A good friend of mine just introduced me to a really cool new service (at least new to me). It’s called 99 designs. I can’t wait to give them a try.

Over the years, I’ve used a variety of sources for design. I’ve worked at churches where we’ve had graphic designers on staff (my favorite). I’ve worked at churches where I had to do the graphic design or I’d rely on a volunteers. The great thing is that there are more and more resources where I can buy an element from one website and tweak it.

What if you needs something built from the ground up? A new logo or banner? Well, you should totally check out 99 designs. What I love about it is that it lets the market decide the price. What I mean by that is that you totally get to crowdsource your project from a handful to dozens of designers and they essentially compete for your business? How much does this cost? Well, that’s up to you. If you don’t have a lot of money, just list what you can afford. If a designer wants to do it for that price, they’ll submit artwork and you rate, give feedback and eventually pick the submission you like the most. In the end, you pay them what you said you would from the beginning. If it’s something really simple, you can lowball and maybe luck out with 2 or 3 designers who are willing to do something (but you might not like what you get). If it’s a very important project, you might want to offer more money and end up having 50-60 designers presenting their best work to get the job.

Here’s what I like so much about this concept. I’ve paid $200-$300 for a logo before. In the deal, I’d get 4-6 concepts that I had to choose between. I’ve always been satisfied, but I was always worried. What if I didn’t like any of the concepts? In these cases, I’m at the mercy of the design company. With 99 designs, I’m always in charge.

Oh, one other thing. They’ve got hundreds of pre-made designs that can be customized for your kids for 99 bucks. How cool is that. Check out the video below for a good overview of the process.