DesignCrowd

• Designers
• Customer Service
• Turnaround Time
• Pricing
• Additional Services
• Crowdsourcing Rules

Designers

Sydney-based DesignCrowd was established in 2008. Over the years, the company has grown to have over 700,000 freelancers. DesignCrowd allows people from a variety of backgrounds to find work on its site and has helped prestigious customers from all around the world with custom design projects.

Having a worldwide marketplace of professional designers makes it possible to select from more than just a team of in-house designers with limited vision regarding design concepts or only the experiences of a specific small company. It makes a lot of sense to draw from the well of thousands of creatives rather than hire a designer that may or may not produce the style or quality of work you're seeking. 

Furthermore, the site allows users to complete all transactions in an orderly and fair manner by hosting payment, job assignment, etc. This helps make freelancing job opportunities easy by cutting down on the hassle of organizing the various aspects of solo freelance work.

Customer Service

DesignCrowd provides a money-back guarantee and is available to be contacted directly should any client have problems communicating with their chosen designer. Many other companies that crowdsource designers are unable to help you if there is a problem, but DesignCrowd does its best to resolve issues involving designer quality and service.

The money-back-guarantee is valid within 30 days of posting a project and before any files have been provided to the client, except in cases where the client guaranteed their project.

The online help center covers topics relating to troubleshooting, copyright, fees and costs, designer portfolios, designer payments, submitting designs, and One Designer Services. You can also contact customer service directly with specific questions and concerns. 

Turnaround Time

Turnaround times with DesignCrowd are quite short. When starting a contest, you can choose a 3–, 5–, or 10–day deadline for your design contest and can expect to receive your first designs within 24 hours of creating your project. 

Pricing

So how much does DesignCrowd cost? For business owners or other logo seekers running a contest, custom design package options start at $99 and go up from there. Common listings are $150 and run up to $1100. 

In addition to the design cost, there is a posting fee of $29 to $129 depending on your selected package. You can also pay more to keep your listing private or to add a featured upgrade. These additional fees are non-refundable unless you do not receive any designs, in which case all fees are refunded. 

For designers, DesignCrowd takes a 15% commission on all payments received, which can include place payments, participation payments, paid invites, and tips. 

To offset design posting fees and design project fees, DesignCrowd offers a weekly discount code that will save you up to $100 on a project. The website has a full inventory of coupon codes for near-unlimited discounts.

Additional Services

DesignCrowd is a one-stop-shop for small business graphic design needs as it has plenty to offer in addition to logo design services. Customizable packages can include the following: 

• Social Media design 
• Stationery design
• Flyer design
• Web design
• T-shirt design
• App design
• Calendar design
• Blog design
• Label design
• Menu design
• Photoshop design
• Postcard design
• Business card design
• Graphic design

Crowdsourcing Rules

Online crowdsourcing can be messy, but DesignCrowd has implemented some rules that increase competition and improve quality.

Openly-available payment information incentivizes designers to contribute to contests that offer participation payments and placement payments for first, second, and third place. Contest entrants can't see other submissions, so they won't copy or modify other ideas.

DesignCrowd allows designers to see if a client has guaranteed payment for a contest. This means more users will submit to this contest because they know at least one entrant will be awarded.

Entrants are also awarded more from a DesignCrowd logo design contest than they would be on some other freelancing platforms. DesignCrowd takes 15% of a package price along with some posting and payment fees, whereas other crowdsourcing platforms can take up to 50% of the package. This encourages good designers to flock to DesignCrowd.

• Outside Designers
• Fees
• Ethical Concerns of Crowdsourcing
• Refund Complaints

Outside Designers

It can be a little overwhelming to have so many designers to choose from and to try to narrow it down based on prices, presentation, and time constraints. With so many designers as part of the group, DesignCrowd is not able to personally interview each designer and make sure that they are professional and courteous throughout the design process. Additionally, their prices aren't set, and they do not disclose how many concepts you'll be getting. Each designer's work experience, price, and quality varies greatly.

Fees

Unlike other freelance logo maker services, DesignCrowd charges a fee on the incoming payments of freelance designers. While this can be resolved by designers charging a higher price for one-on-one services, creatives should be aware of this policy before beginning work on any DesignCrowd project. Additionally, DesignCrowd encourages competition for custom design projects via a design contest, instead of merely assigning one designer per project.

Ethical Concerns of Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing platforms are becoming increasingly popular in the gig economy, and several logo design sites use competitions that will receive hundreds of submissions to create the best logo for a client. For most crowdsourcing sites, only the competition winner is compensated. 

While this can be great for the customer and for small businesses on a tight budget, many graphic designers complain that this undervalues a specialist's experience and labor. For this reason, some designers are against design contests and recommend that clients work directly with one designer or one team instead.

With DesignCrowd, customers can offer designers a Participation Payment if they want a specific creative to submit to the project, or the Participation Payment can be paid out to designers as a bonus after a project is complete. The compensation is typically $10 to $20 and is determined by DesignCrowd based on the size of a submitted budget. Keep in mind that this compensation is based on client discretion, might not match designers' effort in crafting a submission, and is still a small sum for participants who do not win.

Additionally, DesignCrowd does offer the option to work directly with a designer.

Refund Complaints

Some customers note in negative reviews that the refund isn't a 100% money-back refund as they had assumed. DesignCrowd may retain posting fees and other fees related to a design package; this is common in the industry. Be sure to read the fine print related to the refund policy and ensure that you understand it.