Finding a web designer?

ikkleosu

A friend and I are trying to set up an extensive and high-end fan site. While we know enough to make a basic site, we would really like to employ a web designer to do the site proffessionally for us to make it very slick.

However we can't afford a huge amount, and wouldn't need to designer to do upkeep on the site, or complete design (we know what we want it to look like), just really do programming and set it up. It seems this is a difficult thing to find a web desinger who will take this on, as most want to work for comapnies and do the entire site themselves. Or they are not willing to give prices upfront.

Does anyone have any tips on how to find a designer like this? For example someone who has done small sites for charities or small business, or personal sites?

Any help gratefully received!

reehsetin

you'll get a lot of offers on here i think.
dont know how well it goes with mse's rules,

anyway my boyfriend is a web developer and has done exactly what you want, partial sites or full including hosting etc, just literally whatever is needed. and price would depend on the extent you are looking for

ravenfire_2

Try http://www.daffodil-design.com

Very reasonably priced

bring1t

https://www.scriptlance.com

You can post a project you want completing and get people to bid on it from all over the world. This works out very cheap (pay in $$$) and the programmers are usually from india/asia and the like......

save-a-lot

rm-lewis wrote: »

https://www.scriptlance.com

You can post a project you want completing and get people to bid on it from all over the world. This works out very cheap (pay in $$$) and the programmers are usually from india/asia and the like......

ditto that recommendation - always make sure you pick a designer with good feedback and ask to see their portfolio... some will even mock up a design at no cost, no obligation just to get your business.

save-a-lot

Alternatively,totally free

https://www.oswd.org open source web design - css templates

Gordon_the_Moron

You say you know how to make a basic site, what do you need the web designer to do that you can't?

Da Moron

ravenfire_2

Because a professionally designed site can look so much better!

I have three sites and can show you sites the person I have recommended has designed if you want to see.

ikkleosu

Gordon_the_Moron wrote: »

You say you know how to make a basic site, what do you need the web designer to do that you can't?

Da Moron

Databases, php, css, imbedded media etc. I can make a decent looking site using basic HTML but we want an up to date smooth looking site and you need to know far mroe programming than we do.

Thanks so much for all the help given here! I will get back to this thread once I've checked it all out!

VebGuy

There are two things here:

1. The "eye candy" - how it looks. You need someone with graphic design skills

2. The "engine" - which makes it all work. All proper websites, including MSE, run off a database. There are basically two ways to go, either Microsoft dot net or the free opensource php route. Either way, you need a skilled programmer. A "web designer" is not necessarily a computer programmer.

Also, the latest sites now use AJAX which means web pages can update without having to "go away then come back again". Flikr uses Ajax extensively, as does Google Suggest. In my opinion, it's easier to implement Ajax with dot net than with php.

So
1. Register you domain name (eg 1and1.co.uk)
2. Find a hosting provider who does asp.net and MS Sql Server, or php and MySQL
3. Find a graphic designer to do the eye candy
4. Find a programmer to make it all work

OR

instead of 3 and 4, use a prebuilt free site like DotNetNuke 4.50 (Ajax implemented) for asp.net, or any of the countless free php sites (e107.org is especially good)

Just because php/MySql is free don't let that put you off. I'm reliably informed that Yahoo use MySql databases.

Have a clear idea of what it is you want on the "engine" side, thinking of things like site maintainability, growth, how easy it'll be to improve it and so on. Building a proper pro website is like building a sky scraper - the foundations, floors, wiring, air con etc. It's not something to rush into without good planning.