99designs

I am a designer with experience in the field. I had a profile on this platform for 8 years that was more than successful, I had more than 100 contests won and many successful collaborations through the one-on-one option. My profile has been closed because I simply did not meet their criteria!

I want to say that 99d is not the same platform it once was, they don't care about the designers they just care about money and nothing else. They literally act like you are in a Nazi camp.
The design support is so cruel and arrogant, if you are a designer they just don't care about you (not to mention the unprofessional staff working there).

I want to point out, compared to before, the number of contests has been reduced by more than half (if there were 1000 active contests before, now they are down to 400) which tells in which direction this platform is going, in my opinion this platform will not exist anymore long.

Frankly, I do not recommend you to use it either as a designer or as a client. Go to some other friendly platform.

All the best.

For the first time customer, there is no option to create a "blind" contest. All designers can see what other designers are submitting. Then they will wait until the last minute and flood you with similar submissions in the hopes that you irrationally pick theirs. I was also told by a designer to delete certain designs based on rule violations.

Customer service didn't read my emails thoroughly and kept suggesting things that I already disputed. Then once the contest completed (I used guaranteed payout) I've still not heard back from any of them... sad

The designer we ended up choosing was polite and easy to work with. But, we had 200 submissions of very similar logo's.

When we start a new company or concept, 99designs is the only place we go for design work. We can put our concept out to hundreds of designers at once and whittle down to what we like. Many of these designers have incredibly original and inventive designs. We like being able to "tweak" designs as we narrow down, and always are more than satisfied with the end results. The timeframe is perfect for us - giving us time to make a decision while not feeling the process becomes "stale". And, customer support with 99designs, in my opinion, is TOP-NOTCH. Contacting me when needed but not pushing anything. If I have questions, I get answers quickly and professionally. Highly recommend!

99designs is by far the best site for an independent author to find a book cover design that will enhance their work. It's no secret that title and cover are the two first signals to a potential buyer/reader. 99designs puts one in front. My friends loved the polls I sent out. I received over one hundred fifty designs and thoroughly enjoyed the process of finding the one I liked best. I recommend this site to anyone out there who isn't scared to invest a few bucks in what will be a gold mine of design.

Nothing feels better than getting what you exactly paid for. After working with two freelancers and paying for designs I won't use. Thankfully I learned about 99designs from a friend and it didn't disappoint me. I was happy to work with talented designers and got a design that I fell in love with.

When starting a new business, I knew I needed to concentrate on the parts I was experienced with, but graphic design was not one of them. Using 99designs.com was a smart decision as it allowed me to create a brand based on my business vision/mission, while having an artist create the visual part of it. The response from the artists was prolific and varied, and in the end I had at least 4 quality logos to choose from. The winning artist then proceeded to exceed my expectations by filling out the rest of the branding package I purchased with high quality designs for print and social media.

I was ready to complete my second book's cover, but in the end didn't have enough faith that it was good enough and asked for feedback. I was told it and the first book would not stand up in the crowd, and for a little bit more, I could have paid for a 99 designs cover. I went with that advice and am blown away at the improvement I received by the winning designer. Now I have someone I plan to use going forward and I hope sales on my book will rebound once I release this sparkling new beauty on top.

This went really well for me. The designers who took part were friendly, talented and responsive. The winner deserved to win, but I felt sorry for those who had worked hard and missed out in the final round.

You would probably get many designs, but with little to no creativity. In our case we got over 200 different options, but all fairly standard. This is not the right place to look for something out of ordinary.

I received some excellently crafted designs from 20 plus designers. Overall, favorite designs were constantly revised based on my input. Almost too difficult to choose the finalist! This we a great process for me. I spent lots of time reviewing, and messaging, but I would do it again. Very worth the cost.

Though this websites proposal includes website design, they refer only to graphics and NOT coded pages. When you take into account that 99% of 99Designs graphics are free templates floating around the net, the charge of $945.00 US (more than 20% of which is kept in house) is quite unrealistic for two pages. Before signing on to this greatly over priced service, check locally in your own community and you may find local coders who can create the graphical look and coding for considerably less. They also employ some deceptive marketing practices. When I questioned the establishment about the lack of coded pages, the very next day one of the "artists" sent me a private message offering to code for free which is clearly inside favouritism so the rest of the poor artists can potentially be left out despite their efforts. Don't buy into the hype of this operation.

