Where do the designers hang out?
May 26, 2009 12:16 PM   Subscribe

I've been trying to find a designer (or several) for my web application consulting company to work with on a regular basis. To find people, I want to run a sort of design contest/job posting. Where (other than the obvious job boards) should I promote this contest? Colleges? Specialist Forums? Mailing Lists? Flyers? Where do these people hang out?

My company specializes in high-complexity web applications. We can handle some design ourselves, but our expertise really lies in the more back end side of things. What we're hoping to find is someone with the right mix of design and technical skill so they could produce a document with a good explanation of what they're doing and why. Obviously we also want the design to look good, but that's pretty subjective.

Our idea at the moment is to run a contest for redesigning one of our own web properties and have them produce a document like the one I linked above.

Questions:
* We're thinking of looking at colleges for people who are up and coming in this arena. Are there any colleges in particular that have programs that might produce people like this?
* What are other ideas for places we might find undiscovered talent of this kind?
* Is this a good strategy in general, or are there better ways of going about finding what we're looking for? What are some alternatives?

Any thoughts related to this problem are welcome. Finding people to work with is tricky.
posted by systematic to Work & Money (12 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
jobs.metafilter.com
posted by geoff. at 12:18 PM on May 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


I'm skeptical of your approach. Designers, by and large, can be a flaky group -- but you should be able to easily find one that can do this kind of work unless you're

One thing that ALL designers will loathe is people who want them to give away their labor for free in order to acquire a job. You should look at someone's portfolio of past work, not at what they are willing to do for you for free. A designer who's willing to work for free is a desperate designer.

My approach would be to find *another firm* that already has expertise in this area, and work with them. Or, frankly, post here on Metafilter or ask for recommendations on metafilter. Two I've worked with and can recommend are Erin at Time For Cake (and yes, her business name predates GLaDOS) and Travis at Always Creative.
posted by SpecialK at 1:08 PM on May 26, 2009


* unless you're drastically underpaying.

Sorry, I'm having a hard time completing thoughts today.
posted by SpecialK at 1:08 PM on May 26, 2009


SpecialK is right; there is a strong feeling among designers that this should never be done. The sentiment, too, is that only the inexperienced or desperate go for free work. So, beware that this approach may chase away the more talented people.
posted by Houstonian at 1:29 PM on May 26, 2009


Response by poster: Those are valid points. I certainly agree that anyone who will work for free is probably on the desperate side. I was intending to provide a large cash prize for the winner. Does that change opinions? I suppose that may still constitute (possibly) working for free. I was planning on offering substantially more than the typical job would offer in exchange for the risk of possibly not winning.
posted by systematic at 1:38 PM on May 26, 2009


You're thinking of it as a contest with a prize, but in practice it sounds more like do this work on spec, and if yours is the best, you'll get paid. There is a tradition of speck work in advertising. I think you certainly may get some people to go for that, but you may not get the best people to go for that.

Also, be aware that a contest like this may violate the terms of service on some of the job boards you're thinking about posting it to. I'm not sure without checking, but I'd be surprised if that wasn't the case.
posted by willnot at 1:52 PM on May 26, 2009


I certainly agree that anyone who will work for free is probably on the desperate side. I was intending to provide a large cash prize for the winner. Does that change opinions?

No. You're still asking for a substantial amount of work for no compensation at all. I don't know how to say it any other way than "that's wrong, and if you think about it, you know it is."

Why are you not looking for web designers who have portfolios you like? Loads of us get cold hired by clients like you in exactly this way every day; it can't be that hard, or else we'd all be unemployed. Look through CSS galleries and sites you like and start calling or emailing designers.

Furthermore, I don't want to speak for the Design Cabal, but I'm pretty sure that most experienced designers are going to be very reluctant to produce the kind of document you're asking for, for several reasons.

First of all, it's annoying and time intensive. Second of all, quite often there is only one iteration to show you, which means I have to fake other ones to meet this rather silly requirement. Finally, when there is more than one iteration, I don't want to show them to you because (God forbid) you may prefer one of the rejects - except they are rejects, not choices.

