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Ask HN: 99Designs vs Local Designers?

3 points by smattiso ↗ HN
I'm wondering what everybody's experience has been in using a site like 99Designs vs hiring a local designer? Cost/Benefit analysis kind of thing.

Also assuming I wanted to go local how would you recommend finding an excellent local designer?

Thanks!!

10 comments

[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 32.3 ms ] thread
linh
Would you mind giving us a bit more details? What kind of designs? Logo? Website? Poster? What is your budget? What do you want to accomplish?

You can find local designers through websites such as dribbble.com, behance.net, craigslist.com, and many more.

smattiso
I'm looking for a logo and a landing page. I was hoping to find somewhere to vet designers and find price quotes and whatnot. Someone to work with in a more iterative fashion than perhaps 99Designs.
linh
You seem like you know what you want. =) Anyway from my experience 99designs is usually cheaper but the quality of work is subpar. If you are someone who is really picky about quality, originality, etc I would say away from them. That being said, a good designer will probably cost around 1,000 USD for a logo. That probably includes 3 original concepts and a few revisions (depends on the designer). As for the landing page...why not just use something like launchrock.com?
smattiso
Sorry landing page was a red herring. I'm slapping that together now but I need an actual homepage and conversion page. Thanks for the tips I really appreciate it! I've already found some good people using behance.net.
linh
Can't really tell you how much an actual homepage might cost because there are too many factors. It is a one page website? Do you need front-end development with it? etc.

I do want to give you a word of caution, sometimes after paying 1,000 USD for a logo, you might not get exactly what you imagine or want. The best way to approach it is have a good idea of what you want or better yet know exactly what you want. For instance: I want a cute panda mascot that's chewing on bamboo would be much better than "we are a social networking website that wants a clean and minimalistic blue logo." The latter is so vague.

cannibal
If you don't already know and trust a local designer, you might be better off with 99Designs. Local designers can be more expensive and flaky— a designer in Boston had an unfortunate death in the family which caused my design work to be delayed by a month. You can avoid a lot of those types of issues with 99Designs, but you may be (not always) sacrificing some quality.
justjimmy
If you want local designers:

1. Visit Dribbble/Behance.

2. Search by city.

3. Surf the work of the designers till you find one you like.

4. Reach out and you know the rest~

orthecreedence
In my experience, someone local you can go to their office and discuss ideas with is always better than any big-name firm off in the horizon. Big firms generally have less time for you than for their bigger clients.

If you do decide to go local, do a bit of research first. Find a designer people say good things about. Look through portfolios. Pick a designer who's work you really connect with, and see if when you talk to them that they have a good understanding of where you are and where you're trying to get.

You may also want to post your location, people on here may be from the same area and could have good recommendations.

tdburn
I think 99designs is a great starting point. You get to see designs from many different designers, which can help you learn what you like and keep costs down as you start your project.
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