Young entrepreneur wondering about ID

Hi there!

Thanks for reading – I’ve been on Core77 for awhile, but have only recently been browsing the discussion forums. I love, love, love, industrial design, but unlike most of you – I’m not blessed with the artsy gene. I’m in the idea-stages of starting up a sneaker accessory brand, and I really want to incorporate great design or ID elements to it, but unless you have loads of money it’s extremely difficult to find great designers.

I’m sure there are a bunch of sites or ways to reach out to great designers like yourselves (without spamming Core77 forums! :smiley:), are there any that you could recommend to me? Or any ways to go about finding great free-lance designers?

And finally, since I’m new to all of this and have never commissioned a designer before, what are some questions that I should be asking to make sure they’re legitimate and that I get good work?

Thanks a lot!

ting,

This is more of a general design or even design employment question so you might be better off asking it in the main forums.

That being said the best way to find a good designer is look at their previous work, make sure they did the work 100% (often people pass off work as their own but only had minor input as a team), get a feel for their personality and their interests (this will define if they will be fun to work with and if they suit the style of the project) and if you have no money, hopefully your idea will be strong enough to entice the designer to work with you for a percentage of the company or a future share of the revenues… you might have to get a lawyer involved to get all that nailed down so there is no ambiguity.

Good luck with it!

Thanks loafer!
I just posted it in the employment section!
Yay, Toronto (which is where I’m based too!)

Ting