• 99designs

99designs

Overview

99designs has a rating of 2.43 stars from 410 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about 99designs most frequently mention contest holder, graphic designer, and current quality problems. 99designs ranks 553rd among Graphic Design sites.

  • Service
    43
  • Value
    43
  • Shipping
    20
  • Returns
    22
  • Quality
    44

This company does not typically respond to reviews

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 28.6%
Positive
2
Neutral
0
Negative
5
38
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What reviewers want you to know

Positive highlights

  • Thoroughly impressed with customer service staff - quickly responded via email and phone and extremely knowledgeable.

Critical highlights

No critical highlights yet

How would you rate 99designs?
Top Positive Review

“Great choice for book cover contest”

Amy C.
11/20/23

I got a lot of great covers to choose from very promptly. They kept to their timetable very well and designers were quite responsive

Top Critical Review

“Disappointing!”

Kristijan M.
3/14/24

I am a designer with experience in the field. I had a profile on this platform for 8 years that was more than successful, I had more than 100 contests won and many successful collaborations through the one-on-one option. My profile has been closed because I simply did not meet their criteria! I want to say that 99d is not the same platform it once was, they don't care about the designers they just care about money and nothing else. They literally act like you are in a Nazi camp. The design support is so cruel and arrogant, if you are a designer they just don't care about you (not to mention the unprofessional staff working there). I want to point out, compared to before, the number of contests has been reduced by more than half (if there were 1000 active contests before, now they are down to 400) which tells in which direction this platform is going, in my opinion this platform will not exist anymore long. Frankly, I do not recommend you to use it either as a designer or as a client. Go to some other friendly platform. All the best.

Reviews (410)

Rating

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Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

customer service (24)
Thumbnail of user kristijanm2
1 review
1 helpful vote
March 14th, 2024

I am a designer with experience in the field. I had a profile on this platform for 8 years that was more than successful, I had more than 100 contests won and many successful collaborations through the one-on-one option. My profile has been closed because I simply did not meet their criteria!

I want to say that 99d is not the same platform it once was, they don't care about the designers they just care about money and nothing else. They literally act like you are in a Nazi camp.
The design support is so cruel and arrogant, if you are a designer they just don't care about you (not to mention the unprofessional staff working there).

I want to point out, compared to before, the number of contests has been reduced by more than half (if there were 1000 active contests before, now they are down to 400) which tells in which direction this platform is going, in my opinion this platform will not exist anymore long.

Frankly, I do not recommend you to use it either as a designer or as a client. Go to some other friendly platform.

All the best.

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user wmh20
1 review
9 helpful votes
September 8th, 2020

It's a great program. You can get many different designers with talent competing for your business. You can see other perspectives and not be stuck with one graphic design. We will use them again.

Thumbnail of user mariekev2
1 review
1 helpful vote
June 22nd, 2021

Maybe this could be a great service, however, my first experience with 99 designs has not been great. We choose the Silver, 3 day contest and payed extra for blog promotion and fast 3 day delivery. The "promise" is lots of response from top designers. We've had 4 responses to our contest, all of very poor quality. So my advise is: when you have no experience with setting up contests, either contact the customer service to help you or choose to work with a designer you like directly. Big cheer to the customer service, they are very helpful and respond quickly!

Thumbnail of user tiaralester
1 review
5 helpful votes
May 27th, 2023

I had a horrible experience with a designer. I reported him to them and nothing was done about it. I left an honest review about my experience and the work provided and he went on google and yelp and spammed my business profile with bad reviews. I contacted 99 design to let them know and nothing was done and to top it off yelp and google won't remove the reviews. Be very careful with that site! The designer was "Arteam_design"

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Value
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Thumbnail of user dvajja
1 review
1 helpful vote
June 15th, 2023
Verified purchase

