# How to Hire a Great Web Designer

> Markdown version of https://brajeshwar.com/2011/how-to-hire-a-great-web-designer/ — 2011-07-10

[Garry Tan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Tan), designer-in-residence for YCombinator, shares some insights on <a href="http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/how-to-hire-a-great-web-designer-with-y-combinators-garry-tan-jolie-odell">how to hire Great Web</a> Designers for your Startup/Company. 

> For startups on the Web, design is often a fundamental differentiator. It's important to have a design leader in the company as early as possible -- and he should be given say over schedules, deadlines and product strategy.

The one thing that really stood is how non-technical or non-designer managers should deal with designers. "There's a reason why people should be managed by people who have done the work before -- they have a clear way to evaluate talent and performance. My advice would be to ask a friend or colleague whom you trust to evaluate the output and determine if it comes to fairly qualitative measures of aesthetics, fitting your brand, etc."

So, even if you got a good designer and a talented one, the one interacting with him or her have not clue of the design trends or at-least a common sense of what's happening around the Internet, it will totally be counter-productive and harm the company brand and reputation.

The article is a good read -- <a href="http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/how-to-hire-a-great-web-designer-with-y-combinators-garry-tan-jolie-odell">How to Hire a Great Web Designer, With YCombinator's Garry Tan</a>. And if you're looking on enlisting at the directory of Designers mentioned in the article -- <a href="https://ycdesign.wufoo.com/forms/y-combinator-designer-directory/">Y Combinator Designer Directory</a>.