I'm actually a developer and I have to strongly disagree with this comment. The same gap exists (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/HighNotes.html) between good designers and mediocre. In my experience, great designers are far from a commodity. I also agree with the other poster who said "Think Google not Microsoft". That's great advice - with a little practice even a programmer can produce decent designs if they keep things simple and don't try to get fancy.

"with a little practice even a programmer can produce decent designs if they keep things simple and don't try to get fancy"

Yes given time a designer can program an entire software program by keeping things simple and not getting fancy. I'm a designer and have programmed a good deal, however like designs from my programmer, you'd laugh at what I've coded.

Agreed on all sides. The gap between decent and really good designers is huge and great designers are no more a commodity than great programmers. If the author can find a great designer to work with I'd strongly recommend he does. If not, and he's doing it himself, he needs to keep things simple if he's going to produce passable designs.

I'd disagree here.

While an average designer probably does make less than an average developer, often people are quick to assume design isn't important--and therefore not worth paying for.

Sure it's easy to throw a design together and make something look decent.

But to have a designer that understands color theory, spacing, typography, usability/accessability, being able to "lead your eye" along with many other important skills--you have to be willing to pay.

Just like you can get a programmer that can technically program--but has no experience, no understanding of design patterns and has barely heard of this SQL thing--but they can still program your site, and that's good enough for you.

I think it's a mistake to penny pinch when choosing a designer. It will come back to bite you in ways you don't expect.

Like causing confusion among customers, increasing your bounce rate and ultimately affecting sales.

I recently went through the process of finding a designer and had enormous success using freelance sites such as getafreelancer.com (not affiliated).

I received about 30/40 replies. While I only need 1 designer, I now have 4-7 quality designers that I can go to for quality work in the future.

The short answer: You get what you pay for. Just like in every other profession.

"often people are quick to assume design isn't important--and therefore not worth paying for"

Well that is not what I said.

So what do you pay your freelancer designers? I highly doubt they earn 100$ per hour?

What I meant is that if you can earn 100$ as a developer, you can afford to pay a designer for 50$. If I thought that design was worthless, I would have recommended do-it-yourself design.

Tichy, I never said you said that.

$100 is very reasonable for a quality designer--personally I find $75/hr to be a good rate for the type of work I'm looking for.

My whole post wasn't geared towards your comment--so I apologize if it came off that way.

Did not mean to imply this was your view.

My point was, many people assume design is the least important part of a web site.

This mind-set is flawed, because design is very important. Not the most important part--but still very important.

There is a reason some designers charge $25/hr and some charge $100/hr, and the $75 you save today may (or may not) cost you $1,000 tomorrow.

I admit I made it sound a bit too easy in my reply. For me the preferred way to would have a designer as a partner, because the designer should be involved in the whole evolutionary process of creating an application. With freelancers usually you give them some specifications and they deliver, but it is difficult to work in an evolutionary way.

I was lucky to find some affordable designers, but I am all for giving them their money's worth. I can't design at all, so I respect good designers for their work.

Design isn't exactly a commodity. I mean, look at this very thread.

No, but there are far more underemployed designers than programmers, so all but the absolute best design gets very much devalued. Ask a designer friend how long they spent as a perma-temp.