99designs Review – Get Logo And Website Design From Pros

99designs Review

9.0 Out of 10

SupportHelp Desk, Phone & Knowledge BaseBest ForCheap Professional DesignsStrengthsPick A Design You LikeWeaknessesLimited CommunicationPromotionNone

There are tons of free options for graphic design on the web. I love using everything from Fiverr to Canva to Stencil to Namecheap to Tailor Brands. But when it comes to website or blog logo design – or really anything related to graphic design that makes your blog stand out – you’ll need expertise (or an algorithm).

Professional graphic design expertise isn’t cheap. So how can you make your website or blog really stand out – give it that extra ‘pop’ that it needs – without turning hiring a professional graphic designer directly?

One option is crowd-sourced design. It’s a way to help make good graphic design accessible to all budgets while giving freelance graphic designers a vibrant marketplace.

I’ve used 99designs for a couple of my website projects. I’ve had clients use their design contests feature as well.

Based on those experiences, here’s my 99designs review with how it works, along with pros and cons…

How 99designs Works

99designs is primarily based around design contests.

Design contests are where you submit a request for a design, and dozens to thousands of designers submit ideas for your request, and you get to choose. The bigger your budget – the more your request is sought after (and the more choices you get).

Design contests are 99designs’ bread and butter.

You can run a design project for anything from a blog logo design to a book cover design to a custom WordPress theme design. You set the budget / prize money; you get different designs over the next couple days, and then you choose the winning design. Simple enough, and it works really well.

I was very happy 99design when I used them to create my previous blog’s logo.

When I originally published this review, I focused on 99designs’ other (and less publicized) offering – Ready-made Logo store. To me, it was a gem of an idea for both website owners and graphic designers.

It was literally a store of pre-made logos for every industry imaginable. Each logo could be customized by color and text to fit your company/blog/website. And almost all of them sold for $99 – which was a pretty good deal considering the instant credibility you get from having a pixel perfect logo on your website.

Unfortunately, they closed the ready-made 99designs logo store in early 2016.

But along with closing the ready-made store, 99designs restructured their logo design contest pricing and reorganized them to focus on specific design elements (including a bundled design package).

99designs is all design contests. You choose a category, a budget and a design brief. You wait for designs to come in. When they come in, you get a special link to view them. If you like one, you choose it and the designer gets paid.

So that’s how 99designs works. It’s good – but by no means perfect. Let’s dive into what I consider to be the 4 pros and 4 cons of using 99designs (especially for website or blog logo design).

99designs Alternatives

Pros of 99designs

99designs isn’t for everyone, but it does do a lot of things right. Here’s why I liked them from the projects that I and my clients have run with them.

Affordability

Graphic design usually represents the lion-share of any web design budget. While many software tools (such as WordPress) can make building a website cheaper, and premium WordPress themes (such as from ThemeForest or Elegant Themes) make having a website design affordable – graphic design still isn’t something you can really teach a computer to do.

It’s an art to transform an abstract brand into something visual. You can spend a lot of time & money on that transformation. But for most startups and small businesses – a professional look only goes so far, and it doesn’t make sense to put too much money into a custom brand look.

Instead, you need a service that puts that professional look within reach without too much expense or hassle.

So while 99designs might get criticized by some – the affordability definitely puts professionally designed logos within reach of a lot more businesses. Affordability + quality is the major pro to using 99designs for website or blog logo design.

Choice in Context

There are thousands (if not millions) of designers to choose from on the Internet. But unless you are sold on a specific designer due to portfolio, relationship, or desire for a design process – you likely want a choice of designs, not designers.

99designs’ contest format provides a wide choice of designs to choose from. Plus – it solves the paradox of choice since all those choices are in the context of your design brief.

When you get your special preview link, you have a straightforward screen of choices.

99design range of choices in context is a solid pro.

Turnaround Time

In addition to choice, 99designs’s format allows for a fast turnaround time with no hassle. When you submit your brief, you’ll likely receive submissions within 24 to 48 hours. You get a special link to view it – or solicit feedback from colleagues or friends.

Once you choose one, you’re already in the revision phase.

Very little wait for a customized product with a straightforward process.