Piggy back designers off other off another. Do not use them. I found a designer on my own who was actually superb and he told me his application to go after jobs on there was rejected, just goes to sho 99 doesn't know what they are doing.

I spend a few thousand dollars to have several pages developed only to get files my developer can barely use. It's costing me twice as much in development because the files are garbage and 99design did absolutely nothing to help.

Recently launched a packaging design contest. Guaranteed the prize to attract more designers as suggested by the company's blog post - HUGE MISTAKE! Even purchased their 99-dollar worth of marketing bundle to promote the contest - another MISTAKE! So the results? Only about 6 designers participated - among the 30 designs submitted, none of them are high quality. All of them look as if they were done within 5 to 10 minutes. Very amateur looking terrible designs.
Lesson learned! I will never use 99designs ever again! If you want a good design done, look elsewhere. Save your money and thank me later.

We were surprised that so many wonderful designs were submitted by lots of artists. The biggest challenge was narrowing it down to a few finalists. We all LOVE our logo designed by Yoga in Bali. He knew what we wanted, was very easy to work with, quickly made changes as requested, provided many variations of colors and did am awesome job. I highly recommend him and would definitely use him and this company again.
I love the concept of 99 Designs and enjoyed working with them. My computer experience is limited but each time I had questions their awesome customer service rep Ally, was patient, kind and helpful. I have already recommended 99 Designs to quite a few people. Awesome company and concept!

Once I reached my actual design artist, I found her to be accommodating and talented. I got a very unique, lovely logo. (The website itself, like most online businesses, feels very automated as you might expect, but effective.)

I've been a full-time ad consultant for 32 years and I frequently use 99 Designs. The keys are (1.) to spend enough money to interest the highest levels of talent, and (2.) to write a brief that not only instructs your designers, but inspires them. I usually offer a prize of $1,500 or $2,000 and receive 1,250 to 1,400 designs in return. Sure, you have to wade through a lot of silly, crap designs from beginners hoping to win the lottery, but at least 50 of the designs will be notable. My biggest problem is choosing from the top 10 or 12 designs that are simply AMAZING. You can run with the big dogs or stay on the porch, but don't think you're going to see anything but the big dogs' butts if you toss minimum money at them.

Hello,

A few days ago my account was suspended for practically no reason after spending over 2 days submitting relentlessly to different projects. I just joined one of their competitors- designcrowd.com and thought their courtesy statement could be applied to their website so you're not to be blamed by Designers for being rude. See their note below after I submitted my first design:

Your account has not been verified.
We need to verify that your designs will meet our Quality Standards. To verify your account, submit to any design contest. Read more...

It's that simple! It's rude and disheartening to have Designers submit relentlessly not knowing they have specific Quality Standards set out and then after two days send me an impolite email about suspension. At least these guys have some manners.

I've been a professional for many years and my standards are really high.
Because you can see the purchaser's favorites, every other design start looking alike. Buyers don't seem to know the difference in between mediocre and great. Good luck to 99 designs, they are the ones making the big $$$

Buyer beware - don't trust the 'money back guarantee' on their front page. This company has an awful business model with even worst customer service. I would advise anyone looking for website design to stay away. I had an awful experience that has dragged on for over a year with lots of crappy website design, poor communication from both designers and the company and no final product. Instead, I'd advise putting fire to the $1,238 or take a vacation - you'll thank me later.

The promise about getting many designs is just not through.
Designers all send messages asking if they can get the job outside 99designs because of the bad pay. One wrote 99designs takes 40% and therefore he does not want to do the job.
I received only one design from someone else which was absolutely ridiculous, I could do better my self.

Thanks for your interest in 99designs. Unfortunately the current quality of your work does not fit our site standards.

I won the contest, got suspended. Thank you for my lost 280 $, 99. :) I'm not coming back there. EVER AGAIN!

Maybe this could be a great service, however, my first experience with 99 designs has not been great. We choose the Silver, 3 day contest and payed extra for blog promotion and fast 3 day delivery. The "promise" is lots of response from top designers. We've had 4 responses to our contest, all of very poor quality. So my advise is: when you have no experience with setting up contests, either contact the customer service to help you or choose to work with a designer you like directly. Big cheer to the customer service, they are very helpful and respond quickly!