99designs

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.)

While I liked working with the particular designer who did my logo, the process at 99designs didn't meet my expectations at all. The contest idea felt a little misleading, as you're guaranteed "30 designs," for example, but really, most of those are just a designer submitting the same design with different font options or icon-based designs, which I could have done myself. I was far from impressed with most of the designers and especially with the number of options for the contest. I debated about hiring a designer directly (which would have cost a third to half the price) and probably would have netted me the same result. It felt expensive and underwhelming.

I'm an active designer on 99designs since 2013 and I owe so much to this platform... I've learned a lot there, I've grown a lot as a designer, I've met wonderful and talented designers from all over the world there and not in the last place, I've met a lot of great clients that were a pleasure to work with.

The Support Team was always there when I needed help or just wanted an answer. The whole platform is friendly, easy to use, inter-active and in a constant pursue to get better and better, which I absolutely love about them.

So, if you are a designer and want to test your design skills in contests, learn and challenge yourself to be a winner, then, this is the place for you.

If you have a business and need something designed, I think you will find plenty of options there and it will be hard for you to choose from and in case you are just not satisfied, you have a money back guarantee... either way, you won't risk anything.

I had been encouraged to try 99designs, and as the need was urgent, I did. The initial minutes showed an immediate response, and what a response. There was such a variety of designs, responses to feedback, approaches from a different direction, such that I was torn between excellent answers to my question. I never realised there could be such competition. I have already begun another competition, and I will be using 99designs again, and - I think - using them often. This has completely convinced me of the value of the site.

I have several companies. This was my second time using 99designs and I couldn't be happier. I am completely satisfied with the winning designs. I am very disturbed by the negative comments of the designers. I can understand a designer being disappointed or angry when their designs get 5 stars and then the client chooses a different design. When you get 3 designs that are all spectacular or one just fits your company a little better, even though it didn't score as high--we just have to pick. If your not getting paid for a win. Well that's just wrong! I experienced designers copying other designers and taking stuff right off the internet. As the client, I called them out on it through private comment and that ended that.

Haha, seems like so many bad reviews.
Between, I'm an UI designer.
You know what?
One contest holder has clearly stated his design brief and he mentioned he want super clean design. Then he rated me 2 stars, he commented 'yes it's clean but it has no personality. your design i can buy via wordpress theme store for $20. to get to the top your design still need more work.'

one thing i'm not really satisfied:
what is actually a great personality of web design?
even i searched via google and returned 0 results.
what is that thing huh??
contest holder issue or mine?

excuse me?
anyone?

We settled for a 3 star review design because the support was unable to help us. Also, there was a particular support person, Hannah, she was rude. Instead of listening and helping she persisted to argue and lecture us. Not very sympathetic to our concerns. We will not be using 99designs again and will let our other cofounder friends know that they should just use Fiverr or upwork. At least you will get better customer support if you deal directly with the designer. Their contest blocks you from speaking to designers. You have to explain everything via their comment box. Not the best process when looking to create a brand together.

To all who say it's great and stop whining you're just part of them, 99designs is a mess and no one cares about designers rights, when you spend a lot of time on something just as the brief says, then you get eliminated in seconds, and when it's not blind and the client don't give a F about your efforts or ideas then that's the real disaster, when a new designer come and collect ideas then add an extra silly move, the client say wow you are creative! Now let's eliminate the others, another one comes and add something then the client eliminate the previous work! And we have a new star and so on... so the the summary is that we are "The Designers" is the main and the only victims, clients can end contest or refund i'm sure there's a solution, so please designers STAY AWAY and let's have some dignity, something is wrong there... specially that site, respect your work and experience.

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.

99designs makes designing a company logo really easy. The process is simple, the website is intuitive, the customer support is fantastic (chat, call, email... all work well), and the designers are awesome! The cost is very reasonable and the overall experience is really fun. And in the end you get something really useful! Highly recommended for creating a company/brand/team logo.

This site is a joke! Starts off seeming real, but after you submit a few entries they suspend you for "lack of quality." I think they suspend all new users who are not hired by them! Then the so-called "designers" will just copy your ideas and supposedly win the money, half of which goes to the site itself. Please beware!
This is NOT a welcoming community, NOT a professional company, and NOT anything worth putting time or money into- designers and contest organizers both!
Plus to join you need to upload a picture of your driver's license or passport? Sketchy. I regret giving them my information now that I know this is a scam.

Ridiculous Designers League. Top on cheating. Habit of stealing others artwork. Try to pull down other designers by reporting. Discourage so that they will quit from the contest. And jealousy at its best. Horrible attitude. These type of designers spoiling all honest designers image from different part of world. 99design doesn't care all this. They make lots of money by any way. Infact they supports some of fraud designers. Some staff member are involve in such case. Do not trust any designer from 99design or 99design. A part from personal experience.

I hired a designer on 99designs for a 1-1 project. I didn't know this at the time, but once payment is secured, it guarantees payment to the designer regardless of quality of work submitted after that point. This is unusual, if you use sites like upwork for example, you can secure payment but you are in complete control of whether freelancer ever receives the funds. Needless to say, I'm stuck with a crappy logo and out $400 USD. I won't be using them again. And for reference, I used a designer who goes by the alias Widakk. He had a good portfolio but the work he did for me was terrible. Use at your own risk.

I love 99design, it's the best out there for freelancer!... If your're a designer don't hesitated, because you gonna learn, if you play by the rules... If you are not willing to learn, or it's more easy copy than create, them you'll probably get a ban.

Customer has opportunity to choose in hundreds designs and work on 1-1 projects with guarantee for both sides.

Well I'm just getting started with 99designs, looked for a contest, submit logo, rated, and yes made it as a finalist, their was 3 of us left, then i submit designs just as what the client have suggested, and stayed all night, submit few designs for the final, saving other designs which still on work, and suddenly, just this morning, email received, 99design suspended your account: "Thanks for your interest in 99designs. Unfortunately the current quality of your work does not fit our site standards"... well sh** happens, you got interested, made effort, hoped, and whoosh bye bye, just for quality, but didn't mind the effort and creativity

I ordered a logo from them on 8/11/18. After I chose a logo, the designer sent it to me. Except that I couldn't use it at all; the file was compromised in some way. After a couple of attempts by the designer to fix this, he gave up and ignored my emails. I contacted 99designs directly to try and resolve the issue. At first, they promised to make it right, then, they also dropped the ball and stopped responding to me. I have a logo, but I can't use it anywhere on anything because it's blurry and one line of the text in it is too small to read. Bottom line? I wasted $338 on this inept, rip-off company. I'm now attempting to get my money back from Paypal except that I might not be able to do so. 99 Designs was smart enough to string me along until I could no longer request a refund. My next move is to obviously bad-mouth them everywhere I can. Maybe I can save someone else the agony I lived through with these incompetent "designers."