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Ask HN: Can anyone share their experience with logo shootout sites like logosauce?

• qhoxie 18y ago
  http://99designs.com/ http://99designs.com/ I have seen quite a lot of quality work done on these sites.
  • SwellJoe 18y ago
    We used 99designs (formerly SitePoint Contests) for two logos with good results. I wrote an article about the process here: http://inthebox.webmin.com/getting-a-great-logo-reducing-the-field http://inthebox.webmin.com/getting-a-great-logo-reducing-the... Though I just noticed all of the images are dead (I guess because of the domain change)...gotta fix that. I definitely found it a good way to get good work. I've been told by several designers that contests are offensive...but I've found it really hard to hire a designer that I work with regularly, at any price. Designers, I suppose, being creative types, aren't often strong on on-time delivery, responding in a reasonable time to queries and requests, etc. I've never yet found a designer that I could count on, who also does good work, despite many attempts. (And I'm not cheap. When I have run contests, the prizes we offer are always the highest on the site at the time--and I've regularly paid "going rates" for icon work and other bits of design. Nonetheless, keeping a designer focused on our projects has been extremely difficult.) Anyway, I think design contests provide large corporation style design workflow for small companies. Design firms often work on spec for large companies, at least for the initial pitch. I don't think it's a bad thing to bring that kind of process to small businesses.
  • thorax 18y ago
    We also used it for one of our upcoming sites and were quite pleased. I spent an incredible amount of time providing feedback to the nearly 40 designers who took a shot (over 136 revisions). Still, it totally paid off and we came away with 4-5 we would have been happy to use. Just keep in mind that you get even better results if you work with your designers to nudge them in different directions of your preference. We also did a trick of offering to pay for two logos. This made the grand prize lower (because of our budget), but it created some great competition.
• michael_dorfman 18y ago
  I had a great experience with 99designs-- but I have mixed feelings about the subject, since I'm not sure that it is healthy for the design industry....
  • twelvedigits 18y ago
    Of course it isn't. But it's a lot more efficient. I have a hard time buying the concept of paying a designer $500 on a project basis, when I could pay $500 to the best of 30+ submissions I receive.
    • xplo 18y ago
      The design business is changing and that's just a fact. Some will be better off, some worse. Fifteen years ago we used to buy stock photography CDs for $3-4K each. It was either that or pay a photographer to shoot each image on spec. The internet changed the rules on that business and now I pay $10-$20 an image and an infinitely larger range to choose from. But if you were a photographer making a tidy living in 1993, you may not like that scenario. Some graphic designers are in the same boat now.
  • catone 18y ago
    I'm probably biased, because I work for SitePoint (which owns 99designs -- though I have nothing to do with that part of the operation), but have also previously owned a design contest site (GFXcontests.com). I'm not so sure it is bad for the design industry. Reasons why it's good: 1. It provides portfolio building opportunities and real-world client experience for new designers 2. It provides hobbyists a good way to try their hand at professional work 3. If the contest holder (client) holds up their end of the bargain and provides all entries with quality feedback, it provides useful practice for designers. 4. I've heard from a large number of designers that participating in design contests led to more visibility for their portfolios and in turn helped them land regular, non-contest employees 5. I can say with confidence that a number of designers on 99designs at least are earning healthy five-figure incomes from contest work 6. Many designers are able to sell losing designs as templates (though contest holders should be careful to put in a stipulation that designers should only be allowed to do that once they remove your name/IP from the design)... or they can repurpose the designs for another contest or client Why it might be bad: 1. The No-Spec people will say it takes paid opportunities away from designers (I might rebut that it gives more designers the opportunity to compete for work and make a name for themselves -- and that no top tier designer I know is struggling for work) 2. They'll also say that it is unfair for designers -- who are asked to create work with no guarantee that they'll be paid (the rebuttal here: if you don't want to work that way, don't participate -- and as I said above, losing designers can still often make some money from that effort) Just my (perhaps biased) two cents.
• pedalpete 18y ago
  I used crowdspring for web design and had an amazing experience. They have sections for logo design as well as other design services.
• lux 18y ago
  We used 99designs.com for our logo (www.dojolearning.com) as well as the new logo and product box for www.sitellite.org with great results. Our design was done by a separate designer though (he did 3 different styles that we offer in a handful of colours so customers can choose). The key was to provide good and prompt feedback, which resulted in improvements to entries. Communicate and be appreciative of their effort and it seems to go a long way (doesn't it always though? :). We also looked at designs from other contests and sent messages with "hey I like your designs!" to designers who were really good, and that seemed to help get a few top-notch designers onto our contests too. I've since recommended this approach to several other companies I work with, and they've been very happy with using 99designs as well now.
• cscotta 18y ago
  Spec work is evil: http://andrewhyde.net/spec-work-is-evil-why-i-hate-crowdspring/ http://andrewhyde.net/spec-work-is-evil-why-i-hate-crowdspri...
  • lacker 18y ago
    The link doesn't really say why spec work is unethical. It seems like they are frustrated because designers can do a bunch of work and then not get paid if they don't win the contest. That doesn't seem unethical, that's just how the system is set up. If it isn't a good deal for you as a designer because you can get better jobs easily, then don't participate in these contests. Personally (I'm a programmer) I would never do work for someone else with payment contingent on whether they liked it on not. But I don't think it's evil or unethical to do so, it's just not a good deal for me, so I don't do it.
• vaksel 18y ago
  I love it, you get sooooo many choices from uber creative people. Just don't be a cheapass. Better to spend $500 and get hundreds of submissions, instead of spending $100 and getting only 10.