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Ask HN: Where to hire designers?

8 points by cmicali ↗ HN
Hi HN. Being tech people, my co-founders and I have a strong network and understanding of where to hire engineers, but a bit lost when looking for ux/visual designers. Does anyone have any success looking outside of your network? Designer News? Authentic Jobs? Behance?

Thanks!

13 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 37.4 ms ] thread
eugeneross
Dribbble is full of talented designers in every which-way you're looking for!
jk215
Dribbble seems like the best bet.
adamqureshi
Dribble and http://sortfolio.com/
cmicali
Thanks guys . I will check dribble again. Most of the people I talked to there were either freelance only or employed, but agreed it seems like the best place.

Had not heard of sortfolio, thanks.

smartwater
Make offers they can't refuse. It's the only way you're going to attract top quality talent in this market.
rolleiflex
Hacker News can be often a surprisingly good source. Some of the more technical designers I know frequent this place. I know I do, at the very least.
cmicali
Agree, although as I understand it non-YC companies are relegated to the Who's Hiring thread, which is only once a month and pretty crowded (and Jan 2014 appears locked now?)
rolleiflex
That's correct. I would recommend you to look at profiles of people you like on HN. It's common knowledge to post one's email address to the profile now, from there you should be able to reach and make your case.
notduncansmith
True, and a designer that can develop their own work is a significantly more valuable resource. Not to start a flame war, but I feel like it's almost not worth hiring designers that can't code anymore (unless you don't need the design coded, that is).
bethdean
I've been down this road several times, and my recommendation is Folyo (http://www.folyo.me/)

I've tried Dribbble, but half of the people available "for hire" are moonlighting (not ideal and wound up with a lot of false starts) and when I put an ad on Authentic Jobs, I was flooded with extremely unqualified applicants.

I also tried Scoutzie and that was the worst of all of them, because it requires you to comb through a bunch of portfolios, and most weren't very good, and the filters weren't specific enough for skillsets.

cmicali
I read Sacha's blog and really like the idea of Folyo, but it appears to be only for contract work, not full-time.
notduncansmith
Making it clear to the HN community that you're hiring designers isn't a bad way to go ;)

Asking design studios is always a good bet, we (designers) are pretty friendly folks. ZURB has a job board[1] you should look into if you're down to spend a bit of coin to post there (peanuts compared to the value of a good designer).

Forrst[2] is a great resource: you can view designers' work, and thought/iteration process + communication skills (compare what you learn from this to a bunch of polished Dribbble shots).

Finally, if you see any companies that have awesome designers, hit up said designers and ask if they have any friends/colleagues/contemporaries they could recommend. They'll at least appreciate the fact that you're asking yourself, as opposed to going through some obnoxious recruitment firm; also, make it clear that you're not trying to steal them (unless, of course, you are).

[1] http://zurb.com/jobs

[2] http://forrst.com