99designs is the #1 marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design. We connect passionate designers from around the globe with customers seeking quality, affordable design services.
Press Releases
The latest news and information about 99designs, straight from the horse’s mouth.
99designs Doubles Monthly Design Contests and Designer Payouts, Adds Key Executives and Staff to Fuel Growth
January 24, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO and MELBOURNE – January 24, 2012 – 99designs, the largest online marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design services, today announced it has doubled the number of monthly design contests held on its site year over year, hired key staff and executives to meet growing demand, and expects significantly accelerated growth in 2012.
99designs continues to experience substantial growth across its graphic design categories, including logo, web, t-shirt and print design, as well as new categories such as mobile app design. The four-year-old company, which has held more than 115,000 design contests on its site to date, has doubled the run rate of new contests from a year ago and is on track to surpass 200,000 design contests by year end.
The amount of money 99designs distributes to its designers each month continues to surge—99designs expects to pay out approximately $1.5 million to its design community for contests held in January 2012, twice what designers earned for January contests last year. 99designs has paid out more than $29 million to designers to date and projects it will pay out $25 million to its designer community in 2012. Top designers on 99designs have reported earning more than $10,000 per month from a combination of designer payouts earned on 99designs plus ongoing client work sourced through the marketplace.
Doubling Staff and Executive Hires
To meet growing demand, 99designs has doubled its staff to more than 50 employees in less than a year and hired two key executives: Jeff Titterton as Chief Marketing Officer and Caroline Moon as Chief Financial Officer.
“2011 was a stand-out year for 99designs, from rapid growth in design contests and payouts to the successful launch of the first localized versions of our site in Australia and Canada,” said CEO Patrick Llewellyn. “In 2012 we’re focused on continuous improvement of our services as crowdsourced graphic design enters the mainstream. Caroline and Jeff not only have the experience we need at this next stage of growth, they are also passionate about design, which makes them a great fit for our team and community.”
Titterton comes to 99designs with strong brand management, marketing and international experience, including his most recent post as VP of Marketing at social dating company Zoosk, where he led the company’s aggressive global expansion. He has also served as VP of Marketing at IMVU and SVP of Consumer Marketing and Services at PlanetOut, Inc.
“What I love about 99designs is that it solves a major pain point felt by so many of my colleagues—sourcing professional graphic design quickly and affordably,” said Titterton. “I’m looking forward to the next phase of our evolution as we focus on expanding our customer base and refining our services to better meet the needs of both designers and customers.”
Moon brings financial and analytical leadership, with particular expertise in online marketplace strategy. She previously served as CFO of independent ad exchange AdBrite and prior to that worked in a series of marketplace strategy and analysis roles at online marketplace eBay and Credit Suisse First Boston.
“99designs has been profitable since its inception – and that isn’t something many CFOs at venture-backed startups can say,” said Moon. “The confidence our investors have in us and the powerful engagement of our customers and designers is a testament to the strength of the crowdsourced model we’ve created. I’m looking forward to helping the company navigate the road ahead as we shift into our next phase of growth.”
About 99designs
99designs, the largest online marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design services, enables businesses to source custom logo design, web design, t-shirt design, print design and other graphic design work quickly and affordably by launching design projects to a global community of more than 140,000 designers in 192 countries. In addition to its design contests, 99designs provides a 1-to-1 invoicing system that enables designers and customers to work together efficiently, and offers a ready-made logo store stocked with more than 13,000 high-quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf. The company was co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz (SitePoint, Flippa), and is backed by Accel Partners and angel investors Michael Dearing (eBay, Harrison Metal), Dave Goldberg (Survey Monkey), Stewart Butterfield (Flickr, Tiny Speck) and Anthony Casalena (Squarespace). To learn more about 99designs, including where the company is hiring, visit 99designs.com.
Media contact (Worldwide):
Lauren Gard
510-246-1366
lauren.gard@99designs.com
Media contact (Australia):
Caroline Shawyer
+61 (0) 401 496 334
caroline@prgroup.com.au
99designs Establishes Design Student Fund to Celebrate 99,999th Design Contest
October 11, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO and MELBOURNE – October 11, 2011 – Today, 99designs, 99,999th design contest by establishing a $99,999 fund for design students. Since 2008, 99designs has pioneered the crowdsourced graphic design market by helping designers and small businesses around the world work together and build lasting relationships.
"It has been an exhilarating ride to 99,999 contests," said Mark Harbottle, co-founder of 99designs. "What better way to celebrate than by offering additional support to design students across the globe as they acquire the skills they need to build their careers."
99designs will award 1,010 x $99 bonus payments to students on top of every contest prize won, until the $99,999 cash pool runs out.
Every month over $1.2 million dollars is paid out to designers in the 99designs community as a result of design work commissioned by small businesses from around the world. In just over three years 99designs has:
- Built a community of over 125,000 designers in over 192 countries
- Paid a total of $25 million to its designers
- Uploaded a new design to the site every 6 seconds
- Placed over 13,000 logos available for customization and sale in its logo store
- Launched 99,999 design contests to date
"In the past year alone we've more than doubled our contest volume and made it significantly easier and more valuable for small businesses and designers alike to use our service. We also secured investment from leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel Partners. This investment has enabled us to accelerate our growth and launch localized editions of our site in key markets," said Patrick Llewellyn, CEO of 99designs. "I want to thank our community of talented designers, the myriad of small businesses who use the service and our amazing team in Australia and San Francisco -- we couldn't have done it without you. Here's to the next 99,999 contests!"
99designs connects small businesses needing custom design work such as logos and websites to a global community of over 125,000 designers. Businesses benefit from engaging with multiple designers simultaneously making it easier to build the right relationship while designers are exposed to upwards of 1,200 new client opportunities at any given time and can showcase their work on a level playing field.
