Top 11 sites to find and hire Brand Identity Designers
1. Toptal
Toptal strives to be the best in both quality and service. Toptal’s on-demand network of high-caliber designers go through a rigorous vetting process in order to be a part of their exclusive network. With only three percent of applicants making the cut, Toptal ensures their clients are expertly matched with world-class talent. Their fast, no-risk, and scalable service matches their clients with a freelance designer or team based on their specific needs.
Key Points:
- Sign up with Toptal and enjoy a risk-free trial for up to 5 days.
- Toptal freelancers have completed over 60,000 projects for over 25,000 satisfied clients.
- Toptal comes highly rated with a Trustpilot rating of 4.8 out of 5.
2. Upwork
As one of the most well-known online freelance marketplaces, Upwork creates a streamlined positive experience for clients with a host of project management tools. They have also started business and enterprise subscription options, offering clients a carefully selected pool of designers. With no cost to join you can start browsing talent immediately. And with their flexible and transparent pricing, Upwork is a great option to find top talent on a global scale.
Key Points:
- With a pool of designers of different experience levels, Upwork can work with any budget to match you with the best brand identity designers.
- Performs identity checks on freelancers and protects your data with 24/7 support.
- Gain access to the top 1% of talent with an enterprise suite subscription.
Key Points
3. 99designs
99designs allows you to hire freelance brand identity designers in two ways. Like most freelancing websites you can simply select the designer of your choosing, or you can vet the best talent for your needs by holding design contests. Upgrade to their personal creative consultant service to gain access to a dedicated account manager who offers expert advice and insight.
Key Points:
- Clients with high-quality standards, recurring design needs, or privacy concerns can upgrade to 99pro to utilize their premium upgrades like NDA protection and white-lable presentations.
- Works directly with Vistaprint for all of your physical branding needs from posters to business cards.
- All designers have flexible prices to fit client's budget.
4. Fiverr
Originally the $5 gig freelancing website, Fiverr is still a great low-cost option to fit any budget. They are also known for their quick turnaround time stating on their website, “Get great work delivered in no time, every time”. With Fiverr Pro, you get access to their catalog of curated pro freelancers and expert guidance from their business success team.
Key Points:
- Clear and upfront per project pricing with payments only getting released with your approval.
- Their new e-commerce project management service gives you access to a project manager to plan, coordinate, and execute your project.
- Depending on the freelancer's terms, you might not have full ownership of the work delivered.
5. Dribbble
Dribble was originally created as a community for designers to showcase their work. You can search and evaluate freelance brand identity designers through their portfolio-style web layout. This portfolio-style website allows you to search for and evaluate designers and their community feedback feature allows talent from across the platform to give valuable feedback on your design.
Key Points:
- Over 60,000 companies have utilized Dribble’s three million ready-to-work freelancers.
- Their unique location feature allows you to find freelance brand identity designers near you.
- Upgrades like Job Board let the designers come to you and Hiring Suite gives priority access to Dribble’s top pool of talent.
6. AIGA
If you are looking to hire a brand identity designer for a more long-term job AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) gives you access to top talent. AIGA, the professional design association in the United States, has a collection of resources including a job board to help you find both part-time and full-time designers that fit your design needs.
Key Points:
- You can post your first two job listings for free, and then pay for additional listings. AIGA members receive a discount on additional job listings.
- While job listings are posted immediately, they only stay online for 45 days.
- AIGA’s job board is only for United States-based jobs.
7. Crowdspring
Crowdspring claims to have dramatically simplified the design process with its three-step brief, collaborate, and wrap-up process. While their pool of talent is smaller than many of the sites on this list they still offer top talent from across the globe. Crowdspring gives you the option to work with a crowd or one-to-one with the designer of your choosing.
Key Points:
- Choose a crowd project to utilize multiple designers submitting dozens of concepts. You then review, rate, and give feedback before choosing the final design that works for you, at one price.
- Choose one-to-one to negotiate prices with up to five designers at once and use the Crowdspring platform to manage your project.
8. Shape
Shape is an award-winning branding and web design company out of Manchester, UK. With over a decade of experience, their small team of thirty has worked with clients ranging from ambitious startups to large global brands like Blackberry giving them the expertise to create success from almost any budget. Shape’s track record proves you can find brand identity designers without a lengthy search.
Key Points:
- Full-service in-house branding specializing in web design, web development, organic SEO, and eCommerce.
- Highly rated with over 55% of their projects coming from established customer referrals.
- Dedicated project manager to guide you through the entire project from the first Zoom call to maintaining your projects after they go live.
9. Behance
Purchased by Adobe in 2012 as a way for their Adobe Creative Cloud users to display their design projects, Behance is a portfolio platform with a large pool of over two million designers from around the globe. Their pro services provide private job postings and talent search options allowing subscribers an advanced search option to find candidates without having to post publicly.
Key Points:
- If you are already an Adobe Creative Suite user, you can publicly post jobs for free.
- Share your requirements and receive proposals from a large variety of designers at different experience levels to fit any budget.
- 98% of previous clients recommend the freelancer they worked with.
10. Freelancer
Known for being one of the largest online freelance marketplaces, Freelancer has a multitude of professional designers to choose from. Hiring on Freelancer can be done in a number of ways from holding a contest, to posting a job at no cost to you for designers to bid on, or you can browse through portfolios and connect with designers directly.
Key Points:
- Cost responsibility for initiating a project is shared equally between the freelancer and the client.
- Secure and flexible payment terms through hourly wages or flat fees.
- The Preferred Freelancer program gives you access to the top most experienced brand designers and offers tools to help you manage your project.
DesignHill
Like other websites on this list, Design Hill allows you multiple avenues to find the best brand identity designer to fit your needs. Create a design contest, search for and directly connect with designers, or utilize their monthly membership to source multiple designers at a time. Subscription packages are low cost allowing budgets of all kinds to utilize their website.
Key Points:
- Over three million customers and a 4.9 out of 5 Trustpilot rating.
- Four pricing levels to choose from for contests, negotiable pricing on one-to-one design projects, and low-cost options for smaller projects like logos and email signatures.
- Client gets full copyright of final design and a 100% money-back guarantee.