
Nah Seriously! Who designs the YC startups websites? Loving it. - rokhayakebe
Really guys, how do you come up with such designs? 
======
pg
Till now the only consistent force across YC startups was that I nagged people
to fix the same kinds of things.

But it's kind of amusing to read this, because this year we got Bryan Kennedy
(<http://pairwise.com>) to fly out and fix up some of the uglier sites, and I
can hear him down the hall talking to one group of founders right now.

~~~
rokhayakebe
NO joke. When I am ready I am giving Bryan a call. Mr Kennedy expect my email
in 6 months.

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bkrausz
As an engineer with no design skills, that's the hardest part in getting
together a team...I can't find a good designer. I may be able to pump out an
amazing site, but if it looks like crap no one is going to use it.

It sucks not being a jack of all trades (then again, I'd hate to be a master
of none...)

~~~
staunch
You overestimate the skill required to create most of these sites. They're
usually following some very simple rules. Most are inspired by the style of 37
Signals. Nice fonts, gradients, and pastel colors.

Most of what makes these sites seem so nice is that they're familiar and
"modern web 2.0". Scribd is very Diggish for example.

Inkscape is like magic for creating nice logos, if you keep it simple. Truly
_anyone_ can do it. Use a color scheme tool like <http://kuler.adobe.com/>.
Don't invent a totally unique design, imitate someone at first.

Anyone who can code well can easily reproduce nice simple site designs.
Overcoming the "I can't design" mental block is the hardest part. Becoming a
real design master takes a lot more effort obviously.

~~~
dshah
I agree totally.

Often, half the battle is just knowing good design when you see it (i.e.
picking what to emulate).

~~~
mattculbreth
I think that half though is pretty tough though. I'd call that half more like
80%.

------
aston
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9253>

------
knewjax
If your are not a designer stay simple. Everyone can respect minimalism.
Especially in a beta product. Some of the best designers in the world are
known for their use of "white space". Dont kill a good product with overdone
bad design.

------
five
check this site www.irintech.com/x1/ its a blog with simple 3-4 colors
everything from the font to the design aspect. its actually not the design but
the layout and color combination that wins, and very few in the management
understand. imagine a site with all sorts of animation it would look more like
a site for a circus company

------
chandrab
Any recommendation on a design firm? How much should you expect to pay?

~~~
Laurentvw
I know <http://www.silverorange.com>. They seem very good. They made Firefox's
layout (I believe) and even Digg's layout. But I assume it must be kind of
expensive.

~~~
myoung8
And they're swamped. Would give you an upper limit on the price though.

------
johnrob
I'll second that request!

