For the design? The downside is that you could end up with a very generic looking application/site. It's also not your (or your developer's) code so there will usually be a period of time required to get used to it in order to make any adjustments. In the end, it may not really save you that muc...
Go onto https://dribbble.com and scour the place for quality design work. Once you've found some great pieces, look at what else those designers have done. If their portfolio fits well with your requirements, contact those designers and tell them about your project. Avoid sites like 99designs.c...
Trying to save money and time by going with a pre-made solution is going to pay you back with frustration later. Best bet is to always build from scratch or build from available components that you can configure the way your particular software needs to work. I would look to open-source javascrip...
If app design is the only thing you'd like to do, then I'd say spend all your time and focus developing UI/UX expertise for mobile. In many developing nations around the world, smart devices are giving people their first exposure to the Internet. The way they search, browse, buy, and otherwise be...
If I was just starting out, I'd consider learning Meteor (https://www.meteor.com/). It's just entered version 1.0 and after working with it for a little less than a year I do have some issues with it but it still makes for a very solid framework that gets you up and running very fast. You would o...
Use Google Forms. It works well to conduct surveys. They have lot of the functionality built in. You can use it for a number of other things as well.