I have been appalled and frustrated with 99designs since I first heard of them. In fact, upon discovering them I promptly started writing a post titled, 99 Reasons to NOT Use 99designs. However I realized that the sensationalist approach of that post would probably just further alienate both sides of the argument.
I then started a more detailed and thoughtful post, Why You Can't Crowdsource a Craft, to explain why I thought sites such as 99designs were harmful to the web design profession/community. (Which I'll probably finish eventually and publish here, but that's a while from now.)
Today I came across an especially poignant article by Anthony Zinni at Positive Space Blog calling out 99designs on their use of propaganda to advertise that participating in design contests makes you a better designer. (The graphic accompanying the post is spot on too.)
I encourage you to go read Anthony's article and the comments as well, especially Anthony's follow up comment.
He makes two solid points in his follow up comment (linked above) that I think you have to address if you’re participating in design contests and have regular client work. I’ve quoted them below.
- Are you able to charge your normal rates [to the same clients whose contests you've won] for follow up work, or do they assume contest level prices?
- ...
- How do you justify your rates for normal projects if you participate in contests where the clients determine what the appropriate rate for services are?
