Ask HN: where are the UI designers in HN? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: where are the UI designers in HN?

36 pointsmatrixownsyou48 comments

Just askin'. It's far easier to find coders than designers.

I do freelance interface/product design. I hand code everything in Vim (yes, a designer who uses Vim). I love Sass and use it on every project I can. Some of my work:

http://riotactguild.com/guides

http://nylira.com/p/2009 (currently http://nylira.com)

http://nylira.com/p/corianderx/

If you're good, get in touch and maybe we can do something together.

BTW- Designers are easy to find. They just don't frequent Hacker News. =)

Nice work! Mind sharing your hourly rate?

There are more designers here than I thought. I do some freelance design when I find a project that is both interesting and well funded. I spend the rest of my time on my startup. (http://www.guestlistapp.com)

Edit: I should add that the reason its easier to find coders is because designers are typically underpaid and treated poorly. It is rare for a designer to stay a designer for more than 5 years. Certainly after 10 years most of them have moved on.

What do they generally move on to?

"Art Director", Project Manager or some Chief of design position.

Mostly entirely new professions. Design agencies has a tendency to suck people dry for ideas and then discard them.

Quite a few of use here at Sofa read HN, including the designers.

Sofa?

http://www.madebysofa.com/ maybe?

Love your work - it must be nice to stare at random desktop screenshots and notice your Transmission icon in the dock.

Oooh, so that's who made it. I was wondering how an open-source project got to have such a gorgeous icon.

matrixownsyou - What are you looking for? A roll call of people interested in UI design? People employed (or self-employed) as UI designers? People who dabble in the visual aspects of their site/app/software? Are there specific skills, methods, or types of output you're looking for?

I'm a User Experience Designer by training, so UI design is a pretty big part of my work. I'm also interested in learning about others like me here on HN. But if you can, do you mind adding areas of focus?

A couple to start with (feel free to add others): User Research, Visual Design, Usability Testing, Information Architecture, UI Development

I'll start -

I work at a startup, so I sort of run the gamut:

* User Research

* Concept Generation

* Prototyping

* UI (Web) Dev

* Usability Testing

I asked because 1st of all, i believe that usually (but i may be wrong) "SuperDeveloperX"'s get the most fame and glory for a web project and, apart the technical side, designing a great and visually appealing UIX is hard, you have to try it to really understand, i think. So i wanted to send some luv and hugs, for realz :)

2nd, i have a pet project atm and was looking for an UI and logo for it. I've tried partenering up with other people (both design and developers) but i've almost given up (when someone asks you if you'd like to partner up on a project and you say "yes, i do and i love it" that person is asking for your help doing it, it's because she needs you to proactive and HELP, not waiting around to take orders. my 2c) so i was looking for a budget for a one page layout (what i can afford) and maybe a simple logo.

3rd, it's likely i'll need to do freelance work (there's a chance i'll get funded for my main project) and was looking for ppl who would like to team up. I'm a [mediocre :p] developer and atm i'm focusing on Python/Django/Google App Engine.

Partnering with designers (or ANYONE) is tricky. You sound like you have an existing product that you want "designed and cleaned up". The best UI designers (unless they LOVED the product idea) don't want to work on someone ELSE'S baby. Same is true for the best coders.

In terms of hiring designers-- I think it's like hiring salespeople-- most people who need them don't know how to tell the difference between good ones and bad ones.

As I hunt around for co-founders (I just stepped down from RescueTime a month or so back), I'm purposefully AVOIDING settling on an idea because I think it's best when founders co-author the idea together.

yeah i totally understand

I don't think it's true us designers don't want to work on someone else's baby. I love the part of UI design where something is already made, and I get to go in an make the flow of interaction better and coming up with new ideas.

heh if thats true perhaps we should talk. grab matrixownsyou on skype or gmail

I'm a UI guy who works on the web by day and iPhone/iPad stuff at night (I also write Obj-C.)

Usually I post my in-progress stuff at Dribbble: http://dribbble.com/players/mike

I do UI/UX/HCI (both full-time and freelance)... it's been my experience that they're hard to find because almost no one starts out in UI. You're either a graphic designer or a coder who moves towards designing interfaces.

I think that's mainly because very few university programs with a full HCI track in their comp sci (or ID or graphic design) programs.

In general, it seems like there is a shortage- I'm constantly asked if a I know of any good UI designers who are looking for a job.

Perhaps some of us are both? Depends on time of day really :)

There are plenty of UI designers out there. Some are good. Some are great. Some suck donkey balls. Choosing the right one is an art form in itself. Make sure you ask for code as well as just screenshots. Or better yet, ask for the mockups they created during their iterative design process. This will show you how they think about how the UI changes based on feedback from the client.

HN is a stomping ground for startups, so I would have to imagine there are many of us who wear both hats.

True, true. I design/code UI (Ruby/HAML/SASS) and also design/code my own apps (http://mockaroo.com, a prototyping app and http://findmycofounder.com, cofounder dating).

I'm a UI designer working for a VC funded startup in boston. I still love doing freelance on the side.

Checkout my latest designed (and coded) project at http://www.liftrr.com.

and I have more recent screens if you'd like to see more work.

Email & portfolio link is in profile.

Silly nitpick for you. "its" should be "it's" on your frontpage.

I am hiring a freelance designer located on the East Coast of the US for Blueleaf.com to start immediately. (Restriction due to timezone and a need to have someone familiar with the basics of the particulars of the American financial services market. Sorry!)

I feel a bit silly posting a me too, so, umm, Melbourne, Australia!

amusingly I used to work where you're working now :)

Ahh the famous Matt. You'll see I've followed you on to Dribbble as well now. Hope your stuff with Al is going well?

So far so good; some well received stuff some not so much, but still pluggin along. Awesome work on the jQuery Aristo port btw.

I just did a quick mock up of a design idea I had on Friday (will do its on thread about it):

http://bit.ly/dujjEk

I like doing UI design, still learning however.

I'm moving from regular design work for clients, to UI work at my day job. Love UI design. But I'm still doing regular design work, doing just UI would mess me up.

I'm both, I suppose.

Just remember: in some places in America, it’s still very early in the morning. Just sayin’.

But as a designer, I’ve always thought it was the reverse.

If you are a UI designer looking for work, my company is looking for a designer. My personal email is in my profile.

I am a UI designer and developer.

Me too.

UI Developer here

I do contract and client work. Prefer to work on B2B apps

We're here, just too busy to make portfolios ;)

i'm working on "that" ;P

Ditto.

Kinda hard with HN, coffee and white chocolate.

i (current yc batch) may be looking to hire a designer for some freelance work. my email's on my profile.

pointless saying you're a designer without at least linking to one thing you've designed. just saying. :)

I'm a designer (and front-end coder)

I'm a ui designer.

Www.hellobrand.com

Beautiful site

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