A few years ago we launched the 37signals Job Board to answer a question we heard all the time: “Do you know where we can find a programmer or a designer? We need to hire one but we don’t know where to find one.” Since then, over 5,700 jobs have been posted, and many positions have been filled.
Another question we hear a lot
So there’s another question we’ve been hearing a lot: “Can you recommend a web designer to help us with a project?” or “Do you know any good web design firms in Chicago? Or New York? Or Denver?” Now we’ll have an answer to that question as well: Haystack.
Here comes Haystack
Today we’re launching Haystack. Haystack is a site where web designers (firms and freelancers) can answer the three basic questions a client typically asks at the beginning of a search:
- What does your work look like?
- Where are you located?
- What’s your typical budget range?
This is what clients want to know. Haystack lays it all out for them. Browsing on Haystack is like browsing dozens of web designers sites, but browsing them all on the same page. It makes finding the right web designer significantly easier than the old fashioned way (finding and browsing dozens of different designer’s sites). Clients can favorite firms they like and review them all on one page (that’s nicely printable and sharable, too).
What’s it look like to clients?
Here’s what Haystack looks like to a client who’s browsing to find a web design firm. They can filter by city and typical budget range. They’ll see pictures of matching designer’s work so they can hone in visually:
What’s it look like to designers?
Adding yourself or your company to Haystack is a quick two step process. You upload a picture that best represents your work, you choose the major city that’s closest to you, and you select your typical budget range. We then create a Haystack listing card for your company. The card is created as you’re filling out the form so you can see exactly how it’s going to look.
Your card is then added to the mix so clients can spot it as they browse the site. Everyone who is listed also gets a dedicated page where they can describe their company in more detail and display their work at full size.
Does it cost anything to be listed on Haystack?
Nope. Any web designer can list themselves or their company for free. Free listings include one image, and a small Haystack listing card.
We also offer a Pro listing for $99/month. The Pro listing includes room for a 6-image slideshow, your logo, and a listing card that is four times as large as the free listing. Pro listings also appear above free listings.
How will we be promoting Haystack?
We’ll be promoting Haystack through a variety of web-based ads, targeted local advertising (“Looking for a web designer in Boston?”), links on blogs, mentions in newsletters, and promotion to the 37signals customer base (which is made primarily of small/medium businesses). We’ll be bringing the traffic so you’ll be getting the exposure. All for far less than it would cost you to reach the same number of people.
If you’re a web designer, get listed today!
Get listed on Haystack today! We hope Haystack helps you land great clients. And if you’re a client, we hope Haystack helps you land a great web design firm.
Clay S
on 21 Oct 09Love it! We’re signing up right away.
Jay Owen
on 21 Oct 09Very exciting. Congrats on the launch!
Eoghan McCabe
on 21 Oct 09Congrats!
Scott deVries
on 21 Oct 09Probably the first reputable one of it’s kind. Countless others require a fee.
Eddie Cianci
on 21 Oct 09As a matter of fact, we are looking for a web designer in Boston. ;)
This sounds like a greay service.
Erez Ben Shoham
on 21 Oct 09Good Luck! Looks Greate
Scott deVries
on 21 Oct 09Forgot to say that it looks great!
Esteban Utz
on 21 Oct 09Congrats! I love the logo!
Martin Edic
on 21 Oct 09I think this is a great idea but I’d like to make a suggestion. I’m a writer who specializes in web copy which is a very specific discipline. I also do architecture for usability- though I am not a designer/coder. I see many attractive sites that fall apart because the writing is not web friendly or communicate poorly. How about adding a place where writers can post their online work in tandem with designer/developers? The two really need to work hand in hand and most designers are not great writers (just as my design skills are limited).
Martin Edic
on 21 Oct 09I think this is a great idea but I’d like to make a suggestion. I’m a writer who specializes in web copy which is a very specific discipline. I also do architecture for usability- though I am not a designer/coder. I see many attractive sites that fall apart because the writing is not web friendly or communicates poorly. How about adding a place where writers can post their online work in tandem with designer/developers? The two really need to work hand in hand and most designers are not great writers (just as my design skills are limited).
JF
on 21 Oct 09Martin: We have some plans for that down the road. Wanted to first start out with web design.
