Online Graphic Design Marketplace

Contact Information

2201 Broadway
Suite 815
Oakland, CA 94612
+1 800-513-1678
www.99designs.com

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Community Reviews Summary

2 Community Reviews 2/5 Overall Rating

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99 Problems


IT , Information Technology
10/19/2015

Speed 4 / Price 5 / Quality 2

I've used them at three different companies to try to get some design input when time was short. That's about all I would use them for. We usually had to hire a professional to polish their designs or just start over. But the idea works pretty much the way you'd expect something to work that (a) pays very little to the producers and (b) is geared to generate as many "products" as possible in a short time frame. You spend a lot of time dealing with several designers who all submit basically the same 3 ideas with a dozen variations - in other words you have 99 problems to solve instead of iterating over a small set of ideas to a single design the way you would with a professional designer who works with you to understand your specific needs. They have worked OK when the scope was extremely narrow, but in general a professional designer you work with over time, who comes to know your needs, will probably be cost/time effective.

Strengths: It is easy to set up a design project and send out the requests, and overall the web site is easy to use. They (the folks behind 99 designs, not the designers) were responsive. The web site is somewhat useful when you really just need some pixels and you don't want to do it yourself. If you have something very specific in mind, and don't care about explaining it to ten different people, and you don't have high expectations and you don't mind getting cookie cutter art and designs and your entire project budget is in the low $100s then maybe this is your solution.

Needs to improve: Based on mistakes I have made: Don't use for core branding. These designers don't have time (or much interest) in understanding your business and creating an "identity" for you. Don't use for "rebranding" anything either. We got a dozen useless logos. Don't use for UI design or UX. They don't have time (or knowledge) to understand your product and your users. Don't expect 99designs to take up "a lot less time" - you have to explain everything clearly, then most designers won't bother reading your requirements and will each ask questions you already answered, and you will need to iterate through rounds with multiple designers.

Not Impressed with Creativity


CEO @ Discovery Builders
R & D / Engineering , Internet
09/25/2015

Speed 4 / Price 5 / Quality 1

I've tried to use them multiple times. First time was for a company logo. The submitted designs were poor at best. They fell into two categories:

1. Looked like wordart from microsoft
2. Looked like a super hero's logo

Many of the different designers would just imitate what was already submitted. Saving grace was the ability to cancel the project before picking the 2nd round and getting our money back. I tried them again for a handout design. Ran into the same problems, low quality and lack of creativity from the designs. The customer service person told me that they get better after you get to the later rounds but I wasn't willing risk having to pay based on the initial quality.

The last time I used them and it actually worked was for a very simple icon. Once again, most of the submissions were awful. I did find one design I liked. Even though you can pick a few people to go to the 2nd round, I didn't even bother and only chose one designer that seemed to have any chance at producing the icon. In the end, it was a decent logo for the price.

Maybe if you pay the highest price for the contests you will get better designs but in that case, you can actually get other designers for the same price.

Strengths: Potential for cheap design works
Easy to use online interface

Needs to improve: Lack of creativity by the designers. There doesn't seem to be a minimum level of skill that their users have to have to be able post designs. Not sure if they have any vetting process.