On: 99designs Launches $99 Logo Store

[soyelmango]

I have a love/hate thing with these companies - 99designs is not the only one out there.

In favour of them:

* they offer affordable logos

* you know exactly what you're getting for a fixed price

On the flipside, there is plenty wrong with these logos:

* Me too: if the logo's any good, there's a good chance someone else will buy it too. It would be like turning up to a party, and finding that you've got the same dress on (... a nightmare situation for some!)

* They look like $99 logos, or any other logo churned out by these companies

* It devalues the work of designers - a good designer understands what your company is about, and produces a fitting logo for you.

I'm sure there are many other fors/againsts than these, and it would be interesting to hear what others think of these services.

[adambard → soyelmango]

They do sell full rights for an extra $199:

"All logos cost just $99, or if the logo has not been purchased before, you can buy it exclusively and own the full rights to the logo for an extra $199. "

I can see how this would be really attractive to many businesses; after all, most people who don't interact with designers on a regular basis view a logo as a very secondary matter, and if they can get a unique one for $300, that's probably good enough for them.

These people are probably crummy clients for any designer anyhow, so I don't feel like designers are really losing out. Heck, it might even be a worthwhile place to sell extra materials (e.g. logos that were not accepted).

[soyelmango → adambard]

Thanks for the clarification, and you make a good point there about how a client who wants to pay $99 for a logo is likely to be a difficult client! It looks like $99designs does designers a favour by allowing cheap/difficult clients to eliminate themselves from the client pool.