I got an offer for logo design for $19 with two concepts, after a week i was given two concepts, the two concepts did not include the colors i have mentioned or the logo styles i gave as example. They literally remade someones logo, second round came up and same wrong colors and not even close to the concepts i shared. Its a simple logo for a business no fancy icons just text and yet they made them like its 1980's. Asked for refund told me i am not eligible for it. Such a shady place, the first call they gave me is to upsell services before we begin the project. They are so rude in communication...Dont fall for their low prices

Service
Value
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Thumbnail of user amyc750
2 reviews
0 helpful votes
November 20th, 2023

I got a lot of great covers to choose from very promptly. They kept to their timetable very well and designers were quite responsive

Products used:
book cover contest

Thumbnail of user moakiej
1 review
0 helpful votes
October 5th, 2023
Verified purchase

I had a very focused goal: To hire an expert in Squarespace I could utilize to accelerate the learning of the front end authoring environment so I could build my own website.

I am a management consultant and am proficient enough in design to do it myself. It's the only way to go.

I found a smart gal to provide me 2 hours for a coaching, teaching engagement.

To my regret she helped me get started learning SS so I could build my own website. But there was really no pedagogical approach. In other words I would have benefitted from an overview of how SS organizes its web-based interface, the design conventions of SS. That didn't happen because the designer has no teaching ability and it WAS MY FAULT I DID NOT STRUCTURE THE TWO HOURS MORE EDUCATIONALLY. I didn't give her the guidance. And she went very quickly. My fault again.

She was very technically capable and a good designer but her communication skills were atrocious. She encouraged me to follow up afterwards with questions. Well she went AWOL. I was never able to followup. Very disappointed. Like a lot of hired guns she took the money and ran.

$250 an hour for a graphic designer through a middleman? If they can earn that I am worth $450 an hour. Very expensive. It would help to know how much 99designs earns as the bodypusher middleman. I am guessing $100 an hour? But since I don't know it is difficult to assess if the designer was paid fairly. $150 an hour because the bodypusher gets $100? That's fair to the designer. $30 an hour to 99designes and $220 to the designer? I would never pay a graphic designer $220 an hour directly absent the middleman.

You will have to trust me that I am a paying customer to 99designs for an SS website that is live but which I prefer to go unnamed for obvious reasons. People need to feel free to tell the truth without fear of retaliation.

I hired the designer in early August. Paid 99designs $500. Definitely too much for what I got.

Products used:
design service

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jayvenv
3 reviews
16 helpful votes
March 7th, 2022

Exploitation of designers. Too many hours of work wasted to this platform. Asking for revision without a clear winning.

Products used:
Worked as a Designer

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user krystaljarthur
1 review
2 helpful votes
August 14th, 2023

The designer I worked with was very unpleasant.Costumer service is not much help and receiving a refund is significantly difficult.I recommend that you look elsewhere for design services where quality is of importance.

Thumbnail of user berts87
1 review
0 helpful votes
March 13th, 2023

Very useful for creating branding logo for our non-profit organization. The designer we ended up choosing was a delight to work with. Great value!

Tip for consumers:
great value

Products used:
logo design

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user tome552
1 review
5 helpful votes
December 30th, 2021
Verified purchase

I spend a few thousand dollars to have several pages developed only to get files my developer can barely use. It's costing me twice as much in development because the files are garbage and 99design did absolutely nothing to help.

Tip for consumers:
just use UpWork

Products used:
Using part of the design I paid for but it's so much extra work for my developer.

Service
Value
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Thumbnail of user lances83
1 review
0 helpful votes
January 31st, 2020

This was a great way to get multiple ideas and designs for many different designers. The process was easy and allowed for feedback and alterations. Overall quite satisfied with the finished product.

