[uniquejosh]

I liked what you said. Yes, I want him to focus on UX 110%, and not worry too much on the money. But, the fair rate to him is too high to us. That is the struggle. I am sure we will find a fee we are both fine with. But, I just wish that I could pay him, or anyone in the team, the rate reflecting their value. That is it. :)

[billswift]

Find someone that may not be quite that good, but is ambitious and still learning, then help him grow into what you need.

[uniquejosh]

Yes, I think it is about the balance as well. A rising star needs to be able to product decent work already, and keen to learn more to become that super-star.

We had experience getting a young graduate, and it turned out that it took a lot of time to teach him some basic things. It did not work out at out at the end.

[jsavimbi]

I have to go with Bill here. A mistake I see often repeated by the inexperienced is that they think they need a designer on staff that will produce work for everything from branding and business cards to social media and UX development. You don't need to hire a seasoned UX pro and I give you this advice from the perspective of a seasoned UX pro.

You need branding and some design work done for your business needs and your application: hire an agency or a self-contained talented designer. They're out there, they may be expensive in the short-term, but if they create a well-documented, solid style guide, it will pay off in the future. After the contract is up and the work has been delivered, part ways and maybe continue to employ them sparingly as needed, but there's no reason to keep them on. What are they going to do when you run out of tasks for them? They'll leave.

The person you do need to hire is young, energetic developer who can build UX and is eager to learn. That means they can take a PS comp and a style guide and build the apps you need in HTML, CSS and Javascript with extensible production-level code. Want to know who to hire? Have them submit their github, stackexchange and rss feeds. Measure progress and ability levels and set their salary expectations accordingly. Most developers who are eager to learn will jump at the opportunity to work on a project that may teach them new skills. Just keep the work interesting enough and they'll be good to go.

Your UX prospect has design talent and can code? Then your screwed. There's so much work out there right now that if it comes down to salary, they can walk out at any minute.