Introducing 'Pukka' - Your Authentic and Positive Panda

Thanks to 99designs, the designers, and the great votes from the poll - THEPUKKAPANDA has an official logo and mascot. As the blog expands, the mascot 'Pukka' will make appearances on other pages.

99designs made this experience extremely simple for me. I chose the standard contest time, which took about a week from beginning to end. You have an option to opt-out and receive credit if you don't accept a design. As a product manager, I was curious to see how the designers would translate my requirements. 99designs provided the below simple template to support the requirement process.

Requirements Gathering Process

Name your contest with a title and sub-title
Enter Background: logo name, slogan, a brief description, and industry
- My description: Lifestyle blog to promote authentic and positive lifestyle. Pukka is synonym for authentic and panda is a nickname of mine. I would like a panda somehow incorporated that could be used across the site of fashion, business, favorites, etc. Perhaps similar to Japanese cartoons...
Visual Style: Preferred logo types, Values to communicate, Color preferences, and Sample logo
- Preferred logo types allowed you to choose 3 options from about 10-20. Each had an example of the logo type and description. I chose the three shown below. The mascot choice was my favorite. Who doesn't love a panda?
- Values to communicate provided easy sliding bars. The preferences I chose are below. 3 out of 6 were basically neutral.
- Color preferences: Black and White with Green and Blue, or just Green and Blue was my response.
  - My favorite color combination is green and blue - The blue sky backdrop with various colors of green trees and grass is the most amazing view. The blue ocean backdrop with green palm trees...
  - Black and white is a given for the panda! This also gave the designer options with the color combinations. Maybe a green panda would be cute.
- Example logos: I didn't provide an example logo. I really had a Japanese anime type character in mind, which I mentioned in the short description.
Deliverables: JPG, PNG, etc. They provided me with 5 files in 4 formats to download after signing a transfer agreement in one click!

The Contest

The Qualifying Round: Designers enter their initial design for concept and feedback.
- This round was about 4-5 days. Initial design entries were slow coming in. A lot waited until the final hours, which was smart as I assume they used my comments on the early designs.
Select Finalists: Once you select finalists, you commit to pick a winner. It is nice that you choose the designer versus the design since they submit multiple designs.
Final Round: The 6-7 designers chosen have a few days to submit final designs based on feedback and ratings.
- The Poll: You have the option to share with friends using a poll and link. They also provide a method to create a presentation if you want to share during client meetings. I used the poll. I did not use the presentation option since this is a new blog.
Select Winner: They give you 12 days to choose a winner. I made my final selection a day after the final round was complete. Thanks to all your votes!

The Logo Transfer

After I selected a winner, they asked for special transfer requirements. The files were ready within 12 hours of when I chose the designer. I downloaded the files today and the logo is up on the website. They require you to sign a simple transfer agreement of ownership which releases the award payment to the winner!

Successful Customer Experience

I am a stickler for a great customer experience - both providing and receiving. The best customer is a repeat customer. A trusted advisor used 99designs, which influenced me to try them out. I would highly recommend their service and use them again. Lack of a logo was one of my blog launch excuses. They made the entire process simple, fun, and interactive!

Do you think they delivered well on the requirements?

Yours Truly,