One of the first questions you’ll have to ask yourself whenever you’re considering making a career change is, “When am I going to retire?”. Among the biggest factors influencing whether you are happy with your new job are your satisfaction level, your potential for greater income, and whether or not your current employer will let you work remotely.
As a freelance designer and WordPress developer, I know that it’s easy to get overwhelmed when looking for the best place to sell your services. Not only do you have to find the best sites, but also the right payment plan for you.
ManyPixels:
ManyPixels is similar to Kimp and provides unlimited graphic design. On the ManyPixels basic monthly plan, you get a dedicated designer and unlimited project requests, as long as you take things one project at a time.
There’s a drawback to only working with one designer, as your turnaround will only be as fast as they can work. However, you’ll never have to pay extra for requests or revisions. ManyPixels is a little more expensive than Kimp and they don’t complete as many projects each month. However, if you are looking for web and mobile app design, ManyPixels is the way to go.
TOPTAL:
Toptal has created a curated experience for clients that helps take risks surrounding hiring out of the equation. This new approach to freelancers provides you with a designer with the skills you need that can meet your timeframe. With extensive screening and testing measures to hire logo designers and other design services such as graphic design or website design, Toptal hires a select few applicants and maintains a close relationship with each one.
Business owners have two weeks to decide whether you want to continue with the designer you’ve been matched with, find a new designer, or leave altogether without incurring an expense.
KEY POINTS
- Toptal has reduced the risk of hiring logo designers by providing an experienced, professional logo artist for hire.
- Because of the platform’s curated nature, you can save time and stress during the hiring process by getting matched with a designer instead of looking for a logo designer yourself.
- Toptal is suggested for long-term projects in part due to client-friendly project management features, including the ability to pause and resume hires as-needed.
99designs:
Unlike many provider sites that use either an auction format borrowed from eBay or a search platform where a client looks for a provider that matches their project need, 99design uses a contest format for logo designs.
Once a client posts their specifications and job needs, the providers participating generate their ideas of a logo design proposal. The submissions are entered, and the client gets to review and pick among the options which one they want or like.
That can be refined until the client is fully satisfied. The approach works very well for one-off jobs and short tasks, but the client would have to keep submitting new contests for ongoing work without any guarantee the same provider will compete or be available to select from.
UPWORK:
Since its inception, Upwork has hosted millions of users and jobs on their platform. With this volume, you can search for an independent logo designer to fit your project’s budget and expertise level. The platform includes project management tools and features different ways to hire freelance logo designers. Suppose you need someone to design a company logo, search logo designers on their site. You can find skilled freelancers for your other design projects too.
KEY POINTS
- High customer retention rates.
- Freelance logo designers to fit most budgets.
- Pay once certain project milestones are completed. (This allows you to sidestep some of the risk involved in hiring.)
Kimp:
Best option for unlimited graphic design
Kimp isn’t a freelance website per se. But they are a great alternative for businesses looking to hire a freelance graphic designer. Kimp is a graphic design company that provides unlimited revisions and requests for a low monthly rate. While you usually can only take on one project at a time, Kimp gives you the flexibility to get exactly what you want each time, no matter how long it takes.
Kimp lets you work on up to 3 tasks at one time, which can create double the output of other unlimited design platform options. If you need even larger output, you can purchase additional subscriptions to up the ante.
With Kimp, you work with a team of 3 designers in at least one of three graphic design styles (print, illustration, or digital). You also get full rights to your designs once complete.
Fiverr – Best for Businesses on a Budget:
Fiverr is one of the best-known freelance marketplaces around. You can get pretty much any graphic design service you want, from designs for business cards and brochures, to logos, brand graphics, and more. There are hundreds of thousands of freelance design gigs on the platform, so you’ll have a lot to choose from.
One of the great things about Fiverr is that it’s cheap, with prices starting as low as $5. Wondering if you can get good quality for such low rates? So were we, so my teammate actually tested several Fiverr logo designers at different price levels. See the surprising results in our in-depth Fiverr Logo Design review.
Here are some of the features that make Fiverr worth your time:
- Experienced designers: Fiverr’s seller levels correspond to work successfully completed on the platform. The higher the level, the better your chances of getting a service you’ll be happy with. Plus, you can check out designers’ full profiles to see details of work completed and customer ratings and reviews.
- Time-saving filters: There are multiple ways to find the right graphic designer for you. After clicking on the service you want or searching for a keyword, you can filter options by type of design job, seller level, budget, and delivery time.
- Budget-friendly options: Fiverr made its name on affordable freelance services, so there are lots of designers offering packages at a low cost. If money is no object, you can also check out Fiverr Pro, for even more experienced designers who’ve been personally vetted by the platform.
- Security: Your payment is held in escrow till you’re happy with the work.
So, long-term commitments are not supported as well.
If you’re looking for a good but not expensive logo design, the Fiverr logo design can be a perfect solution as well.
Behance:
If you’re familiar with Adobe, they are well involved with graphics, images and design software programs. Believe it or not, they are also diversifying into the talent field and providing a platform for logo designs and clients seeking those services, finding a place in freelance websites for logo design ideal for freelance illustrator.
Behance works through Adobe’s combined cloud tool service known as Adobe Creative Cloud. So that means a client will need an account with that system to access the services. It will also make a big push for the client to use Adobe’s tools, which can be bought outright or used on a monthly service cost.
However, Adobe does want a 6-month commitment on accounts and does not favor a monthly subscription. Adobe users have long been known for amazing graphic work and performance because Adobe provides them an amazing library of imagery to work with in addition to its advanced graphic tools.
Behance brings it all together as one of the best graphic designer freelance website choices. No surprise, the logo designs that come out of the Adobe platform tend to be very professional in approach.
However, the monetizing of every connection to Adobe might be an issue for clients.
Conclusion:
Some will work with you, some won’t. I’ve found that there are a ton of freelance websites out there which aren’t worth the time. If they aren’t paying their artists well or having a decent ruleset around how you can use their site, they deserve to be taken off the list. If you want to make money, make money. If you want to learn how to sell your art online, do it.