"I am writing with a very heavy heart about 99 design, I am working on 99designs last many years and I have achieved a lot here only because I work on this platform with very sincerity and honestly. And its proof is I won 82 contests, 164-time runners, 95% client response rate. And this is not happening in a day. Its effort of last many years and years effort.

But now suddenly I got an email from 99Designs, you get a flag on your profile and you have 30 days and we are closing your account. And after reading I am shocked at how is possible I am last for many years working and suddenly email came and said we are closing your account in 30 days, and our decision is final. "We do not want to reconsider our decision"

I email the support team no reply, I replied and received an email but no response. My question is with 99Designs you earn because of designers and you have no value in who works on your plat from day to night, Are you not even interested to listen? what are they facing, there is no phone support, no video call support where we can contact you. And is it fair you do not want to listen to those working day and night on your platform? What is this? I am working last 18 years in graphic design and the freelancing industry I never see that rude behavior.
Because if you guys behave like that so no one work on your website. When you do not want to listen to anyone and your decision is final. It looks like you are court and you have declared me a criminal who not allowed to work on your website. It's really shocking and surprising, and I am not sure it's racism or not but its looks like that.

I hope you will improve your behavior with the designer and give chance to talk and not delete my profile in that way.

Best Regards,
Imran"

"
I am a designer and I've been registered recently, but I had enough time on this platform to understand how everything works. (more than 6 months)
It is a total scam for professional designers. They keep the best designers and the most creative ones to entry level and they let mid and top level copy and steal the concepts from the first ones. I have experienced more than 3 times this kind of modern scamming. They take my concepts, modify the design slightly so they would give the same exact response at the end (that the overall look is different and the concept is common so they didn't steal it from me) and let the amateurs win. Ironically nobody thought of that exact idea before I submitted it. Most of the designers have 0 creativity so they go on by stealing other people's ideas. Even in a blind contest I was scammed. The client himself showed my concepts to another designer and he mixed them and won the contest at the end. I noticed from the usage of the same exact font and color palette, which is totally impossible in blind contests where nobody can see what I've submitted, unless the client sends my work to them (or the platform does in this case).
I would not recommend this platform for professional designers, and the clients have been unsatisfied more and more because all the best designers have left this platform. I will probably be gone too, very soon. Even when the winner has not copied the design from other contestants, they copy it from the internet and the clients end up paying $400 for a $5 logo or even worse (someone won, in one of the contests I participated, using a free logo from freepik.com and he just outlined it). Pretty unbelievable, but it happened!
I wrote this and wanted to be 100% honest because I would have wanted to read this before I registered to that awful workplace."

"Okay. I am not a professional from a poor country, as they write here... I did the illustrations 100% handmade, with no copies. And every time I got a refusal or the competition was contested stopped and lock. 2 months of work in vain. Customers choose things that can be found on stocks (omg, I even studied the laws, but they still buy stocks) instead of original work. It starts to seem to me that this is a deception. Guaranteed contests must be paid, but only after 60 days and I'm not sure that the money will come, given that people do not follow the rules (they make copies of other people's work or use stocks). I am disappointed that sometimes I could spend 2-3 days on an interesting job and saw that buyer I bought a stock image. It's silly i know, but it feels like it's planned. I'll be glad if I'm wrong and I'm just a loser.

And yes, you want to draw illustrations, but the illustrations section constantly has tasks for creating ordinary logos. You can not draw here.

"

"It's cheap, and there's a reason for it. Afterwards, they will harass you for more money. Hey, do you have a copyright on that logo? No, I'll do it myself. What? Are you a lawyer? Very poor customer service. I think many of them are from India."

"As a designer, there's no contest I entered without having to report copy-pasted works.
What does the site do about it ?
Nothing.
"

"Awaful everything. Support awful, designs awful, their policies awful.
"

"This site is not the place to ever progress as a designer since 1. your design(s) can get copied and stolen and 2. the team is rude in their responses. And, even then, generic art to them is about 98% of new designers' work, but long-term artists in their site get to use. And, honestly, for the work you put into making these designs isn't worth wasting on 99designs. I suggest using the power of social media, promote yourself and your business, and have real interactions with clients."

