Where to Find a Designer for Your Project

We’ve already talked about how to choose the perfect designer for your brand, but where do you find them in the first place? When you’ve decided that your business is in need of some design expertise, where do you even start? No need to be overwhelmed, I’ve got you covered – I’ve done the hard yards for you and listed four ways that you can get started on your quest to find the perfect designer for your brand!

WORD OF MOUTH

The absolute best way to find a designer is through word of mouth. Ask people who you know, or ask for recommendations from your wider social network and see who pops up. It’s much easier to trust and hire someone who comes highly recommended from someone else you know, which gets the relationship off to a great start and makes both parties more comfortable from the beginning. Always try and find a designer who you know or a trusted friend or colleague knows if possible; all the other methods should be a last resort.

GOOGLE SEARCH

If you don’t manage to get a referral for a designer that you think is right for you, it’s time to hit up Google and get your internet sleuth on. Simply start with a search for designers in your location, or the type of design that you think you’d like help with, and go from there. Read blog posts, check out work, investigate what they’re about, check testimonials, click through to their other pages and profiles, and see what you find. Chances are you’ll come across some incredible people and hopefully find the one for you – now all that’s left to do is get in touch!

PORTFOLIO SITES

Another option for finding designers is through portfolio showcase sites. These are websites that a lot of designers will post their work on to get it out there and find work through. There are hundreds of designers to choose from on these sites, but with the ability to sort, categorise and search, you’ll be able to narrow things down and find people who fit the bill for you. Keep in mind that you might not find all that you need to know about a designer from these sites, so there can be some deep-diving involved to click through to their website or social media profiles in order to get the full picture. If you are going to try finding people through these portfolio sites, the two best and most popular places to start are:

• Behance
• Dribbble

MARKETPLACES

As well as portfolio sites, there are a lot of marketplaces out there with hundreds of freelancers available for hire. These sites will show less of the designers’ work and just give you an overview of who they are, what they do and how you can get in touch with them. Try to stick to marketplaces that cater to specific software or tools, rather than the more broad marketplaces for every freelancer under the sun. If you need a an expert in Webflow, or a Squarespace whiz for example, try their marketplaces. Other tools might have their own marketplaces too, so it’s worth having a look there.

• Webflow Experts
• Squarespace Marketplace

I hope that these four options give you a great place to start when it comes to finding a designer for your project. Once you’ve found some that you’re interested in working with, check out my guide on how to choose the perfect designer for your brand to make sure you go with the right one and learn what to expect when hiring a graphic designer when you get to that!

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