For more information about the Design Student Fund please see: http://99designs.com/designers
Contact:
Lauren Gard
510-246-1366
lauren.gard@99designs.com
Accel Partners Leads $35 Million Investment in 99designs to Drive Global Expansion
April 28, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO and MELBOURNE - April 28, 2011 – Today, 99designs, the largest online marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design services, announced a $35 million first-round investment led by Accel Partners, with participation from angel investors Michael Dearing (eBay, Harrison Metal), Dave Goldberg (Survey Monkey), Stewart Butterfield (Flickr, Tiny Speck), and Anthony Casalena (Squarespace).
Andrew Braccia and Ryan Sweeney of Accel Partners will join 99design’s Board of Directors, along with Michael Dearing, 99designs co-founder Mark Harbottle, and company CEO Patrick Llewellyn.
99designs was founded in Melbourne, Australia in February 2008, when co-founders Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz – the entrepreneurs behind sitepoint.com, Flippa.com and Learnable.com – spun it out of the SitePointForums. 99designs, which employs 26 staff in Melbourne and San Francisco, was bootstrapped and is profitable, and has enjoyed 120 percent year-on-year growth.
- 99designs has over 100,000 designers in 192 countries.
- The company has paid out over $19 million to designers to date.
- 99designs has hosted 75,000 projects, resulting in a new design uploaded every six seconds.
- There are more than 10,000 logos available for customization and sale in their logo store.
The new capital will be invested in international expansion, platform development, community initiatives like design scholarships, and aggressive hiring in San Francisco and Melbourne.
99designs is Accel Partners’ third investment in Australia, including Atlassian Software and OzForex.
Accel Partner Andrew Braccia said: “Accel Partners has a history of investing in online businesses that cater to the ever changing needs of small business owners and independent professionals. 99designs has quickly become a global market leader in its category, providing an invaluable service to its customers and their global community of design professionals. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to assist in the company’s next phase of growth.”
Michael Dearing, whose private investments include Admob (Google), Heroku (Salesforce.com) and Mix Labs (Twitter) said: “99designs caught my attention when I realized that nearly every one of the early stage companies and entrepreneurs I work with was turning to them to get great design work done. The team has created a marketplace that is easy for companies to get onboard with, and is also a boon for designers who can go after any of the hundreds of jobs open at any one time.”
99designs Co-Founder Mark Harbottle said: “I’m thrilled that Accel see the same potential in 99designs that we do. This obviously presents a fantastic opportunity for the 99designs team, but I’m most excited about what we have in store for our loyal community of designers, and the hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world who use 99designs.com. I’m looking forward to the next chapter.”
99designs CEO Patrick Llewellyn said: “This is an exciting time for the company as it pushes forward with expansion in several key areas. We now have the benefit of our talented and dedicated team, coupled with the best technology investors around. The board and shareholder advisors we have in place provide us with exceptional experience and insight to help guide our future growth.”
About 99designs
99designs is the #1 marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design services. Its ready-made logo store has over 10,000 high-quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf for $99, and its Design Contest Marketplace enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom logo design, web design, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects to a global community of over 100,000 designers. 99designs has hosted over 75,000 design contests to date, sees a new design uploaded every 6 seconds, and pays out approximately $1 million to its design community each month. To learn more about 99designs, including where the company is hiring, visit 99designs.com.
Media contact (Worldwide):
Rebecca Fuller
415-298-0416
rebecca@mightypr.com
Media contact (Australia):
Miranda Burford
+61 3 9090 8299
99designs Supports StartUP Britain After Being Dropped
April 01, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--99designs is giving away a free design contest every week in April to a UK small business and upgrading all UK design contests for free for the entire month. The campaign was launched to support StartUP Britain, an initiative to encourage small business growth across the United Kingdom. The move comes after StartUP Britain dropped 99designs from its site amid heavy pressure to support local design shops instead.
“99designs has helped thousands of small businesses and freelance designers across the United Kingdom – British designers make up the 5th largest segment of our design community,” said Matt Mickiewicz, Founder of 99designs. “We regret StartUP Britain’s decision to take down our link but appreciate that this seasoned group of successful entrepreneurs recognizes the tremendous value 99designs provides to small businesses and startups.”
Every design contest launched on 99designs in April by a business in the UK will automatically receive a free Power Pack upgrade ($85 value) and be entered into a weekly drawing to have the total cost of their contest returned to them.
To take advantage of the campaign, a UK business must simply:
- Click on the following link: http://99designs.com/go/startupbritain
- Go to the 99designs website and launch a design contest between now and April 30th.
- Check your emails and our website to see if you have won!
For more information please visit: http://blog.99designs.com/2011/03/30/startup-britain-99designs-love/
About 99designs
99designs is the #1 marketplace for small business graphic design. Its Ready-made logo store has over ten thousand high quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf for $99, while its Design Contest Marketplace enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom logo design, web design, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects to a global community of over 90,000 designers. 99designs has hosted over 70,000 design contests to date for brands such as TiVo and DISH Network. It sees a new design uploaded every 7 seconds and pays out over $900,000 to its design community each month.
For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs to Donate 100% of Profits to Benefit New Zealand Earthquake Relief
March 03, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--99designs is donating 100% of its profits for Thursday, March 3rd Pacific Time to benefit New Zealand’s Christchurch Earthquake Appeal. The earthquake that struck Christchurch on February 22nd has claimed over 140 lives, injured thousands and caused billions of dollars in damages. To contribute simply launch a design contest on 99designs.com on March 3rd and all profits will automatically be donated directly to the relief efforts. Please visit http://99designs.com/christchurch to get started.
“Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrible tragedy”, said Matt Mickiewicz, Co-founder of 99designs. “We are proud to do our part to help the people of New Zealand in this time of great need.”