Guarantees

The beauty of having 99designs run the marketplace is that they are able to guarantee both sides a smooth experience. They hold the money in escrow until you have accepted the final product. There’s no sketchy designer running off with your money or fighting over how many revisions are allowed (or a designer having to deal with a demanding client for that matter).

Additionally, you’re guaranteed to have a design that you love. If you get back a set of bad designs, you don’t pay. That takes a lot of risk out of the equation.

Cons of 99designs

Every company has room for improvement, and 99designs is no exception. Here’s what I would love to change for an even better experience.

Writing Briefs

Designers need a starting place. Whether you are working with an agency or with 99designs, that means creating a “design brief.” A design brief basically provides in your own words what the design will communicate. You’ll mention colors, examples you like, symbolism, and the general “look” that you want to communicate.

99designs provides guidelines and a template for a good brief. They have all sorts of tools to assess your style and preferences. But writing a good brief is still up to you. And a bad brief will almost always produce bad designs.

On 99designs, it can be especially frustrating since you are likely working with designers who do are not native speakers of your local language. You have to write a very literal brief to communicate abstract ideas.

You can usually solve the situation with more examples (point out what you like about an example) and with more information. But writing a brief can be daunting nonetheless. It’s one reason that I liked browsing their old ready-made logo store – sometimes I would find a design that worked, but that I never would have been able to communicate.

Writing briefs are a somewhat necessary evil in design, but it’s something that might make 99designs a bad fit for someone looking to browse concepts or explain complex symbolism or brand identity.

Relationships

Part of the expense and expertise of hiring a single expert designer is that you get to establish a client/agency relationship where they listen to more than a brief or a list of preferences, and actually try to tell the story of your brand with good design.

That relationship, and back and forth can be hard to recreate when running a design contest.

Now, obviously, this comparison is very much comparing apples and oranges, but I think it’s a con that should be taken very seriously. Are you trying to go affordable because you must, because you want to, or because you actually think you’ll get good design options?

There is no right answer here, but be cognizant of exactly what 99designs is offering. For a lot of people, it’s exactly what they need. It brings design within budget. Different & multiple designers can be a better final product. For others, not so much. It’s a purposeful con with 99designs, but a con nonetheless.

On Spec & Not Local

To start – this is not a con to me, but it is for a lot of people, so I’ll include it. 99designs is operated out of Australia. It has designers from all over the world. It’s basically a crowdsourcing platform. I got one of my designs from a talented designer in Bulgaria, and another from a freelancer in China. I think that is really cool.

Additionally, an inherent problem with a contest is that the “losing” designers have created something “on spec” – and have essentially worked for no pay. This, again, is not an issue with me since it’s a free platform – and the designers have had to work out processes and business models to make it work. As someone who has freelanced and produced plenty of spec work, it’s just part of the setup.

But others aren’t so cool with it – they’d rather see the money flow into their local economy. They’d rather see designers get paid for work they’ve done. Now, I’d argue that you being able to launch a professional-looking business within budget helps your local economy even more, but I totally understand the sentiment. And I’d argue that participating in an contest is not an exploitive form of spec work that you might see elsewhere in the economy. If this is a con for you – cool, if it’s not, then awesome.

Does 99designs Create Good Designs?

If you are looking to make your website or blog really pop – you need graphic design service, especially for your website or blog logo design. Hiring a professional designer is going to be expensive. 99designs puts a great design within reach. Despite a couple of drawbacks, I’m a fan – and recommend them.

You should also check out their Contests page.

If you are looking for a designer, check out my guide on how to hire a good designer. If you want to work with an affordable designer outside of a contest structure, I’ve had a lot of success with both Fiverr and UpWork.

And if you want a solid self-service design option, check out Tailor Brands (review)

FAQs

Is 99designs worth it for designers?

99designs can be worth it for designers if you have a business plan for yourself, and a keen idea on how 99designs fits in that plan.
Like most platforms, their incentives and terms aren’t purely in your interest. However, it does provide a lot of reach and a lot of potential revenue. Make sure you are building your personal brand and work processes rather than 99designs as much as possible.

What is 99designs?

99designs is a platform / marketplace where businesses can find and commission graphic design from competing designers. It offers huge reach for designers and lots of choice / value / speed for businesses.

How much is 99designs?

Pricing for logo contests starts at $299 and goes up depending on how many designers you’d like to attract. Pricing for other design contests varies – see full pricing.