If there's one thing that YC companies are always looking for, it's a designer.

If you're a designer, this is a pretty sweet opportunity to work with, or even join, a YC co.

In my experience you can get paid more (cash & equity) as a mediocre ruby programmer vs. a great designer.

Do designers get compensated better now that they are so important and scarce?

I'm a UI designer who works on web apps during the day and Mac/iOS apps at night, and, in my experience, designing APPS compared to designing WEBSITES makes you far more marketable. And you make a ton more money. I don't do much iOS UI work nowadays (I work on my own projects) but my rate of $150/hr was comparable with my friends who do app UI work. Compare that to web design hourly rates and there's really no comparison.

I think the bottom line is if you can tie your work to the actual bottom line of the company (more people signing up and buying the app) compared to just building marketing websites, you're always better off. The key is making sure the higher ups at the company know how big of an impact you make as a designer so they see you as a money-making asset rather than just another sunk salary cost.

Do you actually do the UI programming for the apps, or is it Photoshop comps?

I do UI engineering as well. Wireframes/UX diagrams -> high-fidelity mockups -> full implementation of the UI (Cocoa/Obj-C or HTML/CSS/JS). It's nice to do both ends as I can think about implementation as I design and start thinking about where hiccups might occur.

You should charge more. iPhone devs that can't design charge $150

DISCLAIMER: I'm a both UI Designer and rubyist

I remember when I would ask for $50/hour for design work, people would without hesitation go for it, some startups even asked why I charge so low....eh, I didn't know better. While I don't have much experience with rails consulting, from what I've heard, people who can do both rails and ui design can EASILY go for $100/hour. Then again, I have a friend who just landed an ~$80/hour work doing some simple joomla/php work. To be honest, it sorta made more sense to me(even though I'm both a designer and rubyist) that designers made more. My belief is that it's more common for designers to be much more unique than a rubyist.

What do I mean? My theory is that it's easier to become another kick-ass designer who has a lot of people digging his work than it is to become a "popular" rubyist(I'd consider the guy who created will_paginate to be popular in the ruby world).

Am I the only one thinking in this way? ... it might sound a little ridiculous to some people. :)

I know designers in NYC who make a lot of money, but they have to work freelance and hustle. On the other hand, I'm just an average Ruby programmer and have been through total softball phone interviews ("what is M-V-C?") where companies wanted to hire me for $120,000 + options.

I guess I'm more wondering if companies are really paying designers 6 figs + equity for salaried positions. Or if it's really early stage startup, if the design salaries achieve parity with the programmer salaries.

If you're skilled at solving a customers problem, $100/hr is far underselling yourself. For a skilled (very rare) designer who can solve a customers problem $300-500/hr is perfectly acceptable.

Mind you the vast majority of "designers" out there are artistés designing whatever trendy bubblegum is fashionable this minute rather than solve a customers real problems.

The vast majority of "design jobs" out there are from marketing types wanting whatever trendy bubblegum is fashionable this minute rather than solving customers' real problems.

Im sorry...but I, being a designer who has done both consulting and full-time work and 'likes to think' he tries to solve the customer's problem first and foremost, find this rate of $300-500/hr extremely high. Has anyone else heard of numbers like this being made, be that full-time or consulting?

move upmarket. A small dotcom may now be able to pay $300/hr but when you're setting up an independently regulated financial utopia (See the independent finance centre of the americas) a few shekels for design is nothing.

I have no doubt sites like national geographics website cost over a million. Just like a good iphone app costs $200K+ good design costs, and is exceedingly rare.

example: winkreative

I am up around there, so it is possible

That's probably charging by the project, not by the hour. The /hr is an effective rate.

Yeah I think it's usually easier to point someone to a visual portfolio of your work (as a designer) than it is to link to projects you've worked on (as a developer). Definitely seems harder to get noticed for being an awesome developer, but designers can easily show off.

I've found it's hit or miss. You really need to love what you do and jump on the teams that value you.

this is pretty much true for web startups in general

Will the results/directory be made generally available?

I'm a iOS developer with a UX fetish. I'm not directly interested in regular contracting work, however I'm thinking of attending Google I/O and WWDC this year (may-june) and would love to experience a YC startup from the inside. My startup history consists of creating a sms compression app for "dumbphone" devices back in j2me times (german news:http://goo.gl/fEkdr, http://goo.gl/PmgIc) and a lingerie business in Malaysia (http://d.pr/nF3a). In both, I did all the graphics & UI work. You can find my portfolio at http://mocava.de

If anyone would be interested in sponsoring my trip, I'd be happy to work for free for my time of stay.

Ah I was hoping it was a new startup doing some sort of designer browser. I could use something that made it easy to browse portfolios using design style as a filter (and some sort of "more like this")

I think Dribbble and Forrst have become defacto versions of that.

A designer directory, is that not a little old hat for a progressive company like YC?

I thought with the demise of dmoz et al, directories were proven to be an promblematic way to find and sort things.

I'm not saying dribbble.com is the answer to your issue but considering thousands of designers already use it, you can see their work, and there is some elements of social proof (likes, views and comments) it should be a better way to find designers rather than starting from scratch with a new directory.

Nice! Is there a form for developers to apply?

I'm confused about the HTML, CSS, JavaScript part. Are those supposed to be complementary skills to a designer (in this form)? What about someone who's a bit better at those skills rather than the actual design?

I wonder why this doesn't ask for your HN account name. Nevertheless, filled this in. I'm available as ID/front-end dev on contract basis :)

As a not-designer, what tools are you using to do iOS/Android APP UI design?

Forgive my ignorance - but is it photoshop skinning?

Let's face it, designers are helpers. That's why YC wants to provide them to the startup they believe in. Sometimes there are diamonds hidden behind poor graphic designs. They know that.

The bad news is that it is not exactly "cheap".

Question: is there such a thing as a "no distraction design", ie a graphic design that exposes the true value of the technology, ie a design that is the contrary of a great makeup on an ugly face?

Such a thing would help figure out what deserves attention, from a technological point of view.

Another benefit, given that developers are sometimes poor at graphic design, it would also "remove" some ugly makeup from nice looking face...

"Here is my secret. It is very simple: one sees well only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes." -- Antoine de Saint Exupéry

"The essential is invisible to the eyes."

This applies for design as well. I think you should read a little more about what design is before you go around saying a designer is a pair of hands who knows photoshop.