Understanding 99designs' Quality Standards

99designs is a place for designers to learn and grow, but we are also a professional marketplace that expects professional design work.

What are 99designs' quality standards?

To ensure clients receive professional designs and maintain the trust of our design community, we curate designers based on our minimum quality standards. Design is inherently subjective but there are certain industry standards that client rely on us to enforce. 
 
We are constantly reviewing designer profiles to ensure they meet our quality standards, and we reserve the right to put designers’ accounts on hold if they do not meet them.
 
Each designer portfolio is judged by the level of professionalism and skills across all of the following quality standards: 

Designers must demonstrate proficiency in all the criteria above, not just one or two of them.
 

Essential resources

Boost your skills with these resources about the criteria for our quality standards.

1. How to execute basic design principles

 
Use these techniques to make your designs look polished and communicate your client’s message.

Learn more >>

 

2. Design mistakes to avoid

 
Avoid these common design mistakes that will make any design look unprofessional.

Learn more >>

 

3. Generic design: What is it and what does it look like?

 
Some elements are so overused in in existing logos that they won’t differentiate your client’s brand. 
 

 

4. How to avoid generic designs

 
Follow these steps to create unique logo designs for your clients.

Get conceptual >>

For examples of the level of quality we expect from our designers please visit our Pinterest page. For design tips and resources please review the articles on our blog.