

Ask YC: Where have all the cowbo... web designers gone? - bobhoward

In my spare time, I fancy myself an entrepreneur and maybe even a decent web designer. More specifically, <i>I am a computer scientist</i> who loves to hack away for however long it takes to bring a particular idea to life. (i.e., I am NOT an MBA looking for a handout and I do fully appreciate the difficulty of both frontend and backend development)<p>That being said, it is quite plain that accessible, standards-compliant, and beautiful(!) web design is just as essential to the success of a startup as is the code powering the thing in the first place. And frankly, my sorta-kinda-not-really-good-enough web design skillz simply won't cut it when it comes time to do the public launch.<p>Now, problem is, though I have something like one or two dozen friends that I could very easily ask for help on the technical end of things (with the promise of equity, partnership, a few beers, or whatever) I know exactly ZERO folks who could join up and help to build a sleek, functional, and standards-compliant frontend.<p>While I do realize that I could solve this problem by spending the Big Bucks and hiring someone with the aforementioned credentials, the problem remains that I'm not exactly loaded at the moment and I'm really just looking to launch something on my own with the help of some friends. After all, big design contracts can come later once a few investors have been brought on board.<p>Thus, we arrive at the big question: have any of you folks out there experienced a similar dearth of designers? And, if not, do you have any suggestions as to where one might find local web design talent whom share in the entrepreneurial spirit and are more interested in becoming part of a potentially growing startup than in being contracted for large sums of money?
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icey
I've been noticing this as well. I have a couple of friends who do design work
now and I am CONSTANTLY sending work their way.

I know some designers get frustrated because the constantly see the "We just
need a designer" posts out there now. It's kind of like when we see someone
say "Oh yeah, we've got everything we need; now we just gotta get a coder to
slap it together."

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bobhoward
I couldn't agree more. However, I'm certainly not saying "We just need a
designer"-- I'm saying "HOLY CRAP WE __NEED __A DESIGNER".

I absolutely respect web design and realize that it's a big deal which is why
I'd love to involve someone with that particular talent in my startup and do
so in a significant way.

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icey
Oh, I'm sorry; I wasn't insinuating that you were guilty of this at all. I was
just making the point that I know that quite a few designers don't really
freelance any more because they're tired of being devalued that way.

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matt1
Why not learn? Pick up a few books on CSS and you'll learn quickly. I highly
recommend any of SitePoint's books --

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bobhoward
Hi Matt,

I've already read a few books on CSS and I definitely know my way around
JavaScript, XHTML, etc. The point is that I'm no artist and I'd rather focus
on what I do best: hacking. I want a person to assume the position of
"artistic director" whose specific forte is web design and who will focus
exclusively on UI, accessibility, and user experience.

Additionally, I wrote the above because I've been quite surprised to have not
really met many folks through school or day-to-day life who are no-nonsense
web designers.

