99designsReviews 412

I started on 99designs two years ago from scratch. I was a big 0 in design. In just two years the awesome staff and the amazing community of designers helped to create a great portfolio, wherever I show it, people are amazed by it, not speaking about my little overall experience.
I really learned a lot and everybody was ready to help even when I failed. So thank you 99d, you are amazing.

I had no job and no profession, 99d helped me to feed my family for 2 years and then I was able to get a nice job in design. (and I can still use 99d for extra income)

As a designer it's an awesome place. I do not recommend it however for those who are not willing to learn, who don't like to play fair and be nice and for those who are dumb. These people will most probably get themselves a ban for good reason.

For customers I can safely say that there a ton of really really good designers and it is impossible to not find a man for the job. You just have to know at least partly what you want and invite the right man to your contest or for 1to1.

But rule of the dumb applies here as well. If you are dumb don't come, you will be disappointed most likely and just make designers waste their time. If you are normal guy with more then 80 iq you can come safely, you will get what you want. And if you have questions just ask the customer support they are awesome and happy to help.

Cheers to the normal people ;)

Whether you are a beginner level designer or a professional designer, 99designs offers you the ability to challenge yourself by competing in design contests. There is no better proving grounds to test your skills and find out how good you really are. If you find success, you'll develop a portfolio, meet great clients, and get follow up work. It's more than just contests though. 1-1 projects offers the ability to work one on one with clients and get paid. 99designs brings the clients and they find you on 99designs. If your a designer - get ahead of the crowd and join. If you are client and want to get professional work done, go to 99designs.com.

I first signed up in 99designs in 2009 and after a 6 years break, I came on site in 2016 June Since then my business started to grow. Was able to win 12 contests within 5 months and have secured over $10,000 worth of 1 on 1 projects. If you are a designer with skill who is looking to make a decent living 99designs is the place. They respect designers, unlike other Freelance sites. Designers feel like their work is highly valued.

I recommend 99designs for all the designers out there!

99Designs is different from other similar sites in that the set up is better for both client and designer. Designers get an opportunity to hone their skills by learning from others and the client gets to choose from hundreds of designs. The system is efficient and from what I have experienced, very well run.
I would love to be able to enter more contests, but at the same time understand that it is just another way in which 99Designs ensures that the contests I enter are selected wisely and with my skillset in mind and that I am going to do my best work for each and every one. Keep it up!

It literally changed my life for a better!

As a designer, being able to pick projects that I like, from clients from all around the world, that otherwise I would never had chance to meet, is absolutely amazing!

It all started several years ago while I was working in an advertising agency. A friend of mine have told me about 99designs and I decided to gave it a go. One by one, I've entered 15 contests with some visually amazing work, but with no single win.

After some time I tried to think of what I was doing wrong and changed my strategy. My new designs were not anything better than the previous ones, but were more client-centric.

Finally, I started winning contest. Today, my stats are: 67% finals (50% of that wins) On average, I'm winning every 3rd contest. All those wins also generated me a lot of 1-to-1 projects and long term collaborations with several clients that consider me as a reliable member of their teams, and I love working with them.

Of course, that personal success gave me wings to quit my daily job and start freelancing exclusively. Im getting enough of work from my regular clients, so lately I participate contest on 99designs only for fun.

P.S.

Im noticing a lot of reviews here that are totally unfair / wrongly addressed. 99design is open service, meaning anyone can create contest, and anyone can participate as a designer. In real life there are two types of people, of course there will be some not so great clients and some not so great designers on 99design too, but it's not fair to blame it on 99designs.

I'm sure that 99designs among other awesome things, makes real effort of increasing quality of designs by suspending accounts of low quality designers, and limiting number of contest that new designer can participate.

This is an amazing platform with amazing opportunities for connecting designers with clients. Zehra D

I am a designer that focuses on Book Covers. What I have learned since joining, is to choose your contests wisely and try to be original. The experience has given me more tools to be a better designer. The support team has been great, and sometimes it may take time to get a response, but it all depends on the situation. Choose wisely, be original, think outside the box, do not copy anyone and you will find a more lively and enjoyable experience. I am 100% happy with my decision to join 99designs. I am a better designer for it!

