99designs.com Design Highlights – October
November 5, 2009
Day in and day out we are blown away by the talent of the design community at 99designs.com. Here are just a few of our favorite designs from the past month (in no particular order):
Design Highlights

- InZania web page design by Entertica
- Fish on Fire logo design by Ulahts
- Kona Jazz Festival logo design by Bold_Estudio
- Hanger Alley logo design by Oliva
- W1 logo design by Terry Bogard
- Chimera Capital logo design by Wizmaya
- Andi Gladwin web page design by Lene
- SocialDressUp.com logo design by Ink
- QFeeder web page design by Pdesignstudio
Which designs from the community have caught your eye?
Leave a comment and let us know.
Designer Profile: Terry Bogard
November 4, 2009

Designer Profile
S. Riz – Toronto, Canada
99designs handle: Terry Bogard
Projects entered: 594
Projects won: 54
How did you get started in design?
Well I remember in school, my classroom’s bulletin board was filled with my drawings. My mom did quite a bit of drawing and my father was a very good poet, so I think I was born with the artist genes. Plus, I was lucky enough to have a lot of creative friends. One of my friends and I used to sketch fighting game characters and made storyboards for games just for fun. The first creative competition I ever entered was to design (shape) a game console for a worldwide contest. Later in 1993 when ATARI Jaguar (game console) was launched, I was happy to see that the design actually had a little bit of the angles I proposed. This alone felt like an achievement and motivated me to do small identity design projects from time to time. Later on I started working with a design studio where I learned more about identity design and market dynamics. That was the start of it really. I have no formal design education or background- I am self-taught.

How do you get your inspiration?
I think inspiration can come from anywhere – from an individual atom to the entire universe and everything in between. It’s all about observation and bringing your memory of visuals together FOR the right brand, AT the right time, WITH the right combination(s) and WHEN the need arises. But that does not mean that I’m just another creative junkie who is waiting for his next design hallucination. There is a process that formulates this creativity.
I think a product has both functional and emotional attributes. The functional attributes are the brand’s promise to its consumers, while the window to its emotional attributes is what design is really all about. Although design process will vary depending on the project, my most basic practice is to do a 20 second visual check where I brainstorm the keyword(s) that best describe the business or project I am working on. The idea is to know what emotions those keywords generate and what image those emotions translate into from a consumer standpoint.

What led you to start using 99designs.com?
I was at my office desk randomly looking at designs on sitepoint.com to pass some time, when I came across 99designs.com. I thought it was a great idea for both businesses and designers to come together on a platform that offers creativity from around the globe. I participated in a few contests just for fun and noticed that my designs were getting a lot of attention. I pretty much felt the same as I did when I entered the video game console-design contest back in my teens. After my first several contests I won one, and that’s when I started doing it more and more. Since then, the experience has been phenomenal and there has been a huge learning curve throughout. Watching the world design has helped me improve and deliver better each and every time. 50% of the projects that I won ended up with follow-on work. In fact there were times when even though I did not win, I was contacted and offered work. It helped me build a great portfolio and understand market dynamics. I have also made many friends from all over the world who have been extremely helpful and very appreciative. These are all very talented people with very respectful and professional attitude for the trade. I think 99designs is the only site that I have seen with so many contests running at the same time, so it’s a big opportunity to make money too.

What are the three most important things that designers can do to have success at 99designs.com?
I get asked this question a lot via private message but nobody ever asked about three things…LOL! Well, success for me is an ongoing process on 99designs.com, and it’s hard to close the box with 3 things only. As I mentioned earlier, it’s important to deeply consider brand & consumer psychology. Here’s my advice for those who have recently joined 99designs:
- Enter as many projects as you can to get a firm grasp on the whole process, from presenting a design to evolving it as necessary. This not only increases your chances of winning but also puts you in a design-groovy-mode and helps you to consistently generate creative ideas. It very soon becomes a chain reaction and everyone else tries to deliver better and better.
- Do a little research before drafting ideas and look at other designs to make sure your draft is not similar to anyone else’s. This will help you to not waste time on a design that someone else has already made and allow you to invest your time in something unique.
- Explain your thought process if you do something outside of what the client described in the brief – After all, you might be able to produce and envision something that the client did not. Have a positive influence on the community by being appreciative of others for constructive criticism. It has always helped me learn in one-way or another.