"So I've been a graphic designer for more than 8 years. So I can easily tell which are amateur design and which isn't, somehow almost all the client in 99design, chose a very amateur design as their winner. For example, the contest stated that they doesn't want to use any free image or shutter stock image. But the winner that they chose is using some stock image. I report it to the CS in 99design, this is their replied, "Thank you for reaching out. If the client is only requesting to avoid using a stock image and not prohibit it, you can still use a stock image. I hope this helps." Well, its clearly not helping at all. If the clients told us to avoid it, all the designer that use shutter stock should avoid it right? and anyone who use the shutter stock image, they should be banned or something. clearly 99design doesn't have any control on their clients or their designer."

"I'm a professional graphic designer with 10 years of experience, and my little brother have challenged me to win a contest in 99designs.., I created my account and verified it and started working on this contest, I can say I was the only one who made original and a high quality logos for this logo, I've received so many comments saying that ''you nailed it''... after hours of that I found my account suspended for no reason because the reason they claiming ''overly generic concepts'' is further away from truth because my designs where based on the clients description and requirement, when I contacted the support they just respond with robotic automated answers, the Respectable platforms have real support that assist you when you reach out to them Which 99designs lacks... my designs are 100% original and with the best quality..., I have a unique and modern style that stays an excellent example of the good work, and I can confirm 99designs is not worth it for professional designers..."

"Totally amateurish service... Designs are just modifications of google image search designs, designers says bad words for each other and copying each other, designers doesn't have any certifications, classifications or standards - just a bunch of people from poverty countries that struggles to earn money on your back, using fancy ready made presentations for copied and slightly modified logos. Absolutely unprofessional behavior, absolutely unprofessional service."

"I applied to 2 contests and suddenly had my account suspended. I received this message:

While design can be subjective, it’s important that all of our designers demonstrate knowledge of design principles and avoid overly generic concepts.

After reviewing your 99designs portfolio, we’ve found that you do not yet meet our minimum quality standards because too many of your designs don’t execute basic design principles such as typography, composition, and color (link to their, of course, blog about design).

This is not a permanent hold and we encourage you to continue building your design skills. We will host our next open application period for account reactivation once a year.


The irony is, I only submitted 3 designs in 2 contests, NONE of which were "generic". In fact, mine were so far removed from the generic and borderline plagiarized designs I was seeing. I literally saw the same logo icon with 1 VERY small difference by 2 people. Admittedly, I am still new to design. However, I just went through a design course (web design and development). Also, it's October, their application period happens once a year in September. ("99designs has an open application period from September 1st-7th every year." -- quote from a separate email). If they're going to suspend accounts because things don't meet their standards (*theirs* mind you, not the client) then why not just have an application process in the first place? Why not have an assessment or something before you can even sign up? Total waste of time. I'm just glad it was less than a week. Yes, all this took place in less than a week.

"

"Hello,

a few days ago my account was suspended for practically no reason after spending over 2 days submitting relentlessly to different projects. I just joined one of their competitors- designcrowd.com and thought their courtesy statement could be applied to their website so they're not to be blamed by Designers for being rude. See their note below after I submitted my first design:

Your account has not been verified.
We need to verify that your designs will meet our Quality Standards. To verify your account, submit to any design contest.Read more...

It's that simple! It's rude and disheartening to have Designers submit relentlessly not knowing they have Quality Standards set out and then after two days send me an impolite email about suspension. At least these guys have some manners."

"Inexperienced designs that copy other designs and win with the draft. Customers stay away."

"As a designer, stay away from this site. When you get a high rating, other designers get mad and either copy your designs or report your designs. It's ridiculous when you get the highest ratings but the choose people will the worst ratings to win. Hmmmm? Set-up if u ask me. "

"Overpriced, amateur looking designs. Customer support is terrible and irrational, hard to work with, so do not expect any help from them. All in all, stay as far away as possible from 99design. "