Founded in 2008, 99designs is the world’s largest online graphic design marketplace. It offers the services of over a million freelance designers proficient in various types of design services across 50 industries. Currently, a new design is uploaded to the marketplace almost every second, earning the global community of artists over $200 million. While any business owner or entrepreneur can use the services of the marketplace rather effectively, it’s most suited to companies or individuals with a significant budget.

The pricing varies greatly when it comes to logo design services and depends on the category, artist experience, portfolio, and industry. Logo design services start at $299, but those generally include just a digital version of the logo. If you’re looking for a combination of logo design and stationery design elements like business cards, letterheads and envelopes, and/or social media and email signatures, the price ranges from $499 to $1199.

Once you pick a category, you have two options:

1. Review the portfolio and experience of freelance artists and invite them to your job.
2. Hold a contest by posting a design brief and allowing artists from all over the world to submit their unique ideas.

In both cases, you retain full copyright and receive all production files; however, keep in mind that finding a designer yourself will take a lot longer than holding a contest. There is also a fee associated with the length of the contest. The faster you want to find a designer, the more you’ll have to pay. The pricing is as follows:

• Standard 7-day contest: Free
• 3 days: $39
• 2 days: $59
• 24 hours: $79

All contest plans have a 100% money back guarantee policy. Here are the details:

Bronze Plan

The plan is $599 and features around 30 design concepts from artists.

Silver Plan

The plan is $899 and features about 40 design concepts, with a bigger designer prize.

Gold Plan

The plan is $1599 and features over 50 design concepts from mid- and top-level designers only.

Platinum Plan

The plan is $2499 and features close to 40 premium design concepts. You work only with top-tier designers and receive prioritized support and a dedicated account manager.

You also have the option to request a custom package based on your budget and submit it to the team with your contest brief. While the pricing is a bit on the expensive side, the quality, designer experience, and marketplace reputation tend to justify it.

Finally, if you’re an agency, the marketplace offers the Pro plan, which includes a dedicated success manager from the 99designs team, personalized designer sourcing, and free premium tools and upgrades. This plan is primarily suited for businesses requiring multiple design services on a somewhat consistent basis; for example, marketing or creative design agencies doing design projects for clients.

The global design portfolio is immense. With over 1 million freelance digital artists associated with 99designs, you’re unlikely to struggle to find a fitting style for your business, even if you have the wildest and most obscure ideas.

In the logo & brand identity pack category, which includes logo, business card, envelope, letterhead, and social media designs, there are over 3,000 designers to choose from. You can filter by industry, design level and experience, and spoken languages to narrow down your search results. Nearly all of the logos can include both text and symbols in the design, depending on what you’re looking for.

Choosing a designer on 99designs is really simple. Once you create a free account, you need to pick a category – choose from Stationery, Business card, Brand guide, Logo design, Logo and business card, and Logo and brand identity pack. Note that it will be cheaper to buy all the services from the same designer rather than hiring different artists for different jobs.

Once you’ve selected your category, you can choose to browse the marketplace and find a designer yourself or hold a contest by presenting a design brief and reviewing submissions from designers all over the globe. Finding a designer through a contest will accelerate the whole process dramatically compared to finding somebody on your own, but it will also cost more.

If you choose “hold a contest,” you’ll be redirected to a quick questionnaire to help you get started. You’ll be asked to choose a number of logo designs and a few sets of colors that you like, insert your email, the language of your design brief, logo name, slogan, business background, target audience, industry, and any supporting information like existing design sketches or helpful materials. Next, you’ll choose your pricing plan, input the contest title and options (general or private contest featuring non-disclosure agreements), and select the contest duration (24 hours to 7 days).

If you choose to hire a designer yourself, you’ll be redirected to a new page where you can explore and compare over 3000 designers, their portfolios, and experience to find a fitting candidate. You can also apply filters like industry, designer experience, and language to narrow down your search results. Once you’ve found a perfect fit, you can contact the person directly and negotiate price, delivery times, etc.

99designs is really easy to navigate. The website takes users on a step-by-step journey to quickly find the service and/or designer they need for the job. Even if you’ve never used the services of a design marketplace before, it won’t be a problem. Every step is explained perfectly and no technical skills or design experience is necessary to succeed.