Martin Edic
on 21 Oct 09Oops I sent a form twice- sorry!
Mathias
on 21 Oct 09Looks great, but will this be international in the future?
Adam Perlow
on 21 Oct 09Great idea. I am one of those people that emailed you asking for a recommendation on a web design firm. Had Haystack existed 2 years ago, I would have saved days of work scouring the web for design firms that jived with my design sensibilities.
Great domain name too. Care to divulge how much you spent on the domain?
Andy Kant
on 21 Oct 09Looks like a great resource, I would love to see it expanded to include the other disciplines that are on the job board (engineers?).
Joe
on 21 Oct 09This is cool. This would work great for pizza, too.
Jeff Mackey
on 21 Oct 09Great example of you guys giving back and contributing to helping everyone succeed. Thank You. Site looks great!
Anonymous Coward
on 21 Oct 09yo
Anonymous Coward
on 21 Oct 09lol..this shit has no validation :P
bakeshow
on 21 Oct 09stands up and claps
Jeff Koke
on 21 Oct 09Well done. Sign-up was easy and the listings look great. Not sure if I would pony up the $99 for a pro account, but I don’t fault you guys for trying to earn a buck.
Sam
on 21 Oct 09Congratulations on launch. I’m always impressed with the execution of your products. You found a need, it fits your company, and you went for it.
I’m curious how you went about choosing the Haystack brand and the haystack.com domain. Which came first? I assume you had to go and purchase it from the previous owner. Any tips for people who are thinking of starting up an idea, have a good idea for a brand name, but the domain is taken (but not used)?
Doug
on 21 Oct 09I don’t see it mentioned, but why the choice to only charge designers for their spots, and not the companies looking to already pay a designer to do the work? I’m sure designers would like additional work, but in the case of the companies it’s not really a would-be-nice to get a designer, it’s likely necessary.
Stack Overflow (stackoverflow.com) recently launched a careers area that charges both parties, but charges potential companies more than those looking for gigs.
Great to see the new product all the same.
JF
on 21 Oct 09Sam: We picked the Haystack name first and then we purchased the domain from the previous owners. We were going to go with a different domain, but in the end we were able to make a deal that worked out well for everyone.
Quinn Weaver
on 21 Oct 09Awesome. I’m so glad you saw this need and jumped on it.
Seconding Martin, I think it would be useful to have some way of hooking up designers with developers. I’m a back-end and JS developer, but I’m not an artist, and I often find myself wanting to partner with a real graphic designer.
Luigi Montanez
on 21 Oct 09How do you plan to make money off of this? Completely through the $99 pro accounts? There seems to be a finite market for that.
Jon Reese
on 21 Oct 09Excellent work, guys! What entrepreneurs, I love it.
JF
on 21 Oct 09How do you plan to make money off of this? Completely through the $99 pro accounts? There seems to be a finite market for that.
At this time that is our own pay option, yes.
Jeff Koke
on 21 Oct 09Wow. Launched already. You must have gotten an amazing number of signups pretty quickly.
Please, please add Austin to your list of cities. I was buried under the “Other cities” mishmash and finally decided to choose Dallas so as not to get lost in the noise.
Jay Owen
on 21 Oct 09The “other city” option is an interesting situation.
The question is… should we list our home city: Jacksonville, Florida (which we do now). Or select Miami or Atlanta which would be the next closest major cities listed?
As with many web design companies, we work with clients all over the country, so the actual location is not as important except for those who really want someone near them.
The obvious concern with the “other city” option is that there will be 10 times as many listings and you will get more lost in the noise than you might in an actual city selector.
Should be interesting to see how it pans out. We just setup our page here: http://haystack.com/company/21-design-extensions
JF
on 21 Oct 09Yup, we need to get working on making “Other cities” a lot more usable. Definitely. We’re on it.
Joe
on 21 Oct 09You need a way for a user to flag a profile as fake: http://haystack.com/company/154-me
Also, once you’ve clicked on a profile and then go “Back to Listings” it’s not easy to get back to where you were in the list. You have to keep scrolling down and waiting while the listings load row by row.
I guess that’s the kinda thing you only notice once you have 1000 listings. :)
Pretty cool though!
Jay Owen
on 21 Oct 09I think the “Other cities” thing is a great example of “let’s launch it, see what happens and adjust on the fly.”
