Where to look for a web designer?

[andrew_m]

I've always got away with text only web sites that I'd put together myself. But I feel it's time to do a more professional design now for at least one of my projects. I even got as far as received two design drafts from two parties, but I don't like them very much unfortunately.

Basically, I can easily find people who can design a decent web page, but I'm really looking for a consistent design throughout the site.

So, what's the best place to look for a guy like that? Who takes some time to understand what the site is about and how to present it in just the right way?

[hotelmarketing]

try craigs list ... i have gotten good freelance designers there for cheap.

[andrew_m]

I've just registered and created a project on elance. Will see how that goes. Craigslist is an interesting idea, have not thought about it -- thanx, will try it after elance if it does not work out there..

[jamesa]

I case you overlooked it, post in the Commercial Exchange forum on this site. There are tons of good designers around here.

[Jack_Frost]

Does your city or town have a Web Developers organization. We have a pretty big one and it usually attracts quite a few freelancers and people looking for work.

[andrew_m]

Jack_Frost, you're kidding, right? One would assume to be able to find a web designer on the web somewhere. Never thought it'd be such a daunting task :)

[Jack_Frost]

Not kidding...my experience in finding a GOOD freelancer on the web has been very hit and miss. Elance seems to be people who can't get work for a good price so they whore themselves out to low buck clients who want everything on the cheap.

What a miserable existence.

We have had our best luck finding local talent although I did find a great DB programmer two states away.

[ksi01]

It seems to me that you are both right. I have always thought that getting out and talking with people in your profession is the best way to learn new things. There are a lot of things I learn (some good, some bad, some just plain crazy) just from casual conversation with other people and I take that with me everywhere. But most good webdesigners have some sort of advertisement and you can always ask for a web portfolio.

[percentages]

>Where to look for a web designer?

In search engines of course!

[Marcia]

Unfortunately, there are a lot of "class" web designers with a heavily print media background whose designs aren't exactly search engine friendly. And the sites of some others are heavily SEO'd which has nothing to do with their ability as a designer.

A company/person can want either high end, flashy design or plain vanilla, simple and minimalistic design, so seeing the portfolio is critical. There's also a matter of getting a site done, and then having to re-do the whole thing afterward if it's optimized in the case of ultra-fancy sites - like a lot of Flash sites out there.

Sometimes you can find actual sites you like and check out the link on their pages to find out who did their site. That's one way, then you can look further into their portfolio and check out pricing, which is also a consideration.

It might be worth taking the time to do a little studying and figure exactly what's wanted, including type of style, before making any choices at all. Every "designer" has their own type of "look" and some will match your taste and budget more than others.

[andrew_m]

The biggest problem so far is that pretty much everybody who responded has only brochure-like web sites in their portfolios. Some are very good, which I like very much, but they are not at all what I'm looking for.

The site I want to redesign has information on millions of widgets cross-indexed by their different properties and so on, so the first priority is user interface design and only then good looks. Can't seem to find anybody who'd understand that.

Well, not entirely true -- some seem to at least understand what I'm looking for and I'm waiting for their ideas. But I never thought it'd be that hard..

[Jagabot]

Hi Andrew, I'm the guy you're looking for. (No, seriously! :)

If you're still looking for some help with webdesign and content manipulation (great combination of design and keywording for google/etc) I've done hundreds, if not thousands, of websites, and e-commerce sites that fit this bill. Even Fortune 500 company sites. Give me a holler if you'd like to follow up on this: worst case scenario we bounce a few emails back and forth and learn a couple things from each other. :)

I hope I'm not breaking any forum rules, if I am please somebody just delete this post. I don't intend to be "selling" myself here, but I'm always happy to try and help somebody out.

Glen

[Maynard]

I've always gone on personal recommendation from industry peers when I've had to managed a web redesign. I've worked in a few sectors - currently in the NGO world and I asked other NGO people who THEY had used and then compiled my shortlist from that. I've never used the web as my first port of call as references are essential.