[itai195]

Haven't posted on this particular corner of MacNN before, but I had a question about web development and I'm hoping for some advice from the experts.

I've recently been approached by the owner of a local beauty supply boutique to provide a commercial site for her business. She doesn't want anything particularly complicated in terms of design, just something elegant and simple, with an aesthetic that will appeal to beauty supply store customers (e.g. women). For example, this is a site that she really likes. She wants an e-commerce site, and she plans to make approximately 300-500 items available for sale through the site.

I haven't taken the job yet, I'm still considering it. I am not a professional web designer, but I am a programmer and have experience with web development. I have a full time job and am looking to do this work on the side. I am fairly confident that I can handle the back-end work myself, so that's not an issue.

But I'm not a designer. I've dabbled with HTML and CSS for years and have built a few web sites, but I'm not particularly skilled at creating logos, artwork, or professional and original designs. I have a lot of respect for skilled designers, so I'm considering recommending that the client hire a separate designer to make all the templates, stylesheets, graphics, etc. I'd do all the back-end work and put the actual site together. However, I'm not sure if this is a financially viable option for the client. Since I don't personally know any web designers, I was hoping for some opinions from folks here at MacNN.

My question is this -- what do designers typically charge for this kind of work? I'm not looking to hire a company to do the design work, I'd love to give the work to a skilled, independent designer. I realize I haven't given a lot of details about the project requirements, but a ballpark figure for a small e-commerce site would suffice at this point. The design won't have to be particularly flashy, just elegant and minimalist. Most likely the designer will have to create a logo and other typical artwork for use on the site. I can't see us needing more than ten page templates.

Also, if anyone here is actually interested in working on this project please PM me. I can't really guarantee that I'll take up the project at this point, I'm just gathering information.

[Simon Mundy]

Originally posted by itai195:
My question is this -- what do designers typically charge for this kind of work? I'm not looking to hire a company to do the design work, I'd love to give the work to a skilled, independent designer. I realize I haven't given a lot of details about the project requirements, but a ballpark figure for a small e-commerce site would suffice at this point. The design won't have to be particularly flashy, just elegant and minimalist. Most likely the designer will have to create a logo and other typical artwork for use on the site. I can't see us needing more than ten page templates.

No matter 'simple' the brief is for design, it can turn sour if you miss the mark design-wise, so I'd definitely hire some talented professionals to take care of the look while you take care of the bones. They can take care of the subtleties of UI, of layout and composition and they know what works to attract consumers.

My advice is to visit AIGA and look for designers in your area. Look for a boutique agency (1-3 people), call them and re-present your brief. Typically, we'd charge 1-2 days for 2 conceptual routes of 3-4 pages each, then another 2-3 days of design development and production. But that's us, not an agency in your area - ask first, don't be afraid of asking exactly what you want and how much you expect to get. They'll be able to give you a proper price based on your expectations.

Allow more for the design budget than you originally intended. It always costs more than you think. But it's worth it. The world is full of mediocre graphics, so don't get someone who's going to add to the pile.

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/directory

I'm not necessarily endorsing AIGA members as better designers than anyone else, it's just that you know there'll be a baseline level of quality and integrity. And if they muck you around you can make a noise back to their association. So there'a a reasonable amount of peer pressure from designers to do a great job.