I'm the Chief Technology Officer for a small but rapidly growing
company that runs its business on the web.  We have written a very
functional web application and have successfully run our business on
the web for nearly four years, and are a multi-million dollar
business.  However, the public face to our web site
needs an overhaul.

I'm looking for recommendations for an excellent web designer.  We're
looking for an individual (no 'template farms' please) very proficient
in lightweight, standards-based HTML/CSS programming, with SEO skills.

Our web site is: http://www.truckmovers.com.  Our logo needs to remain
the same.  The content is not far off.  We're just looking for a
much-improved, lighweight, web 2.0-ish look for our
increasingly popular site.  Our ideal web designer would pay strict
attention to modern web standards, and would be willing to go the
extra mile to provide a personal, professional sense of perfection. 
No database or server work is needed.  We basically just need a
revamped look for our current content.

An 'answer' to this question would simply point me to one or more
designers (again, individuals, not 'firms') that fit the mold I speak
of, and designers taking work at the present time.  The location of the
designer is not important, but must be based in the United States or
Canada.  We will work with the designer remotely (email, phone).

We expect to pay between $2000 and $5000 for the redesign, depending
on the quality of the work.

Thanks.

---

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 14 Jun 2006 21:46 PDT

Hello truckmovers-ga,

It seems to me your best bet will be to use one of the freelance job
bid sites to find someone to do your job. You can specify the skills
you?re looking for and look at the portfolios of the freelancers
bidding for your job. Will a listing of highly rated freelancer sites
meet your needs?

I look forward to your clarification.

~ czh ~

---

Clarification of Question by truckmovers-ga on 15 Jun 2006 06:05 PDT

I'm aware of several freelance bid sites, and that's not quite what
I'm looking for.  I'm more interested hearing from someone with
personal knowledge of an individual (or very small design shop) that
does quality work.  The designer must have a full online portfolio of
work to showcase his/her talent also.

Hello truckmovers-ga,

This was a more challenging search than you would expect. It?s fairly
easy to find people who are looking for Web 2.0 web designers. It?s
harder to find the designers. After some searching I found some sites
that provided either directories of designers or samples of work which
led to the web sites of the type of designer you?re looking for.

Below, I?m first listing the websites that I used to source some
designers for you. Next I?ve listed some designers who seem to fit
your requirements. It?s impossible to determine whether they will be
able to work within your budget because you?ll have to negotiate with
them directly.

I trust that the resources I?ve provided will help you find a suitable
designer for your website redesign project.

All the best.

~ czh ~


=================================================
WEB 2.0 DESIGN RESOURCES AND DESIGNER DIRECTORIES
=================================================

http://www.cssbeauty.com/
http://www.cssbeauty.com/info/
CSSBEAUTY? is a project focused on providing its audience with a
database of well designed CSS based websites from around the world.

Its purpose is to showcase designers' work and to act as a small
portal to the CSS design community.

---

http://www.cssbeauty.com/archives/category/business/
(Scroll through sample websites on bottom right. Click through to
website to discover the designer of the site. Follow links or research
website of web designer to see if they are the type of company /
designer you?re interested in.)

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.csszengarden.com/
A demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design.

---

http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/alldesigns/
css Zen Garden 
Comprehensive Design List

This page is an archived list of all Zen Garden designs added to date.
Thumbnail screenshots are generated for official designs only, but all
other designs may be accessed by date or category. Total designs
listed: 963

(Click on the design name to sample the various styles. Click on the
name of the designer to be taken to their website. You can then
explore their site and portfolio to see they might be a suitable
candidate for you job.

Example:
http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/alldesigns/bydate/
Currently Viewing: Most Recent Additions

·  Access Granted by Mike Cherim

http://csszengarden.com/?cssfile=http://green-beast.com/portfolio/zen/css/zen.css
Access Granted an Elastic Design

http://green-beast.com/
http://green-beast.com/about/
http://green-beast.com/projects/
Mike Cherim

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.alistapart.com/about/
?For people who make websites?

A List Apart Magazine (ISSN: 1534-0295) explores the design,
development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on
techniques and benefits of designing with web standards.

(I browsed the articles to find names of designers that might be
suitable for your project.)

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.komodomedia.com/
My name is Rogie King and Komodo Media is my site. Komodo Media is a
small website design, illustration, and programming company based in
Helena, Montana. I build functional, standards-compliant, and
aesthetically rich sites, while specializing in illustration, new
javascript such as Ajax, CSS based table-less sites, PHP scripting and
identity design.

(The resource links in the right lower corner were especially helpful.)


=================
WEB 2.0 DESIGNERS
=================

David C. Dalton
http://www.davidcdalton.com/
http://www.davidcdalton.com/web-application-projects
http://www.davidcdalton.com/david-dalton-biography

-------------------------------------------------


Lori Leach ? Zenful Creations
http://www.zenfulcreations.com/index.htm
http://www.zenfulcreations.com/design_portfolio.htm
http://www.zenfulcreations.com/about.htm

-------------------------------------------------


Parker Torrence -- FrogLace WebDesign
http://webdesign.parkertorrence.com/
http://webdesign.parkertorrence.com/portfolio.html
http://webdesign.parkertorrence.com/about.html

-------------------------------------------------


Shad Vick -- Luna Webs
http://www.lunawebs.com/site_map.php
http://www.lunawebs.com/web-environmental-solutions.php
http://www.lunawebs.com/web-client-list.php
http://www.lunawebs.com/web-design-team.php
http://www.lunawebs.com/web-design-company.php

-------------------------------------------------


Matthew Levine ? Infocraft
http://www.infocraft.com/
http://www.infocraft.com/projects/
http://www.infocraft.com/about/

-------------------------------------------------


Rogie King -- Komodo Media
http://www.komodomedia.com/
http://www.komodomedia.com/portfolio/
http://www.komodomedia.com/about/


===============
SEARCH STRATEGY
===============

web designer  2.0 compliant css

---

Clarification of Answer by czh-ga on 16 Jun 2006 09:07 PDT

Dear truckmovers-ga,

I'm sorry to see that you're unhappy about my answer. I wish you had
told me up front that you had already identified the general sources
for finding Web 2.0 designers. I spent hours looking for candidates
who would fit your requirements and came up with several designers who
look like they could do the job for you. I'm sorry that I didn't
understand that coming up with a likely list of candidates was less
important than the "personal knowledgde" of one designer. I wish you
had asked for clarification before rating my answer. Even more, I wish
you had shared the extent of the research you had already done before
posting your question.

Best wishes for you site redesign.

~ czh ~

I was hoping the researcher would have hands-on experience with one or
more designers, but I guess that's asking a lot.  The web sites listed
to 'source' a designer are very well known and don't really answer my
question.  The links to the actual designers are what I was looking
for -- although I wish the researcher actually knew something about
the designers listed.  I'm still taking a stab in the dark trying to
pick a designer from one of these.