There are plenty of contest-based design platforms out there such as 99designs, DesignBro, DesignCrowd, DesignHill, etc. Some are smaller, some bigger, many new ones are launching every once in a while. However, there is one market leader that dominates the industry already for years: 99designs.
DesignBro, on the other hand, is a younger platform, launched in 2016. The company calls itself “the world’s highest quality affordable design service”. The mentioned quality is the company’s unique selling point fulfilling the market gap. Other platforms, such as 99designs, compete on the number of delivered designs. In order words, it’s quality versus quantity. Is one better from the other? Not necessarily. But for sure, they are different.
What do these platforms offer?
If you’ve ever visited the 99designs website, you know that the company offers every single graphic design service imaginable. Starting with logo design, through book cover design, merchandise design (t-shirts, cups) to packaging design. The choice is very big. However, it isn’t really surprising considering that the platform operates for 11 years already.
DesignBro, on the other hand, offers three graphic design services: logo design, brand identity design and packaging design with multiple variations. Considering how young the company is, it’s a great diversity! Nonetheless, DesignBro plans on introducing many new services still this year.
99designs’ focus on quantity
On 99designs customers can expect to receive a great number of designs to choose from. The minimum number of delivered logo designs is 30, coming with a Brown package. It is the cheapest available option. The highest expected number is 90 and comes with a Gold package. These logos are done by the top and mid-level designers which means that the quality of works with Gold package is higher than with the Brown and Silver options.
The highest quality, though, can be expected with the Platinum package. It costs more and the number of designs is decreased to 60 but all logos are done by top-level designers only. However, please note that these mentioned quantities are just the company’s estimates. In reality, the actual numbers are a lot higher. At times, customers receive up to 500 designs to choose from.
DesignBro’s focus on quality
The number of delivered designs at DesignBro is significantly lower as the customers receive between 3-10 logos to choose from, depending on the chosen pricing. In return, however, the prices are lower ($199 – $479) and the delivered quality is a lot higher. Moreover, smaller competitions have the benefit of highly motivating designers. Since only there is only one winner designer who will receive the payment, he or she is determined to do their best. The smaller the number of competing designs, the higher the probability of him or her is to be selected as the winner. If the probability is low, so is the motivation.
What else does DesignBro do to assure the mentioned quality? The platform is very strict on the selection of its designers. Instead of allowing anyone to work as a designer on the platform, they carefully consider every application before accepting it. The decision is based on the applicants’ experience and portfolio.
Moreover, every single competition is blind. What does that mean exactly? A blind contest means that designers can’t see each other’s work. This allows all logos to be original and unique. On top of that, the platform has zero tolerance policy towards plagiarism so there is no possibility of designers getting inspired by each other’s logos. This assures that customers won’t receive any designs that may look alike. 99designs also offers blind competitions. However, they are only blind per request and for a temporary time.
It is impossible to compare DesignBro and 99designs in terms of quantity as while one offers a maximum of 10 designs to choose from, the other can deliver as much as 500 designs. What the two can be compared with is quality. DesignBro offers top-level designer logos already with the cheapest option of $199. 99 designs, however, only assures the highest quality with its Platinum package. The difference in prices is enormous. However, please note that the business models of the two platforms differ so it’s unfair to compare the two in such black and white colors. Just choose what would work best for you!
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