I love that.
JF
on 21 Oct 09Jay: Very much so. We’re quick learners so we’ll fix that up soon.
Teddy
on 21 Oct 09Isn’t this inherently flawed?
By only allowing a web designer to upload just 1, or 6, images of their portfolio implies that web designer have a style to design in that all of their designs will look like one of those 1-6 images.
Great web designers don’t have a style. They can create drastically different designs to accommodate the needs of the customer.
Take Jason Santa Maria’s Portfolio as an example.
None of the designs in his portfolio for past clients look like they have any type of common style. You could even goes as far as to say that they look like they were all designed by a different person.
But the one common element between all of his designs in his Portfolio is that they are extremely well done and clean.
Allowing a user to only upload 1-6 images in Haystack fundamentally limits what a designer can showcase … which them implies he has a style.
Wilson
on 21 Oct 09I believe interactive designer brings a wide range of skills and talents and provide many kinds of services. Now it looks like everyone is represent in a thumbnail with a price.
It’s like using a escort search for your future soul mate. I can empathize with the need, can’t say I agree with the approach.
Teddy
on 21 Oct 09Holy crap. I just tried to sign up. The web site is so visually busy my eyeballs were about to explode.
This definitely must have been designed by one of the new guys. It does not at all feel like the site was designed by 37signals.
JF
on 21 Oct 09Teddy: Be creative. You have up to six opportunities to represent yourself. Show different styles. Zoom in on some key UI elements that show your attention to detail. Show type treatments. Maybe just fill a slide with a quote or an idea that best represents you.
Be creative. Show people how you can stand out – with visuals, with ideas, with details. That’s why you want people to hire you, right?
Anonymous Coward
on 21 Oct 09Can you make the uploads linkable so I can visit the actual sites they have designed? At the moment I have to either copy and paste a url or google to see it.
juliendsv
on 21 Oct 09Not sure about this app, http://collabfinder.com/ has quiet the same idea, with a part dedicated for the developers. And everything is free. Also I don’t retrieve the design style of a 37signals product… I may be need more time…
Sarah
on 21 Oct 09As a potential buyer – why would I use this over design crowdsourcing at such sites like 99designs.com, etc.
At those type of sites, as a buyer – the designer actually creates the work product before I even buy and then I select the winning design concept.
ML
on 21 Oct 09@Wilson: This site isn’t suggesting that you should hire a designer based SOLELY on a thumbnail and price range. But let’s face it, that’s a pretty good way to narrow the search. You can then follow up by visiting the designer’s web site or contacting them to discuss/see more. Or to use your analogy, consider it more like an online dating site that lets you filter by location, age, etc. and then you can go out on a date and see if there’s any real chemistry there.
Joshua Blankenship
on 21 Oct 09Huge time saver for potential clients (or Creative Directors) looking for talent. Minimal amount of clicking and browsing, forcing designers to put their best foot forward. Love the concept.
The execution is solid, too, though the URLs aren’t pretty (what is that number? When they signed up on Haystack? Who cares?) and the location copy is limiting. I’m headquartered near Atlanta, not in Atlanta.
Otherwise, I’m happy to be onboard, and I thank you for another way to help me find the right clients.
Lukas
on 21 Oct 09It seems overall the goal is good. Congratulations on the launch.
Although I also have to agree with some of Teddy’s points. When presenting design to a client that client has to understand what they are paying for. Showcasing simple images and a price tag doesn’t sell design or someone’s design abilities. It sells a style or image presented by that designer in that image.
If the website was full of videos where the designers can present themselves in a 2-3 min video, then I would agree. As then the designer can create a worthy presentation of his company and his/her knowledge of design in that time frame.
It also seems somewhat odd to see price ranges without any description of what type of web design services are provided for that price. The price for web design can range from 5k – 100k or even more depending on the scope of the project.
How about adding a sub category: “I want to design a:” | Personal Website | Marketing Website | Web based Application | etc…
This way at least the prices are relevant to what is being presented.
Overall I think this has a chance of turning into something viable. Good work.
JF
on 21 Oct 09Joshua:
Thanks.
The URL is that way so if you change your company name (it happens), your old URL doesn’t break. Everything after the number is just there for readability. The number doesn’t change if the company name changes.
