I had an opportunity to interview with Matt Mickiewizc, the US representative for 99designs.  The site, a spinoff from Sitepoint, puts clients in direct contact with graphic designers from around the world.

Over 22,000 graphic designers from over 100 countries.

And the results can be pretty amazing.  So far, 99designs has helped broker over 14,000 projects, soliciting creative ideas from places like Africa, South America, Asia and all over Europe and North America.  Each project is presented as a “contest,” complete with prize money and a creative brief to provide direction. Each entry submitted by a designer is posted for public display (check out examples of contests here, here and here).

Once a contest is completed, 99designs serves as a kind of “creative escrow agent” allowing each designer to hold the copyright to his or her work until payment has been received from the client (the “award” for winning the contest).  At that point, 99designs and the designer release the files and the rights to the work to the sponsor of the contest.

I asked Matt about potential intellectual property concerns. He pointed out that by keeping all of the contest entries public, the designers police themselves and flag work that is ripped off or obviously derivative.  “The community is self-policing,” he explained.  “We remove flagged work within twenty-four hours of receiving notice.”

A resource for agencies
According to Matt, 99designs is a resource for agencies that need additional bandwidth or are just looking for a fresh approach for a client.  “About twenty percent of the contest held on 99designs are sponsored by agencies or design shops looking to outsource work,” he said.  “These are often held as private contests that are viewable only by the designers and the contest sponsor.” The security shields the agency’s clients from the prying eyes of a competitor or wandering client.

The volume of contributions a soliciation can generate is impressive.  In the bygone era of creative sessions involving too much coffee, donuts, squeaky pens and pads of paper, a creative team would be tasked with the responsibility of “filling the walls” with concepts, headlines and comps.  Account executives and creative directors struggling to impress a client with their agency’s creative abilities would often present a “rustle pile” of tissue comps in an effort to “throw it against the wall and see what sticks.”

The “rustle pile” of ideas on scraps of paper can now be replaced with an online gallery of nearly printer-ready comps. 

One contest for Anthill Magazine in Australia generated over 270 comps for a magazine cover.  The gallery for this old contest still has over 240 of the proposed concepts online for review.  (99designs allows designers to remove their submissions once a contest has closed.)  A brief for the contest can be viewed here.

A concept for every occassion
I had to ask Matt about the most unusual design assignment posted to 99designs.  After thinking it over for a moment, he mentioned a recent contest to design a marriage invitation to be printed on a picnic blanket.  The blanket was to be unfolded, revealing the proposal, at just the right time.

“We heard back that the proposal was accepted, so it must have been a good design,” said Matt.

Chalk up another contest winner at 99designs.

Special thanks to Katie Lister at Vantage Communications for putting me in touch with Matt and 99 Designs.

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