
only requires minor changes you have a pretty decent chance at a fair price
(which might be high or low).

~~~
gry
Drupal needs work too.

<http://buytaert.net/drupal-usability-testing>

It went through a usability test and surprise, surprise, the whole Drupal
nomenclature is actually off-putting for the average Joe.

Usability is difficult. Very difficult. We'll see the fruits in Drupal 7/8. As
a programmer/hacker/ia/ui guy -- I find all fascinating.

The general trend I think is UI is _beginning_ to come of age.

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bigtoga
I've done some posting on elance before and I will suggest to start with the
smallest job (i.e. cheapest) first to get used to working with bids and
vendors. Start with a logo + business identity for $300-$500, go with only
5-star people with 6+ months of feedback. Once you have that, do a 3-5 page
website for $300-$500. By now you should have a good feel for (1) the process,
and (2) the people so now's the time to bump it up to a $1000 or $2000
project.

Those places really aren't the place for $2000+ projects IMO.

~~~
ucdaz
Can anyone share any other places for $2000+ projects? Much appreciated! =)

~~~
bjclark
<http://jobs.37signals.com/> <http://authenticjobs.com/>

~~~
STHayden
In my opinion 37 signals has the best job board with the best jobs. But
personally I think the people applying also expect a better wage\price to come
with that. For companies to attract truly the best UI designers I do think
they have to pay a bit more for them. Though there are plenty of young cheep
talent out there. They perhaps are not the best.

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mark_ellul
I would say odesk is is good for 1 reason only.... you can see snapshots of
what the UI developer is working on as they do it. So you should be able to
see if they are going down the right track early before they finish!

It depends if its pure GUI or UI ... I think you should split up the project
into 2... GUI is to get design and colour scheme. UI is to get the
interactions you want and the flow...

We have used odesk, and we found that we can get GUI design done, but UI is
really dependant on your target user market... This is difficult to outsource
unless you really direct what you want done...

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richesh
I am in the same boat as you and am actively seeking a UI designer. We are
willing to pay up to $5000 or maybe even more for this service, but it has to
be good and the chance of someone getting it wrong or asking for double the
money is what's keeping us from taking the plunge.

But I digress, the point of this comment is to try out 99designs.com. I've
seen some really good designs on that site if you know exactly what you want.

We plan on experimenting with 99designs once we have our site up and running
with UI we can come up with as developers and hope to get lucky!

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izaidi
I'd recommend a listing on the 37signals Job Board
(<http://jobs.37signals.com/>). It costs $300 for a 30-day job listing or $100
for a gig listing, but it'll get you by far the highest quality crop of
applicants.

~~~
alaskamiller
Don't think he's paying for top tier if he's searching around oDesk and
eLance.

~~~
ucdaz
Yeah I'm looking for something inexpensive but good. Thanks!

~~~
run4yourlives
Often, the two are mutually exclusive.

In other words, you get what you pay for most of the time.

~~~
bjclark
I've found you'll rarely find something inexpensive and really good, but
you'll find really expensive and not good at all very very often.

I saw, recently, a "screen" delivered to a company from a high priced design
firm in SF that had ~800px wide text boxes for "Username" and "Password" on a
login screen. They paid ALOT of money for that.

~~~
STHayden
yeah I would agree with that...

I think at the way low end you mostly get very inexperienced people who have
little to no experience oftain coupled with little to no skill. They may
commit to a price but can't deliver on quality. It doesn't seem worth it to
waste the money here. Just have your developer do something.

At the mid range there are still a lot of unskilled people but there are now
skilled people as well. Here are the people you need to find. Because they are
going to be able to deliver something quality and worth paying for. But they
are not doing to be able to match the skills of best designed sites.

The high price range there are still the same match of good and bad. the good
are really good. Best in the business. The bad are from the mid range or below
that are super confident or really audacious.

It's hard to pick out the good ones even though interview in my opinion. you
really need a large list of references to get a feel for the "company".

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mark_ellul
also if you have the design in a psd... you could try
<http://www.psd2html.com/order-now.html>