99designs is always looking for ways to help Not-for-Profit charitable causes around the globe. Please contact notforprofit@99designs.com for more information.
About 99designs
99designs is the #1 marketplace for small business graphic design. Its Ready-made logo store has over ten thousand high quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf for $99, while its Design Contest Marketplace enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom logo design, web design, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects to a global community of over 90,000 designers. 99designs has hosted over 67,000 design contests to date for brands such as TiVo and DISH Network. It sees a new design uploaded every 7 seconds and pays out over $800,000 to its design community every month.
For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs Holds Design Contest for NBCUniversal Logo Redesign
January 31, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--99designs is sponsoring a design contest to redesign the new NBCUniversal logo that was announced following NBCUniversal’s sale to Comcast. The new logo received mixed reviews for dropping the iconic and colorful NBC peacock in exchange for a logo that is one-color and all text. The design contest is open for anyone to submit alternative design ideas until Sunday, February 6th at https://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/logo-design-better-nbc-universal-community-contest-64113.
The NBCUniversal logo redesign contest is the latest in a string of successful community design contests sponsored by 99designs that have tackled everything from the GAP logo fiasco, the Rio Olympics to a new hairstyle for Julian Assange. “The contests are a lot of fun and the community loves to participate – the GAP contest saw nearly 5,000 submissions from over 1,000 designers around the world,” said Jason Aiken Community Director for 99designs.
Entries will be judged for their creativity and overall design integrity by the 99designs staff. The submissions can be viewed at https://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/logo-design-better-nbc-universal-community-contest-64113.
About 99designs
99designs is the #1 marketplace for small business graphic design. Its Ready-made logo store has over ten thousand high quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf for $99, while its Design Contest Marketplace enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom logo design, web design, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects to a global community of over 90,000 designers. 99designs has hosted over 63,000 design contests to date for brands such as TiVo and DISH Network. It sees a new design uploaded every 7 seconds and pays out over $600,000 to its design community every month.
For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs Holds Design Contest to ‘Design a Better GAP Logo’
October 11, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--99designs launched an open design contest to “Design a Better GAP Logo” in response to the criticism designers and GAP customers around the world expressed when the GAP recently unveiled its own logo redesign. The project was open for anyone to participate and received 4,660 submissions from over 1,000 designers in just 5 days.
The submissions can be viewed at http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/design-better-gap-logo-community-project-54693; the winning design will be decided by community vote and presented to GAP management in a gesture of goodwill.
“The GAP logo is so iconic and the redesign has clearly stirred up song strong opinions,” said Mark Harbottle, founder of 99designs.com. “We thought this would be a fun and constructive way to give people the opportunity to express themselves - we’re excited by incredible response and amazing talent of our design community!”
About 99designs.com
99designs is the #1 marketplace for small business graphic design. Its Ready-made logo store has over ten thousand high quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf for $99, while its Design Contest Marketplace enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom logo design, web design, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects to a global community of over 80,000 designers. 99designs has hosted over 50,000 design contests to date for brands such as TiVo and DISH Network. It sees a new design uploaded every 7 seconds and pays out over $600,000 to its design community every month.
For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com Raises $6,000 for Gulf Oil Spill Relief Auctioning its Webby Award Speech
June 14, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--99designs.com has raised $6,000 for The Gulf Restoration Network by auctioning off its 5-word Webby Award acceptance speech to the highest bidder. Fotolia placed the winning bid for the speech that will be presented on stage at the Webby Award Gala in New York City on Monday, June 14th.
“Auctioning off their Webby Award acceptance speech was an ingenious way for 99designs to raise donations for the Gulf Oil disaster relief fund,” says Fotolia founder and CEO Oleg Tscheltzoff. “Fotolia is honored to be able to contribute to this creative relief effort approach. Collectively, we can all make a difference and rectify this terrible tragedy.”
“On behalf of the entire 99designs team we want to thank Fotolia for making the auction a success,” said Mark Harbottle, Founder of 99designs.com. “We’re really happy we were able to leverage a small moment in the spotlight to lend a helping hand in a time of great need for the Gulf of Mexico.”
About 99designs.com
99designs is the #1 marketplace for small business graphic design. Its Ready-made logo store has thousands of high quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf for $99, while its Design Contest Marketplace enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom logo design, web design, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects to a global community of over 200,000 members. 99designs.com sees a new design uploaded every 7 seconds and pays out over $600,000 to its design community every month.
For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
About Fotolia
Freedom to download over 9,000,000 royalty-free photos, vectors, and videos is found on Fotolia. With an unbeatable commitment to quality and affordability, high-resolution images on Fotolia start at less than $1.
Fotolia revolutionized the industry in 2007 by becoming the first online image provider to bring together micro and agency stock with the addition of the Infinite Collection. Today, Fotolia is proudly represented in 12 countries and offers service in 10 languages.
For more information please visit: fotolia.com
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com Auctions Webby Award Speech to Raise Money for Oil Spill Relief
June 10, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--99designs.com is auctioning off its Webby Award acceptance speech to raise money to support the oil spill relief efforts of The Gulf Restoration Network. 99designs will use its 5-word speech to thank the highest bidder on stage at the Webby Award Gala in New York City on Monday, June 14th.
Here is how it works:
- 99designs will collect bids via email (press@99designs.com) until 12:00 pm PT on Monday, June 14th.
- Bidding starts at $1,000 and increases in $1,000 increments.
- The money will be donated directly from the highest bidder to The Gulf Restoration Network and is 100% tax deductible.
- 99designs will use its 5-word speech to thank the highest bidder on stage at the Webby Award Gala in New York City: “Thanks for your donation (COMPANY NAME)”
To Bid:
Please send your Name, Email Address, Phone Number along with your how much you’d like to bid to press@99designs.com.
