The idea
What it is
The problem
A founder needs a motion designer for a launch in 3 weeks. They open 12 portfolios. Every one shows finished work from last year.
None says whether the person is free this month or whether they still do motion at all. They email all 12 and wait. Half the replies say booked, or sorry, moved on to brand work.
The product
A designer adds a /now page to their own site and submits the URL. The gallery shows their current project, the work they want next and when they are free. A founder filters by current focus, like motion, and contacts the 3 who match.
Three things set it apart from a portfolio site.
- Current focus first: each card leads with the /now line, not the portfolio
- A recently updated section, so pages updated this week rise above ones from months ago
- Designers keep their own site and the gallery just links to it
The weekend version: a form that takes a /now URL and a page that lists the first 20.
Who pays
- Buyer
- A founder or agency lead with a project starting this month who is choosing between designers they have never worked with.
- Price
- Starting point: $49 a month for saved filters and an alert when a matching designer updates, a third of Groups Watcher's $149 a month for lead alerts.
- Also pays
- Designers, for a $29 featured spot at the top of a focus filter.
Why now
The /now page is already a real habit. Derek Sivers' nownownow.com lists personal sites that keep one.
A designer joins this gallery by adding one page to a site they already have. The gallery has content before it has a paying user.
How to validate it
- Ask 50 designers with personal sites whether they would add a /now page to be listed. Pass: 10 or more /now pages go live within 2 weeks.
- Publish the first 20 as a gallery and post it to Designer Hangout and r/web_design. Pass: 5 or more founders or agencies message you about a specific kind of designer.
- Ask 5 founders or agency leads about their last design hire. Pass: 3 or more contacted someone who turned out to be booked or no longer doing that work.
- Give 3 designers a paid featured slot for 2 weeks and compare their profile views with the top 3 unpaid listings. Pass: the featured profiles get 20% more views or more.
- Send 10 agency design leads 3 sample profiles and the $49 alert price. Pass: 4 or more say they would pay it.
Examples like this
Fantastic PortfoliosCareer Turns a resume into a personal site, the kind of page this gallery would list 
A1Design A curated gallery of website designs with filters by industry and style 
LogosystemDesign A design gallery that credits and links every original creator, as this one links each designer 
Ecommerce DesignDesign A gallery of 4,000+ store designs that also lists design services for hire Tools to build it
DirectifyFeaturedno code Builds the gallery with submissions, filters and paid featured listings Visit 
