Not sure if it was mentioned before, but I just read this very interesting post on another person's nightmare finding the right custom designer. The poster ended up with vBmechanic.com and seemed to be happy with its services.

LOL...that is my post. I already posted something to the effect on this thread already. But I hope others can learn from my experience.

I think vBulletin works very well with flash. I am getting Macromedia Studio with Flash MX Professional 2004 for..... wait for it..... ?150! Because I'm a student! :D

Hi,
Just notice this post,
I'm one of the admin of www.vbstyles.com (vbulletinstyles)
We do offer custom design service and much more.
portfolio can be showed on request also all of our skins reflect our work.
We specialize in flash work our latest project: www.area101.com.au

Back to the topic vbDesinger are still around just choose carefully and make sure to view a legal contract before you send any money.

Take care

Mone'

If you have not read the first post of this thread, I suggest doing so.

I remember reading this thread when it was first posted last year. I was astounded, but nonetheless amazed how few vBulletin designers there were. I decided to check up on how the vBulletin designers that he posted were doing now. I highlighted the dead ones to make it visually easier, and made updated comments.

www.vbdesigns.de - Still lacking a professional touch.
www.directpixel.com - What do you know? They are closed down until "january 2005". The message is still up. Doesn't look to hopeful for them.
www.vbpanel.com - No server even exists that hosts that website.
www.vbskinners.com - no server exists that even hosts that website
www.vbevolution.com - they seem to be selling one skin, but when I try to view the live demo or go to their forum it says "CLOSED". Pretty much a ghost town.
www.vbulletinstyles.com - again, he is one of the more active designers, but hasn't done any custom jobs.
www.extremepixels.com (formerly www.vbskinz.com) - Pank has really spent time to make quality, professional styles that are very attractive to most users. But, he doesn't seem to really custom tailer to custom vBulletin designs...
www.vbmechanic.com - Alex has really been on hiatus for quite a while which has caused a major backlog with his clients. Nonetheless, he doesn't have a portfolio showing his custom designed skins.
www.vbdesk.com - Dead.

Looks like the bug strikes again. But this time, even harder. Out of the 9 existing designers, 5 are nonexistant, 1 is really tailored for vB germany (the site is in german!), and 1 has been on hiatus for a long time.

That leaves you with 2 out of the 9 original designers avalible! My gosh.

Looks like Alexander T. is right. Folks, we have a surefire bug on our hands.

Perhaps more people do their own work, or hire a one-time-thing for designs instead of "setting up shop"?

Not so much of a bug I think. People are just getting tired of seeing the same old stock designs on every new vB out there. Also the markest now is competitive, back a while ago it was a new market, a new niche. Now anyone and their grandmother are starting up these companies :)

I've seen plenty of vB designers that seem like they're good at what they do - the problem seems to be finding someone to code the design. I've been hired countless times by people saying someone else started the work and didn't finish / did a bad job. The way I do vB skin coding is - the client hands me the design, I code it onto my forum and let him view the skin, once he's satisfied he pays in full then I send the skin over. No risk on either side that way, the client doesn't lose anything if he isn't satisfied.

Good idea/plan~ :)

Props, people remember vBDesk. We closed that down simply because we didn't have enough time to run it.

However I think you'll find that these days people don't have to set up a vB dedicated website to offer vB skins and such. You're most likely to find it in their personal website or a business website. Look outside the box.