I not happy designer for 99designs. Do they have selfie refunded me designer for their stuff from winner me, I no longer be paid and I will be suspended for the violation. I had been five refunded.
I issues that violation.

As a designer I tried to verify my account 4 times sending photos of me and my Russian passport. This just doesn't work. After contacting support I was asked to send again:

1) My portfolio (already sent)
2) Picture of my document (already sent)
3) Picture of my face (already sent)
4) + Picture of me with my document

Even payments systems didn't ask me this. And I absolutely don't understand why do they need this information and what are they going to do with my personal information further.

This is the second competition we have run and are very pleased with the results. We had submissions from all over the world and had conversations with designers we would never have had access to.

It may not be everyone's experience, but mine was so poor I am actually writing a review. I have dozens of projects on the horizon, and I thought I would test 99 Designs out with a simple Logo project to test the quality before committing large resources to them. I issued a very detailed brief, citing dozens of references, competition analysis, look and feel, colour persuasions etc. I got just over 50 designs back, some within minutes of posting (first red flag). Out of which, only 2 had bothered to read the brief. Dozens comprised of people simply typing the company name out in a very bad free font, and sending it back as if that was real design or effort. Most simply ignored the brief and one (Kelly Norman) actually argued with me that if I wanted revisions then don't pick them as they don't do revisions. Effectively - 'take my poor, off-brief logo or go away. Not only a violation of the basic terms, but also, who talks to a client like that? That is the kind of poor quality, low-level, amateur thinking non-designers I got. Others have faired better, but that's just my experience.

I signed up in 99designs this july 2016 coz i've read about this site is "the best site for designers". And tried to join in a logo making contest for the first time... Luckily, i've got 1-star ratings on my submitted designs... I didn't win but it encourages me to do it better and join more contest...

Then 99design emailed me for suspending my account. It states:
"You've been suspended
Your account has been suspended forever for the following reason:
Hello, Thanks for your interest in 99designs. Unfortunately the current quality of your work does not fit our site standards. As a result, we have put your account on hold. We encourage you to improve your design skills. You can find design tutorials and inspirational work here: http://99designs.com/designer-blog/category/design-tips-and-resources/ After you have spent 3 months on your designs, please send a portfolio of 4 to 5 of your new designs in vector. Pdf file format to: *******@99designs.com The designs should be based on 5 new contest briefs of your choice from our public contests on our site. When submitting your portfolio, please zip the files and include the link to each contest from which the designs were created in the body of your email. We will review your submissions and determine if your account will be reactivated. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask.
99designs © 2015
Level 2,41-43 Stewart Street
Richmond, VIC 3121, Australia
"

This is bull$&@#! Why do i need to make 4-5 portfolio from 5 new contests? Also it must be in vector file?! So i will give them my original ideas and the files for them to join in those contest,, and in the end they (99designers) will get the appreciation from the customers...
Why can't we make our portfolios based on our ideas ---and no need to join in some contests?

I'd love to design but I don' t want to waste my spare time to this "99designer-eating-designers"
I will just focus to my present job in a packaging company

I have been a member of this site for roughly five years now but have been inactive in the design contests for about two years. About a week ago, I decided to enter an apparel design contest. After submitting several designs, I received an email stating that my account has been suspended because my designs were not up to par for their site and that I could 'practice my design skills' and resubmit designs just to be allowed back on the site. I have been a professional designer for eight years. I have worked in the screen printing industry, designing artwork for t-shirts, for six of those eight years. I actually created original designs for this competition, while my competitors were simply placing the logo on the shirt. I was very furious about this, as my work was definitely at a higher level of skill than most. So, I decided to email the site and ask for more details on my suspension. After all the email did state 'if you have any questions about your suspension, contact us'. So I did. This was three days ago. I have not heard back. They also will not even let me sign into the site to look at my messages regarding this suspension. So they suspended me from the site for superior work, said I could contact them, blocked me from the site and refuse to respond to my email. DO NOT USE THIS SITE. They are running a scam. This site is bull$#*! and its administrators are liars and con artists.

In germany, it is a legal offense to contact domain owners to offering services.
Apart from this, it is absolutely unprofessional to offer prices for such bog-standard websites like this.