Thumbnail of user yokon4
1 review
9 helpful votes
January 31st, 2022

I am a designer and I've been registered recently, but I had enough time on this platform to understand how everything works. (more than 6 months)
It is a total scam for professional designers. They keep the best designers and the most creative ones to entry level and they let mid and top level copy and steal the concepts from the first ones. I have experienced more than 3 times this kind of modern scamming. They take my concepts, modify the design slightly so they would give the same exact response at the end (that the overall look is different and the concept is common so they didn't steal it from me) and let the amateurs win. Ironically nobody thought of that exact idea before I submitted it. Most of the designers have 0 creativity so they go on by stealing other people's ideas. Even in a blind contest I was scammed. The client himself showed my concepts to another designer and he mixed them and won the contest at the end. I noticed from the usage of the same exact font and color palette, which is totally impossible in blind contests where nobody can see what I've submitted, unless the client sends my work to them (or the platform does in this case).
I would not recommend this platform for professional designers, and the clients have been unsatisfied more and more because all the best designers have left this platform. I will probably be gone too, very soon. Even when the winner has not copied the design from other contestants, they copy it from the internet and the clients end up paying $400 for a $5 logo or even worse (someone won, in one of the contests I participated, using a free logo from freepik.com and he just outlined it). Pretty unbelievable, but it happened!
I wrote this and wanted to be 100% honest because I would have wanted to read this before I registered to that awful workplace.

Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user hayka1
1 review
23 helpful votes
September 19th, 2020

You would probably get many designs, but with little to no creativity. In our case we got over 200 different options, but all fairly standard. This is not the right place to look for something out of ordinary.

Thumbnail of user mattb564
1 review
11 helpful votes
August 20th, 2020

This is the second time I've had a highly successful, business-critical project done via 99designs. I'm super happy with the output. My only knock this time versus last time is that there weren't as many designers competing for my business this time. Not sure if that was an anomaly or what, but overall I'm really happy.

Thumbnail of user robertoc62
1 review
2 helpful votes
September 2nd, 2018

The all concept, the details and the process of 99Designs is very well done and professional! However in the first drafts I got few designs of the logo and when I asked for adjustments I had to commit 100% that is fine, but that all depends on the designers you get! One of them was very willing and quick on doing revisions, others not really and one refused all together, instead giving me advise on what to do... At last I picked a logo and then purchased another design package that offers the business card, branding and facebook cover for an extra $250 and that was fine. However that was done quickly and not as nice! Most important for me was to get the original and editable files, instead I the files they sent me are all flattened out, not quite editable and for the fonts they just gave me the name, not the actual original. Even if that would be a separate charge I would be willing to pay for if but they should have give me that option and say that before... Maybe any other customer may be more lucky and get everything done super nice because the concept and the process are very nicely done!

Thumbnail of user charlies53
Support T. – 99designs Rep

Hi Roberto,

We appreciate your feedback!

We're so sorry to hear that your experience with your design contest is not as pleasant as you expected. Our mission is to provide clients with a design that they love with scalable and editable deliverables. If you can reach out to us directly at -https://support.99designs.com/hc/en-us/requests/new, we'd be happy to assist you and make sure you receive the editable files you need.

We look forward to working with you to resolve this.

- Jerlyn from 99designs

Thumbnail of user paulb1739
1 review
14 helpful votes
January 3rd, 2020

99designs is by far the best site for an independent author to find a book cover design that will enhance their work. It's no secret that title and cover are the two first signals to a potential buyer/reader. 99designs puts one in front. My friends loved the polls I sent out. I received over one hundred fifty designs and thoroughly enjoyed the process of finding the one I liked best. I recommend this site to anyone out there who isn't scared to invest a few bucks in what will be a gold mine of design.

Thumbnail of user danield2130
1 review
0 helpful votes
December 6th, 2022

Design you will receive are often copied, use stock icons and stock fonts. Any proactive requests to try and work with 99 designs to get the outcomes you want will be dismissed in the name of efficiency.

Tip for consumers:
Work with a designer individually. The concept of this site should be good but the incentives make it not so.

