This company has done their homework. I first came across the crowdsourced graphic design concept a few years ago at the SitePoint Marketplace. It became such a hit with forum members they decided to branch out and make it it's own separate entity.

99Designs enables individuals and businesses of all sizes to post their design requirements in over 10 segmented categories. Ranging from Logos to Print & Packaging Materials, Web Pages, Buttons & Icons, Banner Ads, Apps, Twitter Backgrounds, Quickbook Forms and even T-Shirt Designs! It's setup almost like a reverse auction, where employers choose the final bidder.

Designers compete with another thru their design submissions. It can be frustrating for the novice designer as there are many first rate designers making a nice income from 99Designs. Providers create free rough drafts for the employer to review, rate, eliminate and comment on. The experienced ones add a watermark so the design doesn't get stolen. Users could place a listing on their watch list and wait to review other design feedback to get a better feel for the client needs. However, some design contests are posted as private so designs are not available for public viewing.

Providers are allowed to submit as many versions as they wish. However, each submission is added to a users portfolio, so most try to keep their workload to a mimum. Thus you are presented with highly qualified designs (at no charge) with an exception for the upfront guaranteed prize money (you pick the price) which is sent to the winning designer. Note that you can do an non guaranteed initial deposit to request a full refund if you don't see a design you like, but you are likely to see less quality and less amount of design bids. There is a direct correlation between prize money & quality/quantity of designs. Majority of the designers take their time to review your requirements and create something customized per your specs. They need some reassurance their entry stands a chance for earnings.

It's a great concept versus the standard freelance jobs, where you have to select a designer based on previous work and rely on past user feedback. This concept gives newer users to 99Designs who might have a great design portfolio but unestablished feedback a chance to win your business. Every entrant that gets chosen, their winning design is also placed prominently on their 99Designs profile as a "Winning Entry".

For website owners looking to build backlinks from a Search Engine Optimizing standpoint , posting a contest at 99Designs can be a great strategy for your long tail SEO efforts. You can list one clickable URL on each design brief. Should you complete and reward a winner for your design project, your listing along with your hyperlink would remain intact and archived on the web, thus giving you a one way Page Rank (pr 6) quality link back to your site for search engines to index.

Nevertheless, 99Deseigns made the process of getting started or logging in simple by integrating Facebook Connect as an alternative feature to their standard registration page.