“Like so many others, everyone at 99designs.com is saddened by the ongoing tragedy of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Mark Harbottle, Founder of 99designs.com. “We thought we would try something fun to help – every little bit helps.”
For more information and to track the current highest bidder please visit: http://bit.ly/cWmqqB.
About 99designs.com
99designs is the #1 marketplace for small business graphic design. Its Ready-made logo store has thousands of high quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf for $99, while its Design Contest Marketplace enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom logo design, web design, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects to a global community of over 200,000 members. 99designs.com sees a new design uploaded every 7 seconds and pays out over $600,000 to its design community every month.
For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com Slips Past Dropbox and Tumblr to Take The People’s Voice Webby
May 07, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The global Web community has voted 99designs.com as the Best Web Service & Application of the year in the Webby People’s Voice Awards. 99designs.com, the #1 marketplace for small business graphic design, passed Dropbox and Tumblr on the final day of voting to take the prestigious award.
“We hold Tumblr and Dropbox in extremely high regard. Like many millions of people around the world we use their services and love them, so we were incredibly humbled when we heard the news that we’d won,” said Matt Mickiewicz, Cofounder of 99designs.com.
To pull off the surprise upset, 99designs had to get the full support of its community at just the right time. The company rallied its community in the final hours of voting, promising that it would celebrate a Webby win with the entire 99designs team marching down a main street singing Queen’s We are the Champions and post it to YouTube for all to see.
“To be honest I never thought we’d have to sing, it’s just one of those things we threw out there to keep it fun for our community. They probably would have voted anyway, but perhaps a tiny part of their motivation was to see us totally embarrass ourselves,” said Mark Harbottle, Cofounder of 99designs.com. “In any case we are extremely grateful to our community and we now have a video to produce - the worst part is we can’t sing.”
99designs.com will be honored at a star-studded ceremony hosted by B.J. Novak of NBC’s “The Office” on June 14th in New York City. On June 15th, fans will be able to watch the ceremony, including 99designs’ five-word speech, at the official Webby Awards YouTube Channel.
"The Webby Awards honors the very best of the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. "99designs’ win is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators."
Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile websites. The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include Martha Stewart, R/GA's Chief Bob Greenberg, David Bowie, Arianna Huffington and Twitter's Biz Stone.
About 99designs.com
99designs is the #1 marketplace for small business graphic design. Its Ready-made logo store has thousands of high quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf for $99, while its Design Contest Marketplace enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom logo design, web design, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects to a global community of over 190,000 members. 99designs.com sees a new design uploaded every 7 seconds and pays out over $600,000 to its design community every month.
For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
About The Webby Awards
Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 13th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: Microsoft Expression; Aol; YouTube; Pepsi; Aquent; Yahoo!; Tribal DDB Worldwide; East Media; IDG; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; KobeMail; Museum of the Moving Image; Behance; Business Insider and Time Out New York.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com Up Against Dropbox and Tumblr for the Best Web Services & Applications in the 14th Annual Webby Awards
April 14, 2010
Fans can vote to help 99designs win Internet’s top honor
SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—99designs.com, the #1 marketplace small business graphic design, today announced it has been nominated for the best Web Services & Applications in the 14th Annual Webby Awards.
Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet.
99designs.com enables businesses to quickly and cost effectively source custom graphic design work without the risk while at the same time creates the opportunity for designers to showcase their talents on a level playing field. Its Ready-made logo store has thousands of high quality logos available for customization and sale right off the shelf for $99, and its Design Contest Marketplace allows businesses to source custom designed logos, websites, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching open design projects to a global community of over 65,000 designers.
99designs.com has completed over 41,000 projects to date for clients ranging from New York Times best selling authors and Fortune 500 companies to thousands of small businesses and organizations across the globe. It sees a new design uploaded every 7 seconds and pays out over $600,000 to its design community every month.
"Nominees like 99designs.com are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards. "It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 10,000 entries we received this year."
“It’s truly an honor to be nominated for the web’s most prestigious award,” said Mark Harbottle, founder of 99designs.com. “99designs has created opportunities for tens of thousands of designers all over the world and has helped break down the barriers of getting custom graphic design work for small businesses. I am extremely proud of the success we have enjoyed and this nomination is a testament to the excellence and hard work of the entire team who have built 99designs from the ground up.”
As a nominee, 99designs.com is also eligible to win a Webby People's Voice Award, which is voted online by the global Web community. From now until April 29th, fans of 99designs.com can cast their votes in The Webby People's Voice Awards at http://bit.ly/c4Trmy.
Winners will be announced on May 4th, 2010 and honored at a star-studded ceremony in New York City on June 14th where they will have an opportunity to deliver one of The Webby Awards’ famous five-word speeches. Past Webby Award winners - and their speeches - include Al Gore ("Please don't recount this vote."), Stephen Colbert ("Me. Me. Me. Me. Me."), and Michel Gondry ("Keyboards are full of germs.").
The Webby Awards is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 650-person judging academy whose members include Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, R/GA's Chief Bob Greenberg, "Simpson's" creator Matt Groening, Arianna Huffington, and Harvey Weinstein.
About 99designs
99designs is the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 28,000 design contests to date with over 2,600,000 unique designs submitted. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
About The Webby Awards
Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 13th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: Microsoft Expression; Aol; YouTube; Pepsi; Aquent; Yahoo!; Tribal DDB Worldwide; East Media; IDG; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; KobeMail; Museum of the Moving Image; Behance; Business Insider and Time Out New York.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com Logo Store Opens With Over 4,300 Logos For Sale
March 23, 2010
Thousands of High Quality Logos Can Be Purchased and Customized From $99
SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—99designs.com, the #1 marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design for small business, today announced its new ‘Ready-made’ logo store is now open for business. The Ready-made logo store from 99designs.com provides small businesses immediate access to a catalogue of thousands of professional logos that can be browsed, purchased and customized starting at just $99. The Ready-made storefront can be found at: http://99designs.com/logo-design/store.
