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Ask HN: How do I find a great freelance UX designer?
I've got an application in development. It's currently in a small private beta. Most of the functionality has been implemented, but I've already gotten feedback from users that it's hard to intuit how to use the advanced features.
I want to enlist the help of a UX designer, and since I'm potentially going to be doing a lot of work based on whatever they come up with, I want to find someone good.
I know HN runs a monthly freelancer thread, and I'm familiar with Upwork. Anywhere else I should be looking? Any other advice?
- chovybizzass 5y agoupwork sucks....i found good designers on r/jobs4bitcoins
- mirak_ 5y agoYou may want to have a look at https://fairpixels.pro https://fairpixels.pro
- aranchelk 5y agoThat’s interesting that they’ve structured their service as a subscription. Thank you!
- slater 5y agodribbble.com?
- readonthegoapp 5y agoi feel like personal recommendation is the best way to go. i'm assuming folks don't do that mainly because by 'freelance UX designer' or 'freelance <any-profession>', we really mean 'nearly-free <any-profession>'. at least, i do.
- aranchelk 5y agoHaha, in my case I’m using the term “freelance” interchangeably with “consultant” or “contractor”. I’m absolutely expecting to pay market rate and looking for professional work, just not in a position to hire someone full time. Regarding personal recommendations, that’s a good point, I was racking my brain for UX designers I know, but I bet some of my engineer and product manager friend might know someone they could recommend.
- Gustomaximus 5y agoId second this recommendation preference. Finding good designers is hard. Id say generally; 1) Don't go by a persons confidence to do the job. I've often found confidence in ability and quality are inversely related when it comes to designers. 2) Try to find someone that understands the business need and not an artist. Not that art is bad but I find the artist type risks getting too involved in their work. You want someone that isn't too emotionally invested in the work where they cant take genuine feedback or scrap it and genuinely try again with fresh take. There's a reason agencies put account managers between creatives and client. 3) Good design takes time. It can seem like a long time to get to something simple but its usually needed. 4) Don't committee things. You can polish the diamond but when you've got a bunch of people expressing design ideas to be merged together it tends not to work. Also if there are multiple people commenting, have someone on your side take that commentary and centralise it to the designer, dont drip feed them comments or let a bunch of people all send their own thoughts. 5) If its not working dont try to make it work. Some designers are really good but just dont work well with the vision you want. Its not their style. If its not working it probably wont. 6) Be specific in your instruction. Don't give them the 'I want it to look like example A but with touches of example B' type deal. When people look at the same thing the see different elements as what makes that example that example. Figure out why you like something, make sure that is the reason on example 2. Really consider the language you use when writing any design requests if you have something in mind. .... a bit off the cuff but hopefully that useful. Good luck.
- chrisaalid 5y agoI’m one. Shoot me an email at chris@chrisaalid.com
- kirillgorokhov 5y agoSearching through Dribble is a good idea. Also try Match.dev who can connect you with a fitting UX/UI designer.