I don't know, maybe I'm way off base here, but I think it's going to be hard to find what you're looking for with this kind of approach. I'd re-think it, myself.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:03 PM on May 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


Yeah, as a former program director of web design program I see several things wrong with this (however in the spirit of AskMefi I will try to answer some of your questions specifically at the end):

- The skillset you are seeking is really not "the sort of person who wins contests". Design is not just the visual or how well someone interprets rules. Based on your description, you need someone who understands how to collaborate and ask questions. Do you really want to put yourself in that situation for a potential pool of dozens?

- There's also the larger fact that you will be passing over a huge proportion of people who would be a better fit for you and would never enter a contest like this (for many of the reasons above). It's not really a matter of the money, because the best fits for you won't even know the contest is running.

So with all these disclaimers, If you're looking for an entry-level position, you want to connect with the career services departments of various design schools or programs. They are the ones with the pulse on the student body. (I have no connection with the school I linked to, btw, just an example).

The alternatives are to look for people who "get the web". Go on Linkedin, get recommendations. Once you find some sites you like ask yourself: Are their websites well coded? Are they optimized for search engines? Is the copy on their website readable and without errors? Do they have some dynamic sections on their site such as Jquery/php? These people will have set themselves apart from the field by creating portfolio sites that get picked up by Google.

My 2ยข.
posted by jeremias at 3:45 PM on May 26, 2009 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: willnot: That's a fair assessment. Thinking about it from that perspective, I do remember reading a number of anti-spec work articles while looking around for designers :( Also, thanks for the heads up on the job board TOS. I hadn't considered that.

DarlingBri: Your suggestion reveals another thing that I wasn't really clear about in my original post. My problem isn't just finding a designer who can make things that look good. I need someone who

1) Makes things that look good
2) Can explain and adapt a visual design in a way that is technically good and still satisfies everyone involved.
3) Delivers on time.
4) Is very fast.

Those last three points are really more about process than product. The last few designers I've used produced fantastic looking stuff... between 3-7 days late. This left no time for #2 and really hurts my reputation as a developer.

Up to this point, I've been using word of mouth recommendations and cold calling to find designers. It's costing me a fortune finding out that they produce a great product, but can't do 2,3, or 4 (in some combination). I'd like to find out the answer to those questions without having to spend thousands of dollars per person. At this rate, I'm going to run out of money and reputation long before I find the designer I'm looking for.

To solve the problem in the short term, I may take SpecialK's suggestion of partnering up with another company. It won't leave me in a good position when I want to hire a designer full-time 6 months from now, but at least it will take care of the immediate problem. Thanks for the specific links, SpecialK.

I would really appreciate some references to colleges with good design programs. I've had good luck finding great development talent right out of college, so maybe the same can apply for design.

On Preview: I think the message that this idea isn't popular is coming through loud and clear, which is unfortunate. Thanks for the link, Jeremias.
posted by systematic at 4:36 PM on May 26, 2009


If you're looking for a design contractor, there are plenty of job boards that focus on that type of short term engagement. 37signals and Authentic Jobs come to mind. You might also post on the Interaction Design Mailing List (IxDA) to recruit. There are about 10,000 designers on that list who do exactly what you're looking for.

Always ask to see a portfolio. That'll answer question #1. If their portfolio doesn't address question #2 then ask about their documentation style in a phone interview or see if they can show you some samples. If that goes well, ask for references. That's really the only way you can find out about questions #3 and #4 without trial and error. It's not as reliable, but it takes less time.

The "contest" approach would cast you in a bad light and would steer many good designers away from you. They know that you're getting a ton of free submissions but only paying for one. No self-respecting designer would sign up for that.
posted by Jeff Howard at 9:58 PM on May 26, 2009


I'm concerned about your criteria. Good design is indeed about process and that takes time. You probably need to build up a relationship with a designer that will enable them to turn stuff around for you quickly, in the way you need. If you are dumping designers after one job it's not surprising you're becoming frustrated.

You can either invest time with someone who already knows your work, and cultivate that relationship to bear the right fruit or keep (expensively) shaking trees hoping the right fruit will fall.

I'd use all the advice above to find a fair fit, then work with them to build a great fit.
posted by freya_lamb at 3:04 AM on May 27, 2009


As a note, AIGA's (the professional organization of designers) official position is no spec work.
posted by thebestsophist at 8:22 PM on May 27, 2009


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