Logos in the store are categorized by industry; customers simply browse the catalogue and choose the logo they like best. Logos are then customized with the buyer’s business name and delivered in 24 hours or less. Customers can purchase the non-exclusive rights for $99 or exclusive rights for an additional $199.
“The Ready-made logo store is the fastest and easiest way for small businesses to get a professional logo design,” said Mark Harbottle, Co-founder of 99designs.com. “While our popular design contest marketplace is ideal if you're looking for a fully customized logo, many small business owners simply want a fast, cost effective, ‘off the shelf’ option - our new logo store serves this purpose nicely.”
There are currently over 4,300 unique and original logos available for sale, with new logos added to the catalogue every day. Designers interested in uploading logos for sale can do so by visiting http://99designs.com/logo-design/store/submit. For more information about the Ready-made logo store please visit: http://99designs.com/logo-design/store.
About 99designs
99designs is the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 28,000 design contests to date with over 2,600,000 unique designs submitted. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com launches ready-made logo store
February 11, 2010
Thousands of High Quality Logos Can Be Purchased and Customized from $99
SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—99designs.com, the #1 marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design for small business, today announced a new ‘Ready-made’ logo store where thousands of professional logos can be browsed, purchased and customized starting at just $99. The ‘Ready-made’ logo store from 99designs.com provides small businesses immediate access to a catalogue of original and professional logos while also creating additional opportunities for designers to generate revenue. The Ready-made storefront is now accessible and accepting logo uploads with the first logos available for sale in March.
The logo store compliments the existing design contest marketplace at 99designs.com to create two options for sourcing professional logos at an affordable price. Small businesses looking for the fastest solution can pick a logo “off the shelf” at the Ready-made store and quickly have it customized to fit their needs. Meanwhile, clients who desire the highest level of customization can choose to have their logo created from scratch by crowdsourcing it to the community of designers at 99designs.com.
"While our popular design contest marketplace is ideal if you're looking for a fully customized logo, many small business owners simply want a fast, cost effective, ‘off the shelf’ option,” said Mark Harbottle, Co-founder of 99designs.com. “With thousands of professional logo designs ripe for the picking, our new logo store serves this purpose nicely. At the same time, our 60,000 active designers who upload a fresh design every 10 seconds to 99designs.com will welcome another potential source of income, and another channel to expose their talent to thousands of new customers."
99designs.com is currently working with its designers to prepare and categorize the Ready-made logos for sale. Designers interested in uploading logos for sale can do so by visiting http://99designs.com/readymade/submit/logo. The first logos will be available for purchase in March at http://99designs.com/readymade/logos.
About 99designs
99designs is the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 28,000 design contests to date with over 2,600,000 unique designs submitted. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com Announces $1,000 Design Package Sweepstakes
December 17, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—99designs.com, the #1 marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design for small businesses, today announced the $1,000 Design Package Sweepstakes. The winner will receive $1,000 to be used on 99designs.com to run a design project of their choice: logo design, web design, marketing materials, product labels or any other graphic design needed.
- To enter the sweepstakes for free via twitter please visit: http://bit.ly/8mGq3G
- To enter the sweepstakes for free via Facebook please visit: http://bit.ly/5WoyaM
Sweepstakes entrants who invite their friends to enter using the official sweepstakes entry form on either twitter or Facebook will receive another entry for each friend that enters via that referral.
The sweepstakes is open until December 22, 2009. Please see the official rules here: http://bit.ly/6eRJWW.
99designs.com enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom designed logos, websites, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects open to a global community of over 54,000 graphic designers. The average design project sees 99 custom design submissions, significantly reducing the risks typically associated with qualifying and hiring a freelancer or a design agency.
About 99designs
99designs is the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 28,000 design contests to date with over 2,600,000 unique designs submitted. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
Former Logoworks Director Joins 99designs.com
December 10, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—99designs.com, the #1 marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design for small businesses, today announced that former Logoworks Executive Vice President and significant shareholder, Jeff Kearl, has joined the 99designs advisory board. Kearl, now an angel investor, brings invaluable direct experience in the small business graphic design market and will provide strategic leadership across a range of business issues.
“With its unique crowdsourcing model, 99designs is again reshaping the graphic design landscape,” said Jeff Kearl. “In a very short time 99designs has achieved amazing growth, servicing over 30,000 small business customers and cultivating a design community of over 140,000 members. I look forward to sharing my insights and knowledge to help 99designs develop it business further and reach even greater heights.”
In addition to playing a key role in the growth of Logoworks, Jeff Kearl was integral in selling Logoworks to HP in 2007, where he later served as the Director of Strategy and New Ventures for HP. Jeff has made angel investments in 16 companies, including Omniture (sold to Adobe for $1.8B), MyFamily.com (sold to Spectrum Equity for $300M), Coupa, Outright, FamilyLink, Zenprint, and now 99designs.com.
“We are truly excited to have someone of Jeff’s caliber and experience join 99designs,” said Mark Harbottle, founder of 99designs.com. “It gives us great pride to have of one of the earliest innovators in the online design services space join the team. We look forward to Jeff’s strategic input as we continue to provide a unique platform for professional graphic design services at an affordable price, and create opportunity for designers across the globe.”
