Does outstanding work, plain and simple. I'm a Django developer, and I've worked with him on a couple of projects. Without prior knowledge to the way Django templates work, he was able to pick up very fast. Has good knowledge of Wordpress. (Full disclosure: I developed the system behind that site)
As you can see on his site, I've already made a public recommendation. :-)
Fantastic fellow, also does tremendous work. Has good knowledge of Wordpress, and was able to get an understanding of Django's templates quickly.
I don't really do a lot in the Rails space, so I can't tell you if they're a great fit there… But all in all I'd say they're great designers, and more important, great people to work with.
Edit:
Oh, and Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain of http://31three.com markets himself as a person who provides "Creative services for the design-challenged developer".
Never talked to the guy, though.
I preferred the third one because their website was more usable -- all work was on one page and all I had to do was scroll down. Unlike the others where I had to click specific projects then view pictures 1, 2, 3, 4... real turn-off when I'm trying to easily compare all three together.
The third also looks like there has been a real effort and focus on usable websites without a disregard for looks which is essentially what I would be looking for.
These two are not the kind of guys you'll find on crowdSPRING, but they're not the most expensive either. I can't provide you with any absolute "project total" numbers, but the first one I mentioned (Ole Martin Kristiansen, piraja.no) usually goes for about €75/hour on larger projects. In my experience, he's always worked quickly and to the point.
The second one is probably in that range as well, although I can't make any guarantees (and he's not currently on GTalk).
Comments
I can name a couple. Both from Norway, both a joy to work with.
Ole Martin Kristiansen: http://piraja.no
Does outstanding work, plain and simple. I'm a Django developer, and I've worked with him on a couple of projects. Without prior knowledge to the way Django templates work, he was able to pick up very fast. Has good knowledge of Wordpress. (Full disclosure: I developed the system behind that site)
Simon Bognø: http://simonsays.no
As you can see on his site, I've already made a public recommendation. :-) Fantastic fellow, also does tremendous work. Has good knowledge of Wordpress, and was able to get an understanding of Django's templates quickly.
I don't really do a lot in the Rails space, so I can't tell you if they're a great fit there… But all in all I'd say they're great designers, and more important, great people to work with.
Edit:
Oh, and Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain of http://31three.com markets himself as a person who provides "Creative services for the design-challenged developer". Never talked to the guy, though.
HIRED!
(Well, that was easy. I wish I could up-vote this 100 times.)
If you don't mind sharing, which of the three designers mentioned did you hire and why?
(I realise I'm not Zarathu!)
I preferred the third one because their website was more usable -- all work was on one page and all I had to do was scroll down. Unlike the others where I had to click specific projects then view pictures 1, 2, 3, 4... real turn-off when I'm trying to easily compare all three together.
The third also looks like there has been a real effort and focus on usable websites without a disregard for looks which is essentially what I would be looking for.
how much do these guys usually charge? with design you can end up paying $100-$100K for the same thing, and it's hard to know how much each charges
Definitely, I understand what you mean.
These two are not the kind of guys you'll find on crowdSPRING, but they're not the most expensive either. I can't provide you with any absolute "project total" numbers, but the first one I mentioned (Ole Martin Kristiansen, piraja.no) usually goes for about €75/hour on larger projects. In my experience, he's always worked quickly and to the point.
The second one is probably in that range as well, although I can't make any guarantees (and he's not currently on GTalk).