Re: location… We’re working on that. What you see is definitely version 1. But I would suggest picking the closest major city for now.
JF
on 21 Oct 09If the website was full of videos where the designers can present themselves in a 2-3 min video, then I would agree. As then the designer can create a worthy presentation of his company and his/her knowledge of design in that time frame.
We plan on allowing people to embed videos in the description section on their company page. Just don’t have that working for v1.
Lots more ideas too, just version 1.
Nicole
on 21 Oct 09Where was this two weeks ago? In a quick jog through the site, I found a local designer that I didn’t find in any of my massive, time-consuming searches for local web design talent.
Now, how about adding Denver to the cities list?
Jérémy
on 21 Oct 09@Sarah: Because throwing a brief and working with someone are two different things?
markd
on 21 Oct 09I noticed the email links appear to be regular exposed “mailto:” links. Isn’t it best to encrypt those, or use a contact form ? Lookin’ good though. I have a similar project, and you’ve got me a bit worried :)
Ivan Stegic
on 22 Oct 09Listed, done.
Great idea, looks like the execution is solid and polished. Thanks for doing this, good luck on it being a great success.
Mark
on 22 Oct 09It’s nice to see a company practice what they preach. Get the site out there, get feedback, and then make changes.
Looks good! I look forward to seeing how it evolves.
roobu
on 22 Oct 09Good launch as usual. However, currently not as game-changing yet as your other products. Maybe it’s the lets-build-as-we-grow strategy. But i’m sure given your visibility this service will gain traction in no time.
Steve Pilon
on 22 Oct 09Well done, gents. I look forward to watching this one grow.
charly
on 22 Oct 09All the best, looks great.
Is it worth it?
on 22 Oct 09$99/mo for a paid version…when Krop creative database is $9.99/mo?
Wonder what the traffic will begin to look like for both of the sites. Is this worth 10x the cost?
Kahlil Lechelt
on 22 Oct 09Outstanding. As always very well thought out. I like the limit of 1 to 6 slides. I love how you guys approach building web apps. The product is simple and clean but within it lies incredible power and it is a joy to use them. I am going to tell my web designer friends about this. I was a little shocked about the 99 $ per month at first. But thinking about it, it makes sense, first of all anybody who pays that will take this serious and put up a well thought out and high quality portfolio and second of all the exposure you give could turn out to be pretty awesome for a good designer. I am definitely interested in how that concept will play out. Gotta go bookmark the site, bye.
Chris Comella
on 22 Oct 09$99 per month…. shameless :)
Emanuel
on 22 Oct 09Nice and simple, but maybe too simple. Why is there’s no search option on the site?
Ben
on 22 Oct 09You are web application artists.
Mark
on 22 Oct 09If people will pay $99 for this service then I see that being a huge win for 37Signals. If they have to lower the price, then they get kudos from the community for lowering prices.
I see this being better then charging to little for a service and having to raise prices. That would create backlash from the community and hurt the reputation of 37Signals.
Well played 37Signals.
Rahul
on 22 Oct 09I’m just disappointed the logo isn’t a snow globe full of hay.
Why the exception? Will Haystack not appear in the list of products/services on the 37signals homepage?
Scott
on 22 Oct 09Like the automatic pagination,
Hover this makes it impossible to read / click any content that appears on the footer.
Christian Wach
on 22 Oct 09Gah, I’ve been after that domain for years :(
Jeppe
on 22 Oct 09Jason: Great initiative. I’d love to see this showcase site evolve.
What’s the purpose of the price range indicator, though? I don’t get that. Under $3,000 for what? Over $50,000 for what? Is this really useful in anyway?
I would argue that $10,000-$25,000 is a weak indicator that solely creates unrealistic expectations.
I hope it works out well for you.
Jeff Mackey
on 22 Oct 09Looking at this again… (still like it), and glad to hear that the location ‘issue’ is being addressed, although initially I can see this was not going to stop you guys getting it out the door.
How are the paid/free listings being displayed? Randomly on refresh, or statically as companies submit their listing? Obviously paid are on top, but just curious, since the ‘forever scroll’ feature keeps refreshing the page. Also it was mentioned before that when you click into a listing, and then go back it doesn’t keep your place in the scroll. Sort of confusing.