About 99designs
99designs is the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 28,000 design contests to date with over 2,600,000 unique designs submitted. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com Named Best Startup Idea by Smartcompany
December 01, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO & MELBOURNE, Australia—(BUSINESS WIRE)—99designs.com, the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, has been named the ‘Best Startup Idea’ in the 2009 SmartCompany Crown Lager Business Startup Awards. SmartCompany and Crown Lager created the Business Startup Awards to recognize Australia’s fastest growing startups and most innovative entrepreneurs. 99designs was additionally recognized in the top 15 of the 50 fastest growing startups.
99designs.com enables businesses to quickly and inexpensively source custom designed logos, websites, business cards or any other graphic design work by launching design projects open to a global community of over 52,000 graphic designers. The average design project sees 99 custom design submissions, significantly reducing the risks typically associated with qualifying and hiring a freelancer or a design agency.
To launch a design project customers simply define their needs and set their budget. The design community then begins submitting designs for consideration and the project holder guides the process by providing feedback on the submitted work. Designers iterate and submit designs until the project closes, at which time the project holder picks a winner and leaves with a finished design.
“A unique and consistent brand image is crucial to business success, however, many small businesses struggle with branding because of the expense and difficulty of hiring a professional designer,” said Mark Harbottle, founder of 99designs.com. “By taking an innovative crowdsourcing approach, 99designs offers unparalleled choice at unbeatable prices. It’s an honor to have our efforts recognized by SmartCompany and Crown Lager with the 2009 Best Startup Idea Award.”
About 99designs
99designs is the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 28,000 design contests to date with over 2,600,000 unique designs submitted. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
Design an Official SXSW 2010 T-shirt on 99designs.com
October 21, 2009
Open Opportunity to Create Official Memorabilia for One of the Largest Music, Film and Web Conferences
SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—South by Southwest (SXSW), one of the largest music, film and web conferences, is hosting an open design project on 99designs.com to design an official SXSW 2010 t-shirt. The project is free for anyone to participate and is accepting design submissions for 10 days only. SXSW will pick the top 5 designs, which will then be voted on by the community to select the winning design that will be printed and sold at SXSW 2010.
“The SXSW t-shirt project is a great opportunity for not only the community at 99designs, but also the SXSW community at large, to further participate in the creation of one of the world’s best festivals,” said Mark Harbottle, Founder of 99designs.com. “Designers from all over the world come to 99designs.com to design for projects they would not have been exposed to otherwise. It’s a great way for a designer to sharpen their skills and build client relationships, while making friends and having fun.”
For more information and the specific requirements of the SXSW t-shirt design project please visit: http://99designs.com/sxsw. The deadline for submissions is on October 30th, 2009.
99designs.com connects clients needing custom design work such as logos and websites to a thriving community of over 49,000 talented designers who submit a new custom design to the site every 12 seconds. To date 99designs.com has awarded over USD $6 million, with over USD $500,000 being paid to designers in the last 30 days alone.
About 99designs
99designs is the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 28,000 design contests to date with over 2,600,000 unique designs submitted. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
Rick Warren Crowdsources New Book Cover on 99designs.com
September 16, 2009
Open Opportunity to Design the Cover of a New York Times Best Selling Author
SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—99designs.com, the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, today announced that Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life, is running an open design project to design the cover of his new book, The Hope You Need. Warren's last book sold over 30 million copies.
“99designs creates opportunities for designers all across the globe to showcase their talents on a level playing field,” said Mark Harbottle, Founder of 99designs.com. “Rick Warren’s project is another great example of giving an unheralded designer an equal opportunity and the chance to jump-start their career with a high profile project that they would not otherwise have been exposed to.”
For more information and the specific requirements of Rick Warren’s book cover design project please visit: http://99designs.com/contests/28531. The deadline for submissions is on September 19th, 2009.
99designs.com connects clients needing custom design work such as logos and websites to a thriving community of over 46,000 talented designers who submit a new custom design to the site every 12 seconds. To date 99designs.com has awarded over USD $6 million, with over USD $400,000 being paid to designers in the last 30 days alone.
About 99designs
99designs is the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 28,000 design contests to date with over 2,600,000 unique designs submitted. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com Offers One Stop Shop to get Custom Wordpress Themes Designed, Coded and Installed
August 5, 2009
Crowdsourcing custom WordPress themes produces significantly greater choice for each customer over traditional design models
SAN FRANCISCO—August 5, 2009—99designs.com, the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, today announced that it now offers a one stop shop to get custom WordPress themes designed, coded and professionally installed. Starting at just $369, WordPress users can have a community of over 41,000 graphic designers compete to design a custom theme for their Wordpress powered site or blog, and then select to add a professional coding and installation service that would get their site up and running in just 5 days.
To launch a design project for a custom WordPress theme at 99designs.com, users simply create a design brief describing their site and design requirements, including guidance on colors, styles or other elements that they would like to see or avoid. They then set their budget and choose if they would like to add the optional coding and installation service.
The design community then begins submitting designs for consideration as the project holder guides the process by providing the designers feedback on their submitted work. Designers iterate and submit designs until the project closes at which time the project holder picks a winner and leaves with a finished custom WordPress theme.
“Now it’s easier than ever to stand out from the crowd with a look that is individual and polished,” said Mark Harbottle, cofounder of 99designs. “With 99designs.com, you’ll have an abundance of custom WordPress theme designs to choose from, as well as the convenience of having your chosen theme professionally coded and installed in one fell swoop...it couldn’t be easier.”
99designs.com connects clients needing custom design work such as logos and websites to a thriving community of over 41,000 talented designers who submit a new custom design to the site every 12 seconds. To date 99designs.com has awarded over USD $6 million, with over USD $400,000 being paid to designers in the last 30 days alone.
About 99designs
99designs is the largest marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 25,000 design contests to date with over 2,200,000 unique designs submitted. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
jason@99designs.com
99designs.com Named as One of Australia’s Top Innovations
April 24, 2009
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA—April 24, 2009—99designs, the largest marketplace for crowdsourced design, has been named in the ‘SMART 100’ Index as one of Australia’s 100 most innovative products. The ‘SMART 100’ Index, co-created by leading business magazine Australian Anthill and market research leader Colmar Brunton, was selected over a six month process by 1,600 maven judges.
