99designs is definitely our friend. The key to success is starting with a clear vision and being able to articulate it to designers.
I am a big fan of 99designs for a number of reasons. First of all, it’s an Australian company and when I log in it says “g’day, lucinda brown”. Priceless. Second, their design contests are compatible with many designers’ work habits, hence attracting people with talent. Third, it is an excellent value, for those who can speak the language of design.
There’s a lot going on at any given time at 99designs. For instance, as I’m writing this, there are 541 active contests. I have a custom wordpress theme competition running myself, and there are 12 other active contests in that category. The sheer volume of this marketplace means that, compared to traditional graphic design projects, everything moves faster (the recommended duration for a contest is 7 days) and the barrier to entry is lower.
Imagine, at the end of the month, Designer A needs some cash to pay bills. He can log on, see what projects speak to him, whip up some broad brush stroke concepts, and upload them. The next day, he’ll find out whether it resonated with the contest holder(s). A talented designer, such as Hitron, who won a recent contest of mine, wins 1 out of 3 of the contests he enters.
Putting yourself in the designers’ shoes, there is very little risked, both in terms of sunk time and reputation, in entering contests. Whenever I am given the option, I choose to run blind contests, where only the contest holder can see all the designs. According to 99designs, “This means designers can express their creativity more freely without worrying about protecting their concepts. Blind contests offer greater protection for designers and promote fair competition, which means they will attract the best designers and higher quality designs.”
Great design! Great prices! What’s not to like? Well, there are plenty of people who think 99designs is the worst thing to happen to design, such as this dude and these people. Some categorize 99designs as a colossal waste of time where “garbage in, garbage out” is all you can stand to gain. I think dissenters are either a) designers who are threatened by this large, disruptive marketplace, or b) people who don’t know how to work with designers.
The key to success at 99designs is to know what you want and take the time to describe it through both words and images. For better or for worse, there is a lot of design talent out there that is very competitively priced. What doesn’t come cheap is marketing, the cultural insight, the ideas, the words, the insight into your target market. If you are holding a 99designs contest, you are are serving as the art director, and designers are carrying out your vision.
It probably comes as no surprise that this very web site was designed through a 99designs project. And, because I believe in transparency, I’m sharing with you some of the details of my successful contest in the slideshow below.
core value #3: transparency. we share our methodologies with clients, including teaching them how to do stuff themselves.
First, you’re probably curious what this web site cost. The third image shows that I spent $1022, which included a line item of $299 for coding (most definitely not design, and a topic for another day). Hence, I spent $723 on design services, which is an excellent price! OK, OK, I know what you’re thinking — 1000 bucks for a cool web site, sign me up! — well, I’m afraid you’ll find yourself in the “garbage in, garbage out” camp if you stop there.
What you don’t get with your Cool G at 99designs is the strategic web marketing element — the branding, the functionality, the content, and of course art direction and ongoing communication to guide the project to completion. That’s one of the things Trillamar does very well. Saw that coming, didn’t you?
