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Ask HN: Can't find a designer. What am I doing wrong?

5 points by cherif ↗ HN
Hey Guys,

I am stumped and need your help.

So I've been trying to find a good designer to 1) help me design a personal homepage & blog theme and 2) help us with various design projects at our startup.

Whenever I see a site/blog/app I really like I scroll to the bottom and the person/company who did the design is often listed there. I then follow the link, checkout the person's portfolio and send them a personal email. I've emailed about 60 designers so far and 100% of them are either a) busy or b) don't reply to the email.

I've also tried crowdsourcing (e.g., 99Design) and freelance (e.g., oDesk) sites but it seems to me like I am most likely to find average, cookie-cutter folks. Just my impression, let me know if you've had a different experience with these sites.

What am I doing wrong? What do I suggest I do to find a good designer? I am really not looking for anything too complicated, especially for my personal homepage & blog.

Thanks a lot!

16 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 44.6 ms ] thread
maxdemarzi
Good designers probably have more interesting projects than working on your personal homepage and blog. They may be interested in your new startup, but bundling these together probably turns them off. Pick one or the other to focus on.
cherif
Good point. I'll probably get better responses just mentioning the startup work.

Still, where do I find someone for my homepage and blog?

ryandavies
Shoot me an email, ryandavies@gmail.com
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
cherif
I did! Let me know what you think.
patio11
Cheap, talented, or available -- pick any two!

That said, do you really need a personalized design done for your homepage or blog? Those are probably fairly low commercial priorities -- just grab an off-the-rack Wordpress theme, OSS template, or what have you, and call it a day. (Pro-tip: a clean template with neutral colors plus a custom logo -- or even one of the off-the-rack logos -- can make any website look like it cost $10k for less than the price of your favorite gadget... often, substantially less.)

I have also had amazing work done by folks who I learned about on HN. I guarantee you, if you put a dollar value on your desires, you'll wake up with a full inbox tomorrow.

cherif
I'll pick talented and available.

For the personal homepage, I really like what Rafa did at http://rafaelcorrales.com/

You are right, I don't need much. Just someone to help me clean up a Tumblr/Posterous theme and integrate my different online presences plus Disqus.

cherif
What do you think is a fair dollar value I should put to these things above?
joshuarr
60 designers sounds like a lot to me. What are you saying in your emails? What's your budget? Are you asking us to work for free or 2% of some unquantifiable number?
cherif
Don't worry, I am not being rude :)

Of course I don't expect anyone to work for free. I am willing to pay the fair price.

joshuarr
It didn't sound like it from your post, but that's a lot of rejection. Feel free to check me out at joshuarichey.com
dsc
You're being too specific about the task you need the designer for. Designers and those who seek them, must have this thing called a "vision" that allows you to see the value of your potential designers and they will get to understand you better.

But no one really does that sort of thinking when they think of "design". So, the concrete solution: Go on twitter and ask designers to read a description of who you are, what you do, what you like etc. And offer some cash for those that design a cool site that's coherent with the description you put for yourself.

Of course there's no magic trick that works for everyone so TIAS!

cherif
That's a pretty cool idea. However, I don't have any designers following me on Twitter so how would the right people hear about this?
dsc
Send them replies after getting in touch with them. But when you do, however that may be, make sure that your language isn't too specific (Design is very friendly with the absence of boundaries).
fjabre
First off - good for you for realizing that a decent design goes a long way in promoting your brand/product..

Check out http://sortfolio.com by 37Signals. Good designers are hard to find and even harder to contract. Good designers that are somewhat affordable are probably the hardest to get work from. It's just the nature of the industry. There's a lot more demand than supply.

Keep trying and don't give up. You will eventually find a good designer willing to work with you.

EDIT: Please make sure to have a concept ready for them - a quick mockup in Fireworks or Photoshop. Otherwise you will have a hard time finding anyone. Most designers take your mockups and make them look good. They do not start from scratch with a blank canvas unless you expect to pay a lot

cherif
I've contacted about 10 people off Sortflio. Of course the ones I like are probably the same ones that most other people like and therefore they are super busy.

Good idea on the mockup though, I should do that.