I am about to embark upon a new venture and I need a logo, so I posted a contest asking for a logo that is suitable for a website, stationery and an applique.  The procedure is:

• sign up for an account
• tell them what you want designed
• decide how much you want to pay for the design
• write a brief that tells the designer something about your project, and any particulars you want included or excluded in your design
• launch the contest
• give feedback to individual designers
• eliminate designs no longer under consideration
• select a winning design

I launched my contest about 8:00 PM on Thursday night.  By Friday morning at 6:30 AM, eight designs had been submitted by six different designers.  By Saturday 34 designs had been submitted and by Sunday 47 entries were under consideration.  Four designers withdrew (I didn’t like their designs).  Contests run for seven days unless the contest holder extends it.

The thing I like about this process is that the contest holder decides what they want to pay and the variety of designers who participate.  Designers from around the globe enter the contest.  You look at the designs, give feedback to the designers about what you like or don’t like about their entry and they submit more designs based on your feedback.

If you catch this post before April 23rd you can see my contest at this link:  http://99designs.com/contests/20783

Tweet This Post 

Over the past 13 years I have worked with several designers to create logos for my church, internal church ministries, outreach ministries and for two of my own companies.  We worked with a designer, went through revisions and chose our favorite.  One time we didn’t like anything that the designer created and it was just money down the drain.  We didn’t pay him the entire fee, but we did lose our deposit.  The beauty of what 99designs.com offers is the number of designs from which you can choose.  Designers from all over the world submit designs based on your ministry or business criteria.  You select the design you like best and only pay the pre-determined prize fee.

Here’s How It Works

• You run what they call a design contest for your ministry’s logo
• Give a description of what you need designed
• Pay a fee of $39 to launch your contest
• Set your prize fee between $50 and $500
• Rate the designs that are submitted
• Choose your favorite design
• Pay the Prize offered to the winning designer

Rachel King from Fast Company wrote:

The main thing that 99designs.com is about is choice,’ says Matt Mickiewicz, the U.S. office representative for 99designs, ‘It’s a fantastic model that eliminates risk for small business owners and puts designers on equal footing.’ Designers can be of any age, background or level of experience to post designs on the site, making the site a great lead-generator. ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re 15 or 60. It’s completely based on merit.’ Most participants are students and freelancers . . .

Vishal  Sharma of VS Consulting group said:

[99designs] connects thousand of designers from around the world with clients who need design tasks completed fast, and without the usual high cost and limited choice you get from most traditional design firms

I am already working with someone to design a logo or header for this blog, so I can’t say that I have tried 99designs.com.  Otherwise, I would be willing to give them a try.

Also, this post focuses on logos but 99design.com’s designers offer a wide range of services.  Check them out, come back here a leave a comment with your thoughts.

Tweet This Post