Designers are relatively cheap, compared to developers. If you can't find a friend to help you out, pay someone to do the designs for you.
Yes given time a designer can program an entire software program by keeping things simple and not getting fancy. I'm a designer and have programmed a good deal, however like designs from my programmer, you'd laugh at what I've coded.
While an average designer probably does make less than an average developer, often people are quick to assume design isn't important--and therefore not worth paying for.
Sure it's easy to throw a design together and make something look decent.
But to have a designer that understands color theory, spacing, typography, usability/accessability, being able to "lead your eye" along with many other important skills--you have to be willing to pay.
Just like you can get a programmer that can technically program--but has no experience, no understanding of design patterns and has barely heard of this SQL thing--but they can still program your site, and that's good enough for you.
I think it's a mistake to penny pinch when choosing a designer. It will come back to bite you in ways you don't expect.
Like causing confusion among customers, increasing your bounce rate and ultimately affecting sales.
I recently went through the process of finding a designer and had enormous success using freelance sites such as getafreelancer.com (not affiliated).
I received about 30/40 replies. While I only need 1 designer, I now have 4-7 quality designers that I can go to for quality work in the future.
The short answer: You get what you pay for. Just like in every other profession.
Well that is not what I said.
So what do you pay your freelancer designers? I highly doubt they earn 100$ per hour?
What I meant is that if you can earn 100$ as a developer, you can afford to pay a designer for 50$. If I thought that design was worthless, I would have recommended do-it-yourself design.
$100 is very reasonable for a quality designer--personally I find $75/hr to be a good rate for the type of work I'm looking for.
My whole post wasn't geared towards your comment--so I apologize if it came off that way.
Did not mean to imply this was your view.
My point was, many people assume design is the least important part of a web site.
This mind-set is flawed, because design is very important. Not the most important part--but still very important.
There is a reason some designers charge $25/hr and some charge $100/hr, and the $75 you save today may (or may not) cost you $1,000 tomorrow.
I was lucky to find some affordable designers, but I am all for giving them their money's worth. I can't design at all, so I respect good designers for their work.