Ask HN: Where do you find good graphic/web designers? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Where do you find good graphic/web designers?

3 pointslionheart7 comments

I'm a web developer but I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a single designer bone in my body. So I always have to find someone to do the design for my web applications and websites.

However, for the life of me, I can't find anyone who is good, consistent, and reliable.

So I'm wondering what everyone else does when they need some good graphic design done.

Should I just go to 99designs and hope for the best? Or are the some designers/firms that you use all the time and could recommend?

View on HN

If you are looking for PT/FT employees, I would suggest http://authenticjobs.com

If you're looking for a freelancer or agency, I would suggest http://sortfolio.com (run by 37signals).

As a designer, I would almost never suggest crowd-sourcing design, be it 99designs or otherwise. Rather than go into detail here, I'd suggest you read http://www.no-spec.com/articles/ten-reasons/ (as well as the other few articles on that site).

Thanks for sharing Authentic Jobs. I usually use Krop and Coroflot so knowing one which seems to focus on interactive is a great thing to know.

Thanks. I'll take a look at those.

try design students at local universities. they're cheaper, and might even work for free so they can build their portfolio.

Upvoted for the idea of finding students - but I wish people would stop with this idea that it's fine to ask artists to work for free while they build a portfolio/resume. It's one thing for an established artist to get assistants like that, because they're rewarding them in other ways. For anyone else to do so is degrading.

Also stupid, because without payment you will have no way to assert ownership of the design/logo/etc. later if you get sued for copyright abuse, by the artist or an assignee.

Spot-on. Thanks for making these points.

I've actually tried this, although I suppose I should give it another go. So far, the quality of design that I've seen from students was just not quite up to par.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com