Crowdsourced Design Competitions

I) need a logo for a project.

After reviewing approximately 20 quotes from Germany or US design companies I came up with the idea, that whatever they offer is good but mostly overpriced for what you get.

A professional custom logo design in Europe or the US costs approximately 500-1500 €. Ok, if you want to spend that on 6 proposals and unlimited corrections you should go and visit a doctor I guess. They will most probably be out of business by 2030.

Here is the fix, that I think changes the game: Crowd-sourced Design Competitions, one of my best friends from business school came across and he had some great results!

99designs.com is a startup that hosts design competitions on logos, businesscards, etc. The platform links us to a pool of freelance designers who want to earn some extra bucks. Based on the amount you pay for you project, they compete for your project based on the description, customer info and requirements you post. 

Competitions last for up to 7 days (or even 3 days for quick designs), so expect some 30-200 design proposals depending on the amount you bid and some other factors. I have seen competitions with + 500 proposals.All you have to do is select the proposals that match your needs and dump the rest. Corrections to designs are possible. The more you bid, the more you proposals you get. Easy Adam Smith stuff right? 

I'll keep you posted on how my competition goes...Since I am a tight guy I'll spend some 300 US (250€) lets see what happens...after 2 hours I had 2 designers work on it already. If I am not happy with that I'll obviously bid more on the go. 

Cheers.