Comment by cemregr | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cemregr | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure if startups need any more convincing that they need designers, and even at that, this page doesn't do a terribly good job at it by providing a nicely laid out collection of definitions from Wikipedia or uninformative poll results.

Also, I feel like trying to recruit designers off Dribbble is like trying to recruit novelists off Twitter. It's hard to gauge somebody's higher level product design skills by looking at 400x300 shots devoid of context. The benefits usually associated with having designers on board come from their empathy and desire to solve problems. "I just want to make pretty things" designers on Dribbble won't provide you this if they are the only designer you have.

Last month I was communicating with designers on Dribbble looking for full-time startup work, and I was sadly unsurprised to find out that none of them were interested in solving problems. (Note: I'm a designer myself)

The problem is you went to Dribbble looking for a designer. Dribbble is a website for artists. At first, this idea may be confusing because of their job board and the postings which call for the types of people you may be looking for.

The reason you can't find anyone you want comes down to the very essence of the site: a place for artists to show off their pixel perfect creations on 400px canvases. Artists aren't that great at problem solving, but they can make really beautiful UI and related imagery. Go there when you need pixel magic, but I wouldn't expect to find the kinds of people to solve high level design problems.

You are probably looking for a "design thinker" type. Someone with a brain sculpted by a big consultancy like IDEO, Frog, etc. trained to think about design in terms of logic and creative thinking rather than visuals. But definitely not an artist.

Good luck.

While I agree Dribbble's limited canvas doesn't really help to find 'designers' as you're defining them, to thus write off everyone on there as 'artists' seems a bit short-sighted.

Totally agree. I think the word "design" has almost lost all meeting as it can mean so many different things depending on who you speak with.

Yes I agree Dribbble is a problematic site. I cannot believe graphic design has been reduced to fractions of the work with no brief.

If you don't mind, would you mind sharing you experience in more detail? Did you try to engage any designer on Dribble to get their design and problem solving thoughts?

I reached out to a couple designers whose visual style I liked. Further along the conversation asked them to do a simple design exercise (to make a wireframe for a page based on specs and goals, and pay them for their time), at which point they ran away.

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