Online graphics design has always required a balance between artistic and functional. The fact here is that without one or the other, it would hard to sell your brand because both work together in tandem. However, talent is hard to come by, and sometimes deals can get expensive if you hire a professional designer. So, what can you do in order to find the perfect balance? Well, why don’t you look for a freelancer? There are thousands of them online at any one time, but the trick is to find the right place where they do their business. Here are some of the sites where you might find the perfect designer.

99 Designs

This site’s been getting very mixed results. When you post a request, it’s less of a job order and more like an active contest. It’s a great way to bring out the competitive side of the online community and you can choose the right service for you within a week; however, there are some downsides. For example; if you are somehow unsatisfied with their services and none of the entries work for your company, reaching a customer service can be a pain. Currently, there are over 905,000 designers registered on the site but there can still be doubt when you hire one on. 99 Designs work with several design packages which come in a variety of price ranges. Bronze right up to platinum, but as you may expect, these are all the dependent on what you’re willing to pay. This site is great for website creators with an immense amount of patience and who are also willing to spend a bit of money. Lesser packages can produce some subpar results and that can be trouble if you expect something different.

CrowdSpring

Like most of the sites on this page, CrowdSpring, works in the same way that 99 Designs work. You’ll be able to post and land new workers simply by stating the things you need. One major difference is that there are also many writers active on the site. If there’s one thing that you might not enjoy about the site is that a majority of their orders are not fulfilled. CrowdSpring is filled with professional workers, so your order has to fulfill a lot of different standards. Pricing is usually done within the $200 to $1000 mark, which make this place a lot more expensive. Luckily, there are at least 170,000 active designers, which means you might be able to find the service that fits your company.

HiretheWorld

One very similar theme that these sites share is their ability to boast about their numbers, and in this case, HiretheWorld gives you access to at least 180,000 designers at any one time. The design you choose will be determined by another contest, from where you can choose the best partner available depending upon what they send you. Since HiretheWorld has a limited amount of partners, you can be sure to find a talented designer. However, price ranges also work the same as the ones in CrowdSpring. Usually, you’ll have to pay around $200 or over in order to provide a good offer to a designer. The main difference here is that they provide extensive features to those that want to create a personal profile on their site.

DesignHill

While DesignHill works the same way as the other sites on this list, there are some inherent problems with the site. There isn’t much information about the website, and that can create problems when it comes to real world information. One of the positives about the site is that they deal with showcases and that means more exposure for the artist and designer. The unfortunate pricing for job posters will have them paying at least $40 in a non-refundable deposit. Designers, however can sign up completely free. There is no mention of how many active users there are, so you might want to be cautious about posting a job on DesignHill.

HatchWise

The last among this list of competition based design websites is HatchWise, and in many ways, it’s also fairly unrecognized. As it stands, the site only has over 20,000 registered, but they use the same format as the other sites on this list. You’ll have to post your offer in the form of a contest, but there are some advantages. This site is composed of unrecognized talent and because of their status online; you’ll be able to find a good designer if you dig down and wait. Starting prices will also be cheaper; the minimal amount to register a job is $60. However, the downside of this site is that you will have to sift through several low quality offers sometimes.

So, now that you know a little more about contest based design sites. There are many choices, just like when you do shopping for anything. Quantity and quality of designers, prices, speed of delivery and work flow to get things done are all considerations. Why not pick one, try it and find out what works for you? While a few of them do demand a little more down payment than others, you might find a lot of quality if you take a risk on one of them.

Image from Edudemic