One thing is for sure, this can make a business realize there are a lot of fish in the sea of competition, but on the positive side there is a lot of opportunity. Hell you could even use this for SWOT analysis. Care to implement a RSS feed for each of the cities?
David Hund
on 22 Oct 09Great initiative: nice & simple.
I’m wondering though, will this be solely US-based or can European webdesigners sign up too?
bochgoch
on 22 Oct 09Interesting, BUT the US city selection ‘method’ of selecting by locality is all but useless for anyone in an OTHER city … it’s a big world…
Brade
on 22 Oct 09An excerpt from early in this post:
”... Now we’ll have an answer to that question as well: Haystack.
Here comes Haystack
Today we’re launching Haystack. Haystack is a site where…”
What was the name of your product again?
JF
on 22 Oct 09How are the paid/free listings being displayed? Randomly on refresh, or statically as companies submit their listing? Obviously paid are on top, but just curious, since the ‘forever scroll’ feature keeps refreshing the page.
Paid first, free second. Everything is randomized though. No pay has any advantage over another pay. No free has any advantage over another free.
Also it was mentioned before that when you click into a listing, and then go back it doesn’t keep your place in the scroll. Sort of confusing.
Yup, we’ve gotta do a better job there.
Martin
on 22 Oct 09Nice one guys!
Just a heads-up: the header (with the Haystack logo) has a portion of it cut off the top in IE8 on my machine, but looks fine in FF.
Christian Newton
on 22 Oct 09A needed initiative. Thanks for addressing it.
I hope you consider adding a category (or perhaps an attribute) for developers—or teams that emphasize development. Sometimes I’m running projects that need not design but engineering.
lakshmanan
on 22 Oct 09I tel straight what i feel about Haystack, its just a big daddy of already existing 37signals job board.
Nothing impressive in it
Lucian S.
on 22 Oct 09Believe it or not I wanted to create something similar a while back. You guys beat me to it. Great job though!
A good idea would be to allow designers to tag themselves based on the services they provide – i.e. print, interactive, etc. With potentially thousands of entries in the database this would make searching more specific too.
I would also suggest specifying the number of years in business, or experience, as I think it’s an important aspect as well. Future features could also include the ability for endorsements from previous clients, again an important aspect from a potential client’s perspective. Such a system could potentially be used to in determining the order of the listings, instead of displaying them randomly as you do now.
Keep up the good work!
JF
on 22 Oct 09A good idea would be to allow designers to tag themselves based on the services they provide – i.e. print, interactive, etc. With potentially thousands of entries in the database this would make searching more specific too.
We agree and we’ll likely be tackling this in time. What you see today is v1. Just the basics.
Les Reynolds
on 22 Oct 09Looks great! Would it work to adjust the monthly pricing based on the price range you work in. Not sure if that is an idea you’ve considered.
JF
on 22 Oct 09Les: We think variable pricing is a confusing concept. We think a single price point is the way to go for now.
Jon Morgan
on 22 Oct 09Hi,
Nice app, but why is i restricted to america only? Are there any plans to make it global?
Scott
Dan Boland
on 22 Oct 09A great idea that’s well executed. I really like that it remembers what city and budget you chose when you return to the site.
The one extremely minor suggestion I would have is this—make the entire footer fixed like the “Back to the top” link. Because more profiles are loaded once you reach the bottom of the screen, if one were to try to click the contact link in the current footer, it could end up being like chasing a rabbit down the hole. Know what I mean?
Anyway, great job, great design.
Anon
on 22 Oct 09No love for Canada. I thought we were neighbors. At least listing 4 main cities. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary
DHH
on 22 Oct 09We are changing the city setup so that this will be global. You can enter whatever city you’ll like. The top city determined by number of firms will bubble to the top.
Matthew Moore
on 23 Oct 09I love it! Good way to approach a problem and find an innovative, minimalist solution.
Now I’m just waiting for my first contact through it :)
jean-Pierre Bobbaers
on 23 Oct 09This new service was inspired on the many questions you 37s got like: “Can you recommend?”
This service doesn’t answer that question. People ask a recommendation (not a long list) from a trusted source (in this case 37signals).
I don’t see the difference or added value between googling “web design firm chicago”?
