Looking for designer recommendations

[TheShortStack]

Afternoon all,

I'm going to need a site designing over the course of the next couple of weeks and wouldn't mind a few suggestions on where to go to get it done. There aren't a whole lot of requirements other than clean code (preferably using CSS) and a sharp look.

I'm aware of Kundan and I've had a chat with bigbonus on here ... I just want to make sure that there's no one else I should be aware of before getting the work started.

Cheers for your help

[MJ]

Eduardo is the flat out nuts, but be advised he's not a cookie cut copying designer like the others.....if you want something unique he's the man but he pays himself for his work.

If you want your site to look like someone elses and be cheap, well - use the other two. If you can spend 1k on a design this dude is literally the best I've come across and others here would certainly agree.

Also I'd like to note I've had huge success doing contests at Digital Point and 99 designs, although I always still need to hire a designer after the fact $300 goes a long ways in getting over a dozen concepts to look at.

[GregW]

I'd highly recommend splitting the design and coding up into two parts (possibly 3). This is what I've done with a recent design of mine and it came out great.

Design

For this, I would say that you browse around Browsing Web Interfaces on deviantART and see if you can find a designer that has the style that you are looking for. I don't think that you're going to find a better showcase of talent to choose from for free to be honest.

Then get in contact with the designer you like and see if they're interested in freelance work. Some of the designers are cheaper than you might expect for the talent that they possess.

99designs.com is okay for website design, but not brilliant. I don't think designers are as interested in designing websites for a contest as they are with logos, so you don't tend so see a great response from holding a contest for an entire design there.

Coding

After you have got your psd design file, it's time to get it coded. There really is no need to try and get the same guy who designs your site to code it too, it's simple enough to take it elsewhere (and probably cheaper).

I go to PSD to HTML services | PSDgator. They code very well, although I like to make a few tweaks of my own to make sure it's as SEO friendly as I want it to be. Although if you make a few recommendations they should be able to accomodate for your needs pretty well (h tags in the right place and stuff). They charge $97 I think for a xhtml/css template.

You could always try digitalpoint for coders and see what you find, but you can't go wrong with psdgator really.

Logo (optional)

Website designers are not neccesarily great with logos, so if your template is great but the logo is lacking, why not get a nicer one done by someone else?

99designs Leading Designer Marketplace for Logo Designs and More? is undoubtedly the best place to get a logo in my opinion. Loads of great entries to choose from. The only downside is it's a little expensive, but I'd say its worth it if you want to make a great site with a memorable logo.

How much will this cost?

It's hard to say because it all varies, but as a rough guide, you would be looking at:

Design: ~$350
Coding: $100 ($200 on wordpress)
Logo: ~$200
Total: ~$700 (~$500 without special logo)

The added benefit of doing it this way is that you are getting freelancers to do the job that they specialise in in each area. This is opposed to getting it all done in one place, as an all-in-one person may be a great design but not so hot in coding and so on.

[Ridge]

Tell us how you really feel MJ

Um, I've used all three of them. All are decent, but Eduardo work is very nice. The other two can do nice work as well, I think you have to be picky and detailed though.