Best online places to find UX/UI designers?

A local start up team here in Taiwan is looking for mobile application UX & UI specialists... but here on the ground while there are great designers not many have mobile UX experience.

If they're forced to go online looking where do you suggest?

Keeping mind:
1. Strong UX background
2. Good working from a distance experience/track record
3. I suppose competitive pricing will be an issue too.

Some resources

• http://dribbble.com/ - find a designer whose work you like then contact them
• http://elance.com - look through the designer profiles and ratings then contact direct rather than placing a jobn posting unless you have something specific
• http://odesk.com - as elance
• http://forrst.com - its currently invite only at the minute but keep an eye out as they release invites pretty regularly

Agreed that vWorker is good, due to the business model.

They broker and facilitate the transaction between work buyer and worker without costing either party money up front. vWorker only collects if a transaction is initiated and completed, or under special project type circumstances (cancellations mid-way, dispute resolution, etc.)

The worker doesn't have to pay money to compete for a project, they simply have to demonstrate proof they can handle the job & establish a good dialog with the buyer.

Other virtual work sites charge workers to even bid, and then rationalize it as some sort of quality control barrier to entry, but it really discourages many, many potential bidders and reduces the talent pool.

Realistically, for every fly-by-night worker with zero feedback on a freelance project site, there are just as many unscrupulous low-balling buyers looking for unrealistic returns. vWorker's model ensures that neither party pays unless both parties actually do business, and that's very fair.

Source: seven years' experience and 50+ successful 10-rated projects as both a buyer and coder on vCoder.com.

I've used elance and odesk. elance quality was awful, Odesk average. You could re-ask on the stack site of that subject.

In my experience, vWorker is a great site.

The workflow model is like this:

1. You post your project requirements and optionally a timeframe and budget
2. Interested workers bid for your project. You can ask for samples from previous work if required.
3. You can interact privately with each bidder, and select one you like.
4. The amount of the accepted bid is escrowed with vWorker while the worker completes the job
5. Once the work is complete to your satisfaction, you accept the work and release the escrowed funds (or a fraction of it)

Also, it is the cheapest of all online workplaces for the workers, so you tend to get the best prices and most bids on vWorker