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    • CommentAuthorskwp
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2006
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    The new social planning startup Planypus (http://planyp.us) is looking for a superstar web designer/coder and user experience guru who can design and implement highly usable and good looking designs in clean xhtml and css. You must be familiar with not only website design but interactive web applications and usability.

    We’re a small, agile, and passionate team that is changing the world of online event planning. We are looking for someone who is entrepreneurial and wants to take a combination of cash compensation and company equity and help turn Planypus into a huge success.

    You will work part-time, remotely, whenever you want. Excellent communication skills are an absolute must including being active on AIM/YIM/Skype. Your job will entail redesigning the current website as well as working very closely with us on new features and projects. You will have a great amount of input and creative control over new features. We believe strongly that user experience is the number one concern of our company and we want someone who can lead that effort.

    To apply for the job please submit a mockup redesign of our main plans page (to see what it looks like, create an account on Planypus and then click ‘make plans’ and fill out the form so you can see what it looks like when you have a list of plans). The redesign may clean things up in a subtle way or perhaps change things completely. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

    We look forward to working with you! Although this is a telecommuting job, we would prefer the candidate to live in the chicagoland area and be available for occasional in-person meetings.

    Planypus is launched and in public beta. We have gained about 500 new users in our first three weeks of going public and are currently in the process of attracting seed investment to fund marketing and sales efforts.

  1.  permalink
    To apply for the job please submit a mockup redesign of our main plans page (to see what it looks like, create an account on Planypus and then click ‘make plans’ and fill out the form so you can see what it looks like when you have a list of plans). The redesign may clean things up in a subtle way or perhaps change things completely. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

    Am I the only one uncomfortable with the prospect of registering for a site I've never heard of and then sending them a graphic design without a contract or prior communication? Great way to get a some new registered users and free ideas to retool your website though...
    • CommentAuthormihai
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2006
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    well.... no you're not.
    but... maby he'll send me a check before i send him the design... or even before i start thinking at it.
    • CommentAuthoralyero
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2006
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    Guys,

    Alex from Planypus here. No reason to panic. It would be completely stupid of us to solicit users in this manner. Also to view our main page you do not need to register. If you go on Planypus you can easily view the main page and do many other thins without registering.

    We are a very promising new website and want a designer that is quite excellent. We have worked with other designers before and always pay for the good work that they have done. That being said, however, we do need our designer to be imaginative, skilled, and very web knowledgeable. If you so chose you may keep rights to your mockup.

    Also, please remember that we are asking to see a mockup, this is very standard as we have nothing to judge you on. We are full of good ideas, however, we are looking for a person to implement them for us, and a person that will be open to a long term relationship with us. If this is not for you, we understand. We do hope that you guys will at least think about it.

    Cheers!
  2.  permalink
    Also, please remember that we are asking to see a mockup, this is very standard as we have nothing to judge you on.

    Designers regularly have something called a portfolio which display the range of their design skills. This is very often the basis of a decision about whether the designer is "imaginative, skilled, and very web knowledgeable". While I understand the impetus for asking designers to send in mockups, keep in mind that the designer will have difficulty implementing these good ideas that you're full of without first discussing them with you. I'm not trying to give you a hard time (okay, maybe a little), but in my experience, this isn't really standard practice.
    • CommentAuthorskwp
    • CommentTimeDec 7th 2006
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    The reason we made the job post the way we did, we don't want someone who can take our specs and implement them. We want someone who can think out of the box. For that reason I wrote a very open ended posting...look at our plans page, see what you like and don't like, and make it into what you will. Of course once we start the real project we will have a lot of communications about our ideas, and what we see as the vision, but we want someone who not only designs but also has vision and entrepreneurial spirit. Thanks!

    Of course portfolios are a good way to judge general level of talent, but you never know whether the person was following some very specific guidelines or how much thought influence they had on the project. We are looking for someone who wants to have a _lot_ of creative input into the project, not just be a freelancer for us, but a part of the team.
    • CommentAuthorekonym
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2006
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    The reason we made the job post the way we did, we don't want someone who can take our specs and implement them. We want someone who can think out of the box.


    You are the box?

    We are full of good ideas, however, we are looking for a person to implement them for us


    You just want your good ideas implemented, but not your specs? Do your ideas have specs? Or are they not in your box either?

    Enhance your education.
    • CommentAuthorPadwah
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2006
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    Personally I avoid any speculative based work such as this as, generally, it is a complete waste of time and a easy way for a company to get what they want for little or no money whilst wasting a number of peoples time on work that they won't get paid for (No Spec). If you're serious about your project then take a look at peoples portfolios and pay them for a mock-up if you like the look of their work.
    • CommentAuthordhayes
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2006
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    tip #2 .. you can learn a lot about a company by its hiring practices.
  3.  permalink
    Yeh!

    Last time I checked I didn't have stupid sign on my head.

    Good luck with find somebody creative with a little brain.

    Best, DS
    • CommentAuthorskwp
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2006
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    I'm not sure I deserved this hostility. It seems people are taking their personal frustration with not being paid out on our "hiring practices". Like I said we are not looking for a freelancer (who works on spec), but a partner (who works with us and helps create new features as the company grows, and has a personal stake in the company). We have recently found someone who is talented, and who was passionate enough about the project to do a mockup for a very low fee. We are now hiring him for the long term.

    There is a difference between being a freelance contractor and being an intimate part of a startup. Those of you who have ever been involved in a startup will realize it will take more than 'pay me for this' attitude to make it successful. Given that we are giving company stock options for this, the payment will end up being much greater than an hourly, if we make it big. Of course startups have a 1 in 10 success rate, so that is another reason why we need someone that believes in our idea and sees the potential in it. If you don't see the potential, hey we don't blame you, it's hard to pick winners when the success rates are low.

    Our team believes in our product to the extent that the five of us partners have been working part-time, *for free*, for the last 11 months, and all the money we have committed to this project is going to pay the designer. We have and continue to work for free because we believe in the success of the company. We work full time jobs and spend about 20 hours additional per week on this project, again for free. Do you have the same commitment? If not, then working in a startup is probably not for you. Sure there are bigger, funded 'startups' out there who will pay you a salary, but we are ground level meaning not only are the risks super high but so are the potential rewards, and we're all betting on them.

    Anyway I'm sorry if people are upset, but as I said this is not a freelancing gig and we are not paying by the hour. There are plenty of places that will do that, but we're not one of them. We had that hiring notice in a particular way to weed out people who are more interested in getting paid than in the project itself, and it worked. So thanks everyone!
    • CommentAuthorskwp
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2006
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    By the way if you've 'never heard of us' you can certainly google around and read some articles and reviews....
    • CommentAuthorekonym
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2006
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    Beggars who are choosers. Nice.
    • CommentAuthorskwp
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2006
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    @ekonym

    And why not? We can't afford _not_ to be choosers! If we aren't picky, then how can we deliver the best product that actually makes our company successful? The person we hired is getting a lot bigger chunk of the pie than if we had funding behind us, because then the VC's would have eaten up most of it. These are the big upsides and big downsides to working for a small self funded company...less money more equity, take it how you will..
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