Originally Posted by Johnny G

It has been my experience that you never give a designer free reign and expect to be 100% satisfied. It has to be a collaboration between designer and owner. I have ideas for my sites and no one knows my business as well as me. An outsider cannot just come in and put out materials that will blow the competition away. Consequently this collaboration always costs more as you may go through several meetings and drafts until you get what you want. You cannot expect award winning work when you are only paying a few dollars for their time.

Most of the designers I have worked with over the years are fully capable of extrordinary work, but you need to communicate your needs and wants and give them the time and money to develop something big. Originality does not get pulled from one's butt.