I had a logo & was contemplating a website but felt that while I can come up with something functional - it needed more.

Most designers locally charge between $1,000 to $5,000 for a website design and I ain't paying that!

I came across 'Design Outpost' and boy what a service!!!

designers across the world vie for your 'contract' and you pick a winner - you can see the process here and the designs that were submitted.

Design Outpost (http://www.designoutpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17121)

There are existing logo's & templates you can buy on an exclusive and non-exclusive basis (I picked up a great template for my acting website for $60!!!!)

I'll be submitting a brief for a business website next.

I really think this is a terrific service and exploits the benefits of the web to bring an affordable service to 'anywhere' - give them a try.

I'm sure DVinfo members will respect the copyright of these designs. It's too good a service to simply 'borrow' ideas from.

For webdesign, if you want something simple for free you can always use the StrangeBanana CSS generator. Just keep refreshing the page until you see something you like, then grab the html and css files.

StrangeBanana: Computer-generated webpage design (http://www.strangebanana.com/generator.aspx)

Wow. That Strange Banana really looks like you get what you pay for! Worth every penny.

Before we get too deep into saying that 1 - 5 Grand is too expensive to design a website, consider that a lot of people say the same thing about what we do in video.

"I can buy my own video camera for a whole lot less than that, and my computer came with video editing software... I can just do it myself! Or if I can't do that my uncle Ernie has a really nice camera. They're always asking him to do videos for the little league games..."

We know how much goes into producing quality videos, and reputable graphic designers know how much goes into proper design of a logo and/or website. Just like video, the proliferation of cameras, software, etc. has created a line of thinking that access to equipment is of the highest importance, and that anyone can be a graphic designer. This is simply not true. Owning a video camera no more makes me a professional videographer than owning a table saw makes me a professional carpenter. Tools are tools. Skill is skill.

If you choose to go with the budget solutions, expect the budget results!

We have a full-time graphic designer and a full-time web developer on staff. 60%-75% of our revenue is from web design. Frank is right. Occasionally we'll get a prospect that's not too picky and wants something cheap, so I'll send them to a place like Design Outpost. I guess it's better than saying "go away!" :)

Maybe I could find something like "Video Outpost" and go on a permanent vacation!