As many people know, getting a great design is difficult, and even more difficult is the process of finding the perfect designer. Recently we decided to try out 99designs after a string of bad experiences. The problem we had been facing is a pretty common one. As a startup without a professional UI/UX/artistic designer as part of the founding team we tried a variety of ways to get the job done.

• We first tried to contract out the work but the designers we worked with constantly fell short. Either they couldn’t create good UI or their artistic ability was lacking. The biggest problem was that it was a shot in the dark working with a designer and we couldn’t afford to waste the time and money burning through one designer after the other.
• Next we tried tracking down an acclaimed designer, somebody that came highly recommended and had a history of largely successful work. After finding out that 90% are booked solid for the next 4 months we found someone that was great. The problem was that he seemed distracted and later backed out of the project due to his taking a full time job somewhere else.

So with time running out and not wanting to risk hiring someone new we decided to give 99designs a try. We ended up being pretty successful with our 99designs competition. It just ended and we received 349 submissions for a 5 page web design project.

Throughout the process we learned a ton and since we went through a lot of research prior to the contest we decided to combine our knowledge and share our experience. (more…)