What do you love most about being a designer?
I think I’m no different than other creatives in terms of enjoying their work. I can simply put it this way – I love being paid for doing what I enjoy. Imagine being paid to have fun, eat and sleep. Designing is my passion and every creation of mine makes me feel great regardless if its sold or not. But getting paid to be passionate is just great.
99designs.com $1000 Design Makeover Winner Announced
November 4, 2009
Without further ado…It’s time to announce the winner of the:
99designs.com $1000 Design Makeover!
For those of you who don’t know, 99designs recently attended BizTechDay in San Francisco where we had a special offer for attendees – the chance to win $1000 USD credits to use at 99designs.com. To enter, attendees simply dropped their business cards in a bowl from which we would draw one lucky winner.
Here is a video of the official draw for the design makeover:
Congratulations James E. Sullivan of Optic Nerve Direct Marketing – You are the winner of the 99designs.com $1000 Design Makeover!
Custom Graphic Design in Just 24 Hours at 99designs.com
October 31, 2009
Have you ever had a situation arise where you needed the skills of a graphic designer – FAST? We recently found ourselves in that position when 99designs.com got the opportunity to exhibit at BizTechDay in San Francisco – just two days before the show.

Immediately, we went into scramble mode to try to pull together a professional booth and just to make things a little more interesting – we decided that we wanted to run a special promotion for BizTechDay attendees. To make it happen, we needed a slick tabletop poster that described what we were offering.
It was a perfect opportunity to “eat our own dog food” and demonstrate how you can get fantastic custom design done in just 24 hours!
Here’s what we did:
We quickly posted a project on 99designs.com – briefly describing that we wanted a small table top poster that said:
Win a $1000 Design Make Over
for Your Business
from 99designs.com
We further indicated that we wanted the colors and style to be consistent with the overall look and feel of 99designs.
We offered $149 and “fast-tracked” the project so that it remained open for submissions for only 24 hours.
Here is the link to the project:
http://99designs.com/contests/30388
In 24 hours we got 123 custom designed submissions and were absolutely thrilled with the result.
Here is the winning poster from sonorocreative.


99designs is giving away $10,000 – Hurry or you’ll miss out!
October 29, 2009
That’s right, 99designs is giving away $10,000!
All you have to do is connect your 99designs account with Facebook now and you’ll earn your $10 share.
As a Designer, connecting with Facebook allows you to:
• Show off your folio – Add the 99designs tab to your Facebook profile and share your best designs with your friends and future clients.
• Share your wins – When you win a contest, we’ll post a message to let your friends know. It may even lead to your next job!
For Project Holders, Facebook connect allows you to:
• Attract more designers – We’ll tell your friends when you launch a contest so they can spread the word
• Get feedback from your friends – Your friends will be able to check out your contest and let you know which designs they like best
What’s more, all users connected to Facebook can log into 99designs with a single click!
How do you connect? All you need to do is go to the 99designs login page and click the “Connect with Facebook” blue button.
If you’re connected to Facebook when we reach 1000 connections, $10 will be applied to your account within 7 days. And yes – if you are already connected then you already qualify.
Easiest way to make $10? We think so… make sure you don’t miss out!
UPDATED 11/04/09:
Thanks for the great response!
We have hit the thousand connection mark. We are processing payments – for those of you who were part of the first thousand connections, expect payment within the next 7 days.
Cheers,
The 99designs Team.
Better Protection and Better Designs: Introducing Blind Contests
October 22, 2009

99designs.com is very happy to introduce one of the most requested features from our design community: Blind Contests.
This is big news for designers and project holders alike!
Blind contests offer greater protection for designers and promote fair competition, which means they will attract the best designers and higher quality designs.
In a blind contest, each design submission can only be seen by the project holder and the designer who submits it. Therefore, designers can express their creativity more freely without worrying about protecting their concepts. After the submission period ends, designs become visible for all to enjoy.
Project Holders - We are currently only offering blind contests to project holders that have run at least one previous contest on 99designs. There is no additional cost for eligible project holders to run a blind contest, all you need to do is select the blind contest option on the ‘premium options’ page.
As usual, your feedback has led to this exciting new feature and we look forward to hearing what you think!
Cheers,
The 99designs Team
Design an Official SXSW 2010 T-Shirt at 99designs.com
October 22, 2009