99designs enables businesses and entrepreneurs to quickly and inexpensively source custom designed logos, business cards, websites or any other graphical element by tapping into a growing community of over 32,000 graphic designers. Clients simply post a description of what they are looking to have designed, what they are willing to pay and how long the project will remain open for submissions. The average project sees 70-80 submissions from a dozen or more designers.
“Finding the right designer the traditional way is no easy task,” said Mark Harbottle, CEO and founder of 99designs. “By taking an innovative crowdsourcing approach through 99designs, you can literally be presented with 99 different designs from dozens of different designers, which vastly increases your chances of finding the right designer for your business. It’s a true honor to have our efforts be recognized as an inaugural member of the ‘SMART 100’ Index.”
“The SMART 100 aims to bring a greater commercial focus to the concept of innovation, returning ownership of the principles surrounding this important word to the private sector,” said James Tuckerman, Founder and Publisher of Anthill Magazine and founder of the ‘SMART 100’ Index. “Most awards rely on the expertise of a select few. The inaugural ‘SMART 100’ employed the knowledge and opinions of over 1,600 ‘maven’ judges.”
According to John Shanahan, CEO, Colmar Brunton, “The maven’s unique talent is his or her ability to unearth and identify, from all the new products and services available in the marketplace, the innovations that are worth propagating. A maven also generally has the ability to communicate the potential of the innovation to the broader public and, therefore, plays an integral role in the mass take-up of any innovation.”
About Australian Anthill
Anthill is one of Australia’s leading business magazines and online communities. It is dedicated to innovation, entrepreneurship and the commercial development of Australian ideas. Anthill is distributed nationally through over 1,200 newsagents, via subscription and through its recently re-launched website (http://anthillonline.com).
About Colmar Brunton
Colmar Brunton is one of Australia’s largest market research agencies, with offices in Singapore and every mainland state of Australia. Colmar Brunton stays at the forefront of technology by embracing new ways to gain greater insights from research. Colmar Brunton and Anthill have partnered in the development of a new methodology that combines traditional measures with new technologies and crowdsourcing techniques.
About 99designs
99designs is the leading online design contest marketplace, connecting passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design services. It has held over 20,000 design contests to date, awarding over $4.5 Million USD to its design community. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
99designs Contact:
Jason Aiken
99designs
press@99designs.com
SMART 100 Contact:
Lachlan Wharton
(03) 9428 3777
99designs Lets Businesses Leverage Web 2.0 to Have Up To 21,000 Designers Compete for New Logos and Websites
November 18, 2008
To Stay Competitive, Businesses Can Tune up Their Look and Feel with a Fast Turnaround and Set Budget
SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—99designs, the largest design competition marketplace, today announced that more businesses are leveraging its community of over 21,000 designers for professional design work on logos, business cards, websites and more to take advantage of the ability to set a firm budget and ensure a quick turnaround. By controlling both the timeline and the costs, businesses can rapidly use professional design to get a polished look and competitive edge.
Finding the right professional designer is often a real challenge for businesses. It takes a lot of time to vet candidates and engage in a negotiation process where the designers ultimately have greater control in setting the budget. Often the project takes longer than anticipated, the budget escalates, and in the end the client only gets a handful of designs to choose from.
Using 99designs, businesses can leverage Web 2.0 crowdsourcing capabilities to take control over both the budget and the timeline. Clients simply post design requirements including: the nature of the design project, specific qualities desired, the amount of money offered for the completed work and the number of days the project will remain open. Designers can then immediately begin competing for the work by submitting designs for consideration.
Tapping into the online community of over 21,000 designers at 99designs greatly expands the number of finished designs clients have to choose from. Clients provide feedback on the work submitted to help guide the process and clarify what they want to see in a finished product. After the competition ends, the client picks a winner and leaves with a finished design project.
“Businesses of all kinds are looking for ways to be competitive in today’s economic climate,” said Mark Harbottle, CEO and founder of 99designs. “99designs makes it easy for the start up looking to get off the ground quickly or the established company looking to rebrand to reap the benefits of professional design. On any given day, law firms, dental practices, technology companies, non-profits and more are using 99designs to sharpen their professional image, put their best foot forward and stay competitive.”
99designs connects clients needing design work to a thriving community of over 21,000 talented designers. In under a year, 99designs has held over 13,000 design projects. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
About 99designs
99designs is an online design marketplace and community that connects passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design. It has held over 13,000 design contests to date with nearly 1,000,000 unique designs. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
99designs Launches US Headquarters to Meet Rising Demand for Crowdsourced Design
October 21, 2008
SMBs Source Designs Quicker, More Inexpensively and With Greater Choice
SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—99designs, the largest design contest marketplace, announced today the opening of its US headquarters. The company was created to enable SMBs and nonprofits to quickly and inexpensively crowdsource custom designed logos, business cards, websites and more; while at the same time creating a level playing field for designers to showcase their work and win new clients. The new office, located in San Francisco, is a result of 99designs’ rapid growth – the site is now reporting that a new design is uploaded every 30 seconds.
99designs brings the power of crowdsourcing to custom design. Using online design contests open to its design community of over 20,000 designers, 99designs greatly expands the number of creative minds working on a design project. Not only do clients benefit from the abundance of choice, but the design process itself is streamlined saving both time and money.
To begin this process, clients simply post design requirements and set a budget. Designers can immediately begin submitting their designs while clients guide the process by commenting on the submitted work. After the contest ends, usually in about a week, the client picks a winner and leaves with a finished design project.
