Where to find great designers?
jmtame: You should browse CSS top sites and try and look up the designers behind the sites.Are you open to remote work arrangements?  If you want to get in touch with me I'm happy to refer some guys I know who are really good.  Rates may be a bit high, but you tend to get what you pay for.  More than anything, I've found referrals of both programmers and designers to be the most effective route of finding talent.As for your other question about characteristics.  Check their portfolio first.  Just ask them what their whole belief on design is, and they should be able to go on and on about it.  If they start sounding like they wrote portions of Keeping It Real (37 signals), you have a winner.  Any smart designer knows design is never about making something pretty, it's always about creating something that any normal human being can use without any pain and minimal thinking involved.