HowsMyUX.com - a new startup to help developers find designers

5 points by magsafe 15y ago ↗ HN

I'm the cofounder of HowsMyUX.com, a new beta being announced today. It exists to help independent developers find great designers for short, one-off projects. It was inspired by a problem I personally faced recently, and hopefully there are others who'll find it useful as well. I was building a new iPad app, and started the project with just 2 devs and no designers. I thought I had a handle on cool, simple and elegant UI design, but had a nagging feeling that a real designer could help make major improvements in the app. Problem was, I didn't have the resources to hire a fulltime designer yet, didn't know anyone in my personal networks who had experience with the niche, and I couldn't trust the people I was finding on Craigslist and LinkedIn.

So I decided to launch a site that would help developers like me find the right designer efficiently, and thus answer the question: "How's my UX?". It has similarities to sites like eLance and 99Designs where designers "bid" on projects submitted by developers. Developers get to pick the designer based on reviews for past work, as well as demonstrable knowledge. A couple ways I plan to differentiate from those sites is a narrower focus on mobile UX, as well as fixed prices for each project. I have some other ideas that will be hugely beneficial for designers, but I don't want to discuss them publicly yet.

Any thoughts on this? I'd love to hear your opinion on whether there's a practical use for this, or is the premise fundamentally flawed somewhere? Anything you share is hugely appreciated and valuable.

Btw, we're 2 cofounders currently, looking for a 3rd (ideally a designer). If you're interested, please contact us.

Thanks,

-Mel

http://howsmyux.com

6 comments

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rudasn 15y ago ↗

I think developers have a real problem in finding good designers (and not photoshop experts). Similarly designers have a real problem in finding good clients, clients who understand that sometimes what they want may not be what's best for them. But, as in any partnership/collaboration/relationship both parties will have to give up some of their ego for things to work out.

If you want to attract professional designers don't focus on the eLance/99Designs bidding model.

azazel 15y ago ↗

clickable: http://howsmyux.com

While I'm a bit skeptical about your idea, I do think there exists potential for a middle ground between job-centric sites (e.g. elance, odesk, 99designs) and network-centric sites (e.g. forrst). Good luck!

[dead] cancelbubble 15y ago ↗

There's also:

http://www.builditwith.me/

http://collabfinder.com/

http://www.interhoods.org/ (currently in 7 cities)

bglenn09 15y ago ↗

I think this is an awesome idea. I hope it works. I'd use it extensively.

I think NDA's will be particularly important here.

[dead] vladches 15y ago ↗

I'm on the other side of the spectrum, I'm a designer looking for developers, I have an iOS app completely designed, but no luck finding talented developers.