I'm wondering what techniques you've used to find good designers for your projects.<p>I've tried Craigslist, but ended up with a lot of spam and a lot of ... let's say not very experienced designers.<p>I've tried various well known designers, but the costs very quickly become very high.<p>I've tried oDesk with some limited success - much better than the local craigslist crowd - but nothing I was thrilled with.<p>Is there a way to find reasonably priced designers who are actually good? What's the secret?
I simply tried here and got lucky twice already.<p>Simply post a 'Looking for a designer' with some basic requirements (job duration, an idea of the scope and your location preferences) and ask for portfolio links.<p>That'll get you plenty of response.<p>Make sure you put an email address in the text area of your profile!<p>One of the issues some people run in to when looking for designers and programmers is that they want to scrape the bottom of the barrel pricewise, but that is going to get you in to a very long period where you'll be looking at stuff that doesn't cut it.<p>In that case I'd suggest moving 'upmarket' a bit and spend what it's really worth. If you ever get lucky and find that $10 per hour designer or programmer that delivers stellar work let me know.<p>One that I have no personal experience with but that has a really nice portfolio lives here: <a href="http://www.gursimran.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gursimran.com/</a> , I've spent half a day just looking through her website and flickr album, quite amazing.<p>--<p>edited for clarity.
You haven't mentioned any of the crowd-sourced design sites:<p><a href="http://99designs.com" rel="nofollow">http://99designs.com</a>
<a href="http://crowdspring.com" rel="nofollow">http://crowdspring.com</a>
I know crowdsourced design gets a lot of flack around here, but take a look at crowdspring.com or 99designs.com<p>I used to work at CS (as a dev), so I got to see a lot of entries.<p>You can get some good work for way less than an independent designer would charge. Some buyers ended up establishing relationships with designers they liked, too.
If you just need design (little "d"), it would be hard to recommend anything other than 99designs.com, since you can get dozens of people to do the design work you need on spec, at effectively no cost to you, then pick the best (or none at all).<p>If you need Design (big "D"), then you get what you pay for, and you should be going with established, known quantities like an identity/brand specialized design agency. They do cost a lot of money, but that's because Design (big "d") is very hard.<p>The difference is that Design (big "D") is about strategy and communication, whereas design (little "d") is about drawing and coloring. Sometimes you need one, sometimes you need the other, and sometimes you need both.
I look at universities for design students (graduated). I had general good experiences with that way.
Another possibility might be to look in eastern europe for offshore design agencies.
I am in the same bind. I am wondering what a decent rate for a good design is. I need to design two simple pages ("simple" may be subjective.) I have been quoted $400 - just for design - by htmlburger (they seem good). Would you consider that too pricey?