Attempt #1: Direct hire
Posted a local job and hired a person based on their portfolio. We signed the contract, and they started the project. 2 weeks later I check in and all they have done is the color palette and fonts. I don't think I'm unreasonable when I say this is way too little work for 2 weeks booked at 8 hours / day. I closed the contract afterwards and I consider I simply got scammed. Am I being unreasonable here?
Attempt #2: Upwork
I posted my project on Upwork for a fixed price, estimated at 300 hours and with a price per hour that matches what Upwork says is their "top freelancers". I received more than 100 applications in the first 3 hours. Looking at their past work and portfolio, I notice a lot of them have linked the same projects, with the same screenshots and project description. I closed the project after I saw that, fearing another scam.
Attempt #3: LinkedIn
Posted a job for a contract-based short term project. I received less than 20 applicants in a week, and most of them sent me 5 page CVs without a portfolio. The portfolios that I got from the rest of them were very slim, presenting 1-2 project mockups which could barely be called projects, even though they called themselves experienced professionals.
I'm currently out of ideas on what to try next. I'm willing to pay top money for top work, and I mentioned this in every job ad, but for some reason all I get is scam attempts or homework projects.
Do you have some advice on how to hire high quality designers? Is there something wrong that I'm doing here?
- backend engineering skill
- experience using Tailwind
- a color palette and font choices
- screens and user flows
It sounds like all you're missing is:
- UI polish
Depending on how detailed your screens are, maybe you could consider skipping the UI mockup step, and just try to build it yourself using the 'Application UI' components from TailwindUI (https://tailwindui.com/)? If you use your own color palette and fonts, your site will still look unique.
Sure, you might need to change some things later, but you'd save some time and stress searching for a designer.
I heard about TopTal from https://mixergy.com. Andrew Warner is really serious about only accepting sponsors that provide great service and value. If you listen to his mid-podcast sponsorship spiels, they usually offer a free two weeks of work or 50% discount or something...
Per your question. Unfortunately I have never used any of this services, I have heard ppl using upwork but didn’t know it was that bad. I would recommend you try LinkedIn again. Instead of posting a job, just search for product/UX designers as a role. And from the results, reaching out to any person with experiences close to what u need. Even tho their experience don’t align you can still reach out. Cuz a designer would definitely know more other designers who can help you out. I would also recommend to check out dribbble, since u only needed UI, just check people’s visual work and contact them from there. It maybe more efficient. Hope that helps.
You'll probably also have more success doing outreach. Designers hang out on dribbble, behance, twitter and linkedin. Find a few promising profiles with real life work and contact them. Even if they're not available, they might refer you to one of their contact or post the gig on a design community.
You indeed got owned for your attempt #1. For this kind of projects, I'd do a quote based on the delivery and have a deadline fixed. And 2 weeks with no communication with the client sounds insane to me.
Platforms like upwork and Fiverr are the jungle. Some people had success on it, I stay away from them.
Also Craigslist gig section I found contract developers before for a project.
I'd contract several candiates from truelancer to do a small task each, then evaluate which is the best one and contract him/her again to work on a milestone.
How much is top money for you? Maybe that's where the problem is.