“Crayons without Borders needed a logo so we could begin our fundraising efforts and 99designs was recommended to me through a friend. I honestly could not believe how many design options I got and how quick and painless the whole process was,” said Karen Kahn, founder of Crayons without Borders. “The community was the amazing aspect, because you essentially get your own focus group. I could read what the designers were saying about all of the designs and it helped inform my decision. Using 99designs was an incredible experience; I would use it again in a heartbeat.”
“Finding the right designer for your business the traditional way is often a long and complicated process leading to frustration and escalating expenses,” said Mark Harbottle, CEO and founder of 99designs. “What’s great about 99designs is that you can literally be presented with 99 different designs from dozens of different designers, which vastly increases your chances of finding the right designer for your business. Designers also benefit because they now have a place online where they can demonstrate their talent and build relationships with new clients. For designers, 99designs is the perfect marketing and lead generation tool.”
99designs connects clients needing design work to a thriving community of over 20,000 talented designers. In under a year, 99designs has held over 12,000 design projects. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
About 99designs
99designs is an online design marketplace and community that connects passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design. It has held over 12,000 design contests to date with nearly 1,000,000 unique designs. For more information please visit: 99designs.com.
99designs.com Takes Out the 2008 Smartcompany Top Website Award
September 15, 2008
We’re delighted to announce that on Friday night 99designs.com took out the “Top Website Award” in the 2008 SmartCompany Awards which honors the fastest growing and most innovative companies of Australia in 2008.
The top website award was judged by the SmartCompany team in conjunction with David Trewern, the founder of DTDigital, one of Australia’s leading web design and development businesses. David is not only a judge for the prestigious International Webby Awards, he’s one of Australia’s most well known and respected designers.
Here’s what David had to say about 99designs.com…
“99designs.com is extremely simple and reasonably well executed, evidenced by the fact that a large number of quality connections have been made to date. Being a trained designer, this site received my full attention. It has the potential to deliver value to buyers, but perhaps also commoditise design in the process. It could be viewed as a piece of destructive technology.
In a very ‘web democratic’ way, the long term impact of this website will now be decided by its community of users. My view is that any website that has the potential to create a paradigm shift should be recognised as an important contribution to progress and innovation.”
FULL credit goes to the entire 99designs team. An amazing amount of work has gone into this site — they thoroughly deserve the recognition.
99designs: The #1 Design Contest Marketplace
September 10, 2008
At this point in time there is over $90,000 USD in open prize money on 99designs. Around $13,000 USD of new cash is offered every day. This is not only a record for 99designs, we believe it’s a world record — we don’t know of any other site like 99designs.com anywhere that offers that kind of cashola to designers on a daily basis. That makes 99designs the #1 design contest marketplace on the Web.
Why am I telling you this?
Well, if you’re going to invest your time building a profile on a site like 99designs.com (either as a client or a designer) you want to make sure you’re getting maximum bang for your buck — more clients means more opportunities for designers to win new business, and more designers means more choice for our clients. Everyone wins!
How 99designs Changed One Designer’s Life…
September 5, 2008
We get a lot of email from clients and designers encouraging us to keep up the great work. We often circulate these messages amongst the team — it gives us a real kick. Here’s one we received earlier this week that really resonated with the team…
Hello,
I just wanted to write you and say “Thank You” for developing 99designs. It has been truly a life saver for me. I would say that most of the designers are young an upcoming, while I am old enough to be their mother. I started studying art and design in high school many years ago. Because of family commitments, I wasn't able to pursue my dreams of becoming a graphic artist. I still tinkered with web design whenever I got the chance between being a parent, full time professional, cooking, cleaning, children activities, etc., etc.
Now that my children are grown, my husband gone, and I’m disabled, I found my true passion again. I found SitePoint by chance and started entering contest. I started with logos, but found that wasn’t my forte. Then I started entering web design uncoded contest. It took awhile but I started winning contest. I even won 5 contests for the month of February. I was even getting invited to enter contest.
I couldn't believe how well this was working. Because of 99designs, several design firms noticed my work and I now have more offers than I can handle. In the last 4 months, I have made over $20,000 from designing websites outside of 99designs. I haven’t had time to enter but a couple of contest on 99designs because of the outside offers. I owe this all to SitePoint and 99designs.
Being disabled, I am unable to go out and chase down new clients. I depended on word of mouth and clients viewing my designs on 99designs. I understand a lot of designers feel that sites like 99designs undervalue their work and talent. I have to disagree. Sites like 99design give individuals with talents, whether young or old, able or disabled, schooled or unschooled, an opportunity to display their art and demonstrate their abilities. It isn't easy. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and patience.
Again, Thank you 99designs. Through your contest my dream is finally coming true. It may have took 25 years, but better late than never.
Kindest regards,
Sheree
It’s easy to get caught up in the technology and the business of making things bigger and better, and forget about the people who are actually using your site…
We try to stay as connected as we can to our users, we talk to you regularly via these blogs, private message, email, and of course our user voice page, but we never expected that this site could have such a profound impact on one person’s life. It made our day!
Up To 50% of Design Contests Can Result In Follow-on Work
September 2, 2008
One of the little known benefits of design contests is the ability for winning designers to pick up direct work from clients once a contest has been won. It makes sense when you think about it...
Run a logo contest to find yourself a designer, then rather than go through the whole design contest process again, simply ask the winning designer for a quote to do your business cards and stationery in a similar style.
Our top designers tell us that as many as 25% of all contests they win result in future work. Andrew Angus from switchmarketing.com who runs several design contests through 99designs.com said for him it's as high as 50%.
Andrew has documented his recent experience with a design contest in this video which shows the great result he achieved with a $220 prize offered on 99designs.com plus $1,000 of follow on work for the winning designer. Check it out!