Spec work
In terms of what Crowdspring does and the client-designer interaction, I must disagree. Pretty strongly too. The ‘buyers’ NEVER listen to the designer’s suggestions, even when told that what they’ve requested isn’t going to work (especially from a technical POV). All communication is FROM the buyer to the designer, never the other way around. Whatever communication from the designers to the client is usually the “yes sir, no sir - I await your next command, sir” variety. When utilizing people who are supposedly knowledgeable in their craft, the buyers never utilize that portion of the designers’ skillset. Their knowledge and/or experience. It’s akin to me taking my car to a mechanic and ignoring them completely when they tell me my wheels are going to fall off. And that, by the way, is if the ‘buyers’ communicate at all. Read the Crowdspring forum and read how designers carp that the lack of communication is a real hindrance to many contests. The management of Crowdspring have even taken to encouraging communication, suggesting that active participation means more entries. There’s lots more issues we could discuss, but rather than turn this into a Crowdspring-bashing thread, let’s leave it for another day.
Exaggerated size of design ‘communities’. A few months ago, we took look at the ‘community’ numbers of crowdsourcing and design contest sites and found, to be charitable, that they were wildly inflated. Bottom line, most design crowdsourcing sites are supported by a fraction of the designers claimed on the home page. Most decent designers that have a go at crowdsourcing either don’t enter anything, or bail shortly after they do, having discovered that entering design contests is a woefully inefficient way to earn a living. While the aggregate appearance is that of monstrous sized design communities (designers who are no longer active are still counted in the numbers), the reality for the individual is something different entirely. After winning one contest in twenty (about the average of designers who know what they’re doing, the win-ratio is much lower if they don’t) most people move on to greener pastures. That’s not anti-spec rhetoric. It’s economic common sense. It could be argued that a great deal of the people left on these sites are bad at one of two things, design or business. Or they’re teenagers earning a few bucks on the side.
Twitter graphic $6 proof that design crowdsourcing works? Not quite. | The Logo Factor Design Blog
Why designers can be their own worst enemy | The Logo Factor Design Blog
Forbes calls designers snooty | David Airey, graphic designer
Platitudes of Spec. Defending crowdsourcing & design contests. | The Logo Factor Design Blog
Exaggerated size of design ‘communities’. A few months ago, we took look at the ‘community’ numbers of crowdsourcing and design contest sites and found, to be charitable, that they were wildly inflated. Bottom line, most design crowdsourcing sites are supported by a fraction of the designers claimed on the home page. Most decent designers that have a go at crowdsourcing either don’t enter anything, or bail shortly after they do, having discovered that entering design contests is a woefully inefficient way to earn a living. While the aggregate appearance is that of monstrous sized design communities (designers who are no longer active are still counted in the numbers), the reality for the individual is something different entirely. After winning one contest in twenty (about the average of designers who know what they’re doing, the win-ratio is much lower if they don’t) most people move on to greener pastures. That’s not anti-spec rhetoric. It’s economic common sense. It could be argued that a great deal of the people left on these sites are bad at one of two things, design or business. Or they’re teenagers earning a few bucks on the side.
Twitter graphic $6 proof that design crowdsourcing works? Not quite. | The Logo Factor Design Blog
Why designers can be their own worst enemy | The Logo Factor Design Blog
Forbes calls designers snooty | David Airey, graphic designer
Platitudes of Spec. Defending crowdsourcing & design contests. | The Logo Factor Design Blog