Let me start by saying that using 99designs was not the worst mistake of my life, despite what a stranger said to me on the Internet. Overall, I’m really stoked about the result of my experience with 99designs.
Getting a logo designed is just one step leading up to the recent launch of the Shaka Cola website. A lot of friends and family have been giving me feedback along the way, so I thought it might help to share the background story on the design process in case it helps someone else.
How 99designs logo contests work
I learned about 99designs from a Creative Director that I worked with (hi Bob!) and he had a good experience using the service. The way it works is that you start a contest and any designers around the world can choose to submit design options.
There are different options for what you can receive, like a logo, card and stationary, a full brand guideline document or, in my case, a logo and social media pack. The social media pack provides headers for facebook, twitter and youtube, which I thought would be a good way to start exploring the brand identity against a background.
A soda logo doesn’t make sense as a stand-alone item. Otherwise you can end up with something that doesn’t really work on a can, or isn’t eye catching enough. A detailed can design will end up being a separate project, but a lot of the thinking is already there.
The 99designs website said to expect 30-40 submissions, but in the end I was choosing from 68 different variations. Some of these were variations on a theme, but I chalk up the response to a few things:
- Having a strong design brief
- Providing lots of constructive feedback on submissions
- Seeing the designers as co-collaborators
After 5 days, you narrow down the number of finalists to no more than 6 designer (in my case 3). I provided them all with one more round of in-depth feedback and it was time to make the big decision 2 days later.
Overall, I found the designers to be creative and many came up with unique takes on the logo. We ended up going with a design from Viktoria Stalybka, who has a strong background in hand lettering and was a really fantastic partner in the process. She also came up with a really unique point of view on the brand that I’m a big fan of. I highly recommend working with her.
Getting lots of feedback along the way
In general, I’m a big fan of getting feedback. Before I started the logo contest, I had already surveyed everyone I knew about their soda consumption, asked people randomly at parties about their feelings about soda and let friends try recipe variations.
During the design process, I shared designs with close friends and advisers first to get their feedback. Once I narrowed down to the 3 finalists, I used 99designs built-in polling capability to get as much feedback as I could. I posted the poll in my facebook and linkedin accounts and had 44 awesome friends and even some total strangers give me their honest feedback.
The biggest mistake of my life?
One person sent me a message on linkedin saying that using 99designs to get my logo made is the biggest mistake of my life. He works at a brand strategy consulting firm and I won’t name him or the company.
I’m sure he was exaggerating to get a response out of me. However, I think he vastly underestimates the number of mistakes I’ve made in life (ha!).
He probably wanted to make a point about needing a higher level brand strategy and not just a logo. The fact is that I agree with him, but I already have a strong point of view about what Shaka Cola stands for and wrote a strong design brief to guide the design process.
A brand does not equal a logo
Overall, a brand is about the value a company provides to its customers and community. A logo should reflect that value, but the company will succeed or fail based on value and not how much you spend on a logo.
We stand for providing a refreshing beverage that is naturally sweetened, reducing pollution and fighting climate change. By laying out these principles from the start, we can help guide the work of everyone involved in designing, making and selling Shaka Cola down the road.
“He works at a brand strategy consulting firm”
You mean someone who expects you to pay them money for a full brand identity workup?
Exactly! It’s bad enough to get pitched out of the blue, but I’m not a fan of using fear as a sales strategy.