Designers – 99designs.com has a super cool opportunity for you to design an official t-shirt for South by Southwest 2010!
For those of you who don’t know, SXSW is a truly amazing event in Austin, Texas that brings together original music, independent film and the hottest technologies from the web.
This is your chance to put a design in front of thousands industry professionals across the arts!
So get those creative juices fired up and check out the full design brief here!
After the project closes and designs are no longer accepted, SXSW will choose the top 5 designs and allow the community to vote for their favorite.
Cheers and Good Luck,
The 99designs Team

How much money should I offer to the designers?
It’s important to remember that 99designs.com is a marketplace and your design project will be competing for attention among all the other project listings. Offering more money than other similar projects will help separate you from the pack, but ultimately you need to ask yourself:
- What is my budget?
- How many designers do I want to attract?
- What is the skill level of the designers that I wish to attract?
- What are other similar projects offering?
If you are running a logo project for example, browse the other logo projects currently running on the site and take a look at how much money is being offered and how much interest the projects are attracting from the design community.
How do I attract the most submissions?
There are a lot of factors that influence the number of submissions that a project will receive on 99designs. The amount of money being offered to the designers is certainly one factor, but it is not the only one.
- Be clear about what you are asking for.
- Designers need to be able to look at your design brief and quickly understand the scope of the project and what the deliverables are. The more clear and specific you are about what you are looking for the more submissions your project will get.
- Browse similar projects and invite designers that catch your eye to join your design project.
- Designers like to be invited to projects particularly if you say upfront that you noticed their work and would love to see a submission from them. To invite a designer, simply click into their profile and click “contact” to send them a private message.
- Stay involved and provide feedback.
- Feedback may be the single most important factor in the success of a design project and designers are hungry for it. The more engaged in the project you are, the more engaged the designers are. Feedback can be given by rating the designers using the star system or eliminating the designs out right if they are way off base. Be sure to give specific written feedback for the designers/designs that show the most promise.
- Guarantee your project
- When you feel confident that you will get a good result, waive your right to a refund and guarantee your project. Guaranteed projects are far more attractive to designers and therefore receive many more submissions.
What should I put in my design brief?
The design brief is your chance to sell your project to the design community. It is your job to inspire the designers to work on this project. You need to be very clear about what you are looking to have designed and try to make it sound exciting if possible.
- Title and Subheading
- The title is basically the headline that advertises your project…think short, sweet and provocative. The subheading is your chance to expand upon the title, adding a little more detail but not repeating yourself.
- Brand Name
- Who/What is this design for?
- Tell us About Yourself
- Providing a little context about your business or organization helps the designers understand it better and can fuel their creativity and provide inspiration for their design.
- Target Audience
- Every design is targeting someone or something. The audience for a child day care center is significantly different from that of a corporate law firm. The more a designer knows about the audience the more it will inform their design.
- Requirements
- Requirements are the nuts and bolts of the design brief. Here you should be providing the specifics of what you are looking for.
- What is it…a logo, a web page, a t-shirt, a brochure etc…
- Do you have color preferences or are they free to be creative?
- What style are you looking for?
- What elements does the design need to include?
- Do you have specific examples of things you do or don’t like?
- What file types do you need?
Check out a sample brief here: http://bit.ly/1o1cSO
What kind of files should I ask for?
If you’re running a project for a logo or some other design which will be featured in print, you should ask for a CMYK image in either PDF, EPS, SVG, Corel Draw CDR, or Adobe Illustrator AI format.
For website designs, Twitter backgrounds and other designs which are destined to be displayed only on computer screens, you should ask for a “layered RGB file” in Photoshop PSD or Fireworks PNG format. These are the source files of the design, and you’ll need them if you want to be able to easily tweak something. It’s a good idea to also ask for a JPEG version.
You shouldn’t ask the designers to provide any of the fonts used in the design, as many of them are owned by type foundries and carry hefty license fees.
What if I don’t like any of the designs?
We offer a full 100% money back guarantee on all projects, with the only exception being if your project has a guaranteed prize or you’ve awarded a winner and the designer has been paid.





