Should i use 99designs

This helped me get over the language barrier more on that below. I researched my book's title and writing the copy for the book cover before running this competition. Then, I made some minor changes to the copy during the competition, which slowed the process somewhat. The competition itself took a lot of time to run, so it's best to know exactly what you want before you start one. If you need a book cover, prepare the title and subtitle in advance as this will impact the look and feel of the cover dramatically.

If you're commissioning a webpage design or landing page, provide web copy you'll use rather than lorem ipsum text.

That way, you can see what the results will look like when live. Halfway through, I updated my brief to ask people to stop submitting these types of designs. I wanted something more original. Don't expect a designer to read your mind. Prepare a list of links for them to review. Or provide Pinterest board that has examples of logos, book covers, magazine designers, webpage templates and so on that you like.

I spent 30 minutes each night commenting on the various submission and during the 99designs final round which ran for three days , I spent an hour each day providing feedback to designers.

I knew from talking to other users of 99designs that I'd need this much time to get the most from the contest. Run the contest when you know you're available to critique the submissions. Designers need feedback to iterate their work.

You also need time to evaluate their submissions. Setting time aside also means you can show concepts to readers, website visitors, people you work with or sell to. And initially, I wasn't sure about difference between eliminating a design and requesting a modified version of a design. Clicking on a book cover submission and annotating it enables better communications with designers as you can be specific about what you want.

However, I received over 80 initial submissions, and this made it difficult to give every designer fair feedback. To save time, I updated my design brief and posted global comments that every designers could see. Several designers spoke bad English. As I only speak English and Gaeilge , we had trouble communicating. This caused at least one designer to question what I meant.

I'd expect this to be less of an issue with the higher level tiers. I also received at least two dozens average book covers, and I received another dozen submissions which were either off-brief or of poor quality. The great book covers surpassed my expectations, but the poor quality book covers weren't any better than anything I could have created.

Again, if the quality is an issue and you want a professional designer, consider running a contest at a higher tier or contacting 99designs for advice. This surprised me as I'm uncomfortable criticising someone's work, but 99designs recommended I rate the initial entrants with one or two stars instead of four or five.

More than two stars during the first round discourages people entering a design contest as they feel they don't have a chance of winning. Again, this strategy worked as lots of people entered my contest close to the various deadlines.

During my design contest , the most original book covers were submitted close to the deadline. And the winning designer submitted his book cover an hour before the deadline of the entire contest. I learnt some designers watch a contest to see what the standard is like. And then, they make their move. Although you might get a good design early, don't give in to temptation and pick a winner until the contest closes.

I contacted people on my mailing list, and I asked them to complete my poll thanks everyone! I also shared my poll about my design contest on various social media sites that I'm active on. And I used Pickfu to test my covers with a real-world audience. Two friends have a background in design. They helped me eliminate off-brief designs and provide more constructive feedback to the finalists. The very first factor about the 99designers that you need to pay attention to is the fact that the first step to this is to ensure that you propose a well-informed brief to the platform.

Having some key points and must include in the final product that you need will help the people working for 99designs to help you find the perfect winning designer meant for this job. If you have certain criteria that need to be emphasized in the logo or the design, mention that clearly in the brief as well. Make sure to be very clear and precise about your requirements to receive the very best services from the designers on board.

If you want a good design, the best even, maintain clarity in your brief without a speck of doubt. Sometimes, 99designs itself provides with a few suggestions best suited for your needs based on the kind of brief you have provided them with. The final design provided by the designer is what you need to accept and while you can put forth your own suggestions and give a fair good idea to the designer about the kind of logo or design you are imagining; the final call is taken by the designer themselves.

The main reason behind the same is because of the kind experience and goodwill each one of the designers has. Once you feel like you have your design project in good hands, you can relax and provide them with a deadline till when you need the project to be handed over. Sometimes, many clients even conduct logo design contests on the platform of 99design itself to get the best design according to their briefing.

This is often times a good option to venture and look into because this gives you a lot of options to choose from and also a lot of variance in the work. But, it does have its fair share of risk too because what if you end up not liking any of them?

If that is something that irks you, simply stick to hiring a talented designer for your work. The last but not the least in the list of things to discuss is how you can finally collaborate with the designer to get what you envision for your logo, book cover design or even business cards or something else you need. If there is any kind of improvements or even any kind of suggestion that you need to provide the designers with, you can do it directly with them.

This is the best part of this platform because not only do you get good web designers according to spec work, you also get to work along with them through the process to ensure the maximum rendition of your imagination. Then fill out a help form request that forces you to jump through a few hoops before you can ask your question. As I said, the actual responses that you get from 99design support tend to be helpful.

Not only do they provide with prompt services in terms of the work and connections they provide their clients with, but they also have modes to back up their services provided. They provide specific managers for each of the successfully assigned projects which makes it easier for you to keep track of and even raise a complaint if there is an issue with the situation.

All in all, 99designs is actually a n amazing platform for you to look around and get the best services catered to you as per your requirements and needs. This would be very helpful to select design for all audiences. I like your ideas about this topic. Keep posting. Since an order number and proof of purchase has been supplied for this review, it is genuine and must not be removed.

Any attempt to remove this review is a criminal offense. Their support team will leave you hung out to dry! 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. There is no right answer here, but be cognizant of exactly what 99designs is offering. It brings design within budget. For others, not so much. It has designers from all over the world. 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. 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.

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. And if you want a solid self-service design option, check out Tailor Brands review. 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. Pricing for other design contests varies — see full pricing.

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