Products used:
Logo design

Thumbnail of user andria7
1 review
1 helpful vote
September 23rd, 2022

Almost 10 years following the contest at 99designs. Have won many contests there and got regular clients, but only because the ip and payment address are the same as my wife's, my wife's account was deleted because it was considered a double account. And I sent a message to support only in reply the system they have like that. The automated system which they say is sophisticated but looks stupid and they are not responsible for my loss. From my lost projects and clients. And no awards have been received for almost 10 years of working there. Like your time is wasted there

Service
Value
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Thumbnail of user elisek21
1 review
35 helpful votes
March 16th, 2022

I have won several times as designer, and it's important for me to find clients that are easy to work with. Although you can't always win, even when you have provided designs that will work better than the ones chosen by the clients in the end, you can always learn and place the unused design to your portfolio. Also, there can be other opportunities from 1-to-1 projects and—as your skills grow and made it as a top level designer—offer your services without having to go through complex contest processes.

Tip for consumers:
Start guaranteed and blind contest. Always reward designs that work and rate from expert design perspective. It will help your business grow if you choose the right design. Collaborate with the designers closely.

Products used:
Hi,

I'm only reviewing the website. For my use case, I did not involve in selling or buying physical goods. We're dealing with graphic design.

Thumbnail of user jonathans1522
1 review
1 helpful vote
June 28th, 2022
Verified purchase

Edit:
Changed review after customer service sorted it all out. Helpful and polite.

(A little sad I had to go to social media to resolve probelm, but, all's well that ends well, I guess.)

Tip for consumers:
Good customer service.

Products used:
Bronze Logo & business card Package

Service
Value
Shipping
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Thumbnail of user ericm813
1 review
21 helpful votes
June 30th, 2020

I will definitely not be using 99designs again. Only 3 designers offered designs, so from the get-go, I felt pressure to use stuff I wasn't in love with. Each designer was on the other side of the planet, making timely communication difficult, especially adding to the time pressure as contests wound down. The communication and file sharing interface is TERRIBLE. I was frustrated every day while trying to navigate 99designs as the middleman between the designer and myself. Then I did some research non how much of my money (mean how little) the designer gets to keep and was furious. Skip 99 designs and find a designer directly. 99 deserves $0 for their efforts.

Thumbnail of user timk386
1 review
11 helpful votes
August 11th, 2020

I was ready to complete my second book's cover, but in the end didn't have enough faith that it was good enough and asked for feedback. I was told it and the first book would not stand up in the crowd, and for a little bit more, I could have paid for a 99 designs cover. I went with that advice and am blown away at the improvement I received by the winning designer. Now I have someone I plan to use going forward and I hope sales on my book will rebound once I release this sparkling new beauty on top.

Thumbnail of user dannyf53
1 review
5 helpful votes
April 9th, 2019

For the first time customer, there is no option to create a "blind" contest. All designers can see what other designers are submitting. Then they will wait until the last minute and flood you with similar submissions in the hopes that you irrationally pick theirs. I was also told by a designer to delete certain designs based on rule violations.

Customer service didn't read my emails thoroughly and kept suggesting things that I already disputed. Then once the contest completed (I used guaranteed payout) I've still not heard back from any of them... sad

The designer we ended up choosing was polite and easy to work with. But, we had 200 submissions of very similar logo's.

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user tanyah207
1 review
0 helpful votes
December 22nd, 2020

The quality was good, but not as stellar as I had hoped for. I chose amongst the options I had because I had already committed the money to the project. There is a wide range, but some of the submissions were not as good as the existing logo I already had. I liked that the designers were open to design tweaks I had suggested. Some designers definitely showed more creativity than others and some seemed to understand my business and the goal for my business better than others. All in all, it was satisfactory and I am glad I tried it.

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From the business

99designs is the global creative platform that makes it easy for designers + clients to work together to create designs they love.

Business History

Founded in 2008, 99designs has grown from a small, online forum into a global community of talented designers that is now the go-to creative solution for businesses, agencies and individuals. We are headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with operations in Oakland, California and Berlin, Germany.

Company Representative

Thumbnail of user charlies53
Support T.
Support Staff
Typically does not respond to reviews
We are your friendly 99designs customer support staff. If you have any questions, or require service, please get in contact with us, or head over to our support page (99designs.com/contact) and we'll be happy to assist!

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