Dear tomdavid,
If you're looking for top-shelf work and you're willing to pay the
substantial fees that a serious graphic artist commands, I suggest you
turn to a small firm that specializes in web design, such as the ones
I recommend below. There are, of course, full-service companies such
as Razorfish and Verio that offer to do every kind of web work under
the sun, but I would steer clear of them myself.
Razorfish
http://www.sbigroup.com/rzf.html
Verio
http://www.verio.com/services/cws/
The trouble with these prestige firms is that they're notoriously
expensive, even more so than the most talented independent designers,
and they subject their clients to an intensive sales and marketing
effort urging them to buy additional and different kinds of services.
Their design and programming departments, moreover, are not likely to
provide the truly creative and personalized attention that small
design firms can deliver.
One of the leading figures in the independent design community, and
certainly one of the first people I would approach if I were in your
position, is Jeffrey Zeldman. Almost since the birth of the web, he
has been a tireless advocate for standards-based web design, which
results in bandwidth-friendly pages that are accessible to all users
and all platforms. In his public web work and in the service of his
design firm, he has practiced a simple but lively aesthetic that
appeals to my taste and to millions of others. Although I list his
personal site below as a demonstration of his philosophy, you should
get in touch with his firm, Happy Cog, if you wish to solicit a bid.
Jeffrey Zeldman's personal website
http://zeldman.com/
Happy Cog: contact
http://www.happycog.com/contact/
You'll find examples from the Happy Cog portfolio under the "Work"
tab, and you'll be pleased to know that they're capable not only of
front-end design work but of the back-end engineering that e-commerce
entails. I have no personal connection to Happy Cog or to any of the
other companies that I'm about to list, yet I've long been aware of
them and I'm enthusiastic about work of theirs that I've seen.
Another independent designer who serves the web community in his spare
time and also works for hire at a small company is Dave Shea. His
personal site is called Mezzo Blue, but, as with Zeldman, you'll want
to contact his firm, Bright Creative, to inquire about professional
services.
Dave Shea's personal website
http://www.mezzoblue.com/
Bright Creative
http://www.brightcreative.com/work/
I'm not sure I like all of the examples in the portfolio of freelance
designer Ryan Gantz, but his personal site is a pleasure to behold. If
you want to start your website on a small scale with a modest budget,
he might be the right man for the job.
Ryan Gantz's personal website
http://www.sixfoot6.com/
Ryan Gantz's commercial portfolio
http://design.sixfoot6.com/web/client/apple.html
A somewhat larger firm with several principal designers is Message,
located in the UK. Their physical location needn't concern you, given
the nature of web work. I like the sense of lightness and balance in
their web design. On the other hand, I don't know if they can do much
work in-house on the back end of an e-commerce site.
Message Digital Design
http://message.uk.com/index.php
A small company that does focus on the programming side of things
while also offering web design is Automatic, led by Dan Benjamin, who
also runs a nice weblog called Hivelogic.
Dan Benjamin's personal website
http://www.hivelogic.com/
Automatic Services
http://automaticlabs.com/services
I'll recommend a few more competent outfits without comment. You be
the judge of their talent.
SimpleBits
http://www.simplebits.com/work/
Informatika Mihelac
http://www.informatikamihelac.com/en/internet/
Picment
http://www.picment.com/portfolio/web/
Adactio
http://adactio.com/portfolio/
I'm confident that one of the design firms I've mentioned will be able
to meet your needs. If you want to discover further links on your own,
the best approach is to look for the designer's credit on attractive
sites that you visit in the course of your usual websurfing. If you're
an adventurous surfer like myself, you should be able to amass a
considerable collection of design links within a few days.
As a final piece of advice, I urge you to be as detailed as possible
in your communications with the firms you consider to be good
candidates. The more you can tell them about the work you'd like done,
including practical parameters such as your budget and your schedule,
the better they'll be able to respond with an offer and the greater
the likelihood of your eventual satisfaction.
Thank you for asking this interesting question. If you find my answer
to be incomplete or inaccurate in any way, please post a clarification
request so that I have a chance to meet your needs before you assign a
rating.
Regards,
leapinglizard |