I was expecting something more innovative from 37s…
Anonymous Coward
on 23 Oct 09I don’t see the difference or added value between googling “web design firm chicago”?
You don’t see a difference between:
Web design firm Chicago
and
Haystack Chicago
Honestly? You don’t see a difference?
markd
on 23 Oct 09oops… might have been wrong about that “mailto” post above. My bad. Carry on!
Jean-Pierre Bobbaers
on 23 Oct 09@Anonymous Coward: Your point is clear.
My point is obviously not clear: I am referring to the fundamental problem that clients have to choose out of a long, long, long list. That’s why they ask a notorious source such as 37s for a shortlist.
Neither Google or Heystack solves this need.
I one way or another I would have liked to see an innovative approach to solve this, as Amazon did first with reviews of books over ten years ago.
But adapted of course to web design firms.
Hope it is clear now ;-)
TJ Lee
on 23 Oct 09I liked the “Back to top” button which pop out as I scroll the page vertically. I was thinking of this problem and you just gave a great idea for it.
JamesT
on 23 Oct 09One feature I think would be very helpful and also give people an incentive to purchase the “Pro” plan is to allow the free accounts to see how many times there profile has been clicked and viewed. Then for the “Pro” accounts it would be nice to see that as well along with what geographical area the visitor was located.
Kyle Maxwell
on 23 Oct 09Big fan of the infinite scroll!
JF
on 23 Oct 09FYI, just launched an All Cities page so it’s easier to find all the cities that aren’t listed in the main city pulldown.
Domain Names?
on 23 Oct 09Why spend the effort/money to secure a domain name all of a sudden? Historically you guys just add “hq” or “now” or “it” after your URLs. Why did you decide to sweat it as opposed to getting creative?
Matt
on 23 Oct 09Because they’ve got the money now – buying a name like that is pocket change to these guys.
Installero
on 23 Oct 09We have something like this in Russia: http://ziik.ru/
Melvin Ram
on 23 Oct 09The site doesn’t function with javascript turned off. This means the SEO value is much less. At some point, you might consider progressive enhancement versus javascript dependent. Regardless, kudos for launching.
Jamie, Baymard Institute
on 23 Oct 09Interesting.. interesting..
@37signals The two fields on the login-page doesn’t have equal width. Also, you may want to turn the “Remember me on this computer” text into a label so you can select/deselect the checkbox by clicking on it..
Alexander
on 24 Oct 09Just what the web design profession needs: Another job-board that treats designers like commodities instead of experts and exacerbates clients’ unrealistic expectations. Haystack reduces our varied expertise to a couple of screen shots and a price-tag.
Web design is a complicated process that shouldn’t be portrayed as simple for the benefit of 37signals at the expense of both clients and web designers.
Haystack does not present an original solution to the problem of hiring quality web designers.
I never thought I would associate 37signals with websites like 99designs.
Shai
on 24 Oct 09Love it.
Awesome site and for a v1 is already valuable! I appreciate the hard work and the new perspective in the presentation. Can’t wait to see what the updates bring.
A suggestion I haven’t seen yet – allow the page width to dictate how many columns you have. Would look great full-screen on a new 27” iMac. :)
MIchal
on 24 Oct 09Great idea!
Bryan Sebastian
on 24 Oct 09@Alexander…
Comparing Haystack to 99designs, (or CrowdSpring or Elance for that matter) is like comparing apples to oranges. It is not a job board nor is it crowd sourcing.
It is a way to get allot of eyeballs to see a glimpse of your work and then (hopefully) click on a link to your website. It is up to you to then have a kick ass website to get someone to then want to contact you. It is simply an opportunity for your work to be seen more.
Jesus A. Domingo
on 25 Oct 09Really great application! Only thing about the site that I had trouble with was getting a pin down on seeing the footer. The content kept loading whenever you’ve reached the bottom (continuous page approach you’re using) making it not possible or at least very difficult to read the footer and hence see the support email address.
Reed Botwright
on 26 Oct 09This is pure genius! Consider us signed up. And based on 37’s track record, we look forward to seeing how their system evolves and adapts to lots of users and eyeballs.
Jim Gay
on 27 Oct 09Nice work, but why is there a footer if it can never be read? That’s frustrating.
This discussion is closed.