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Logo design contests
Crowdsourcing and other design zaniness (part 1).
 The singularly most annoying thing about the Internet - spam - is based on a simple concept. Send enough ‘get yer Viagra here’ laced e-mails to unsuspecting recipients, and you will eventually find that one person who is naive enough to click on the link embedded in the e-mail, and after reading the sales pitch, be willing to purchase. A top-ten hall of famer in the “it’s incredible how much effort folks will go to in order to avoid an honest day’s labor” category, it's dopey and (with response rates in the 1/100000’s) pretty ineffectual. Targeted marketing is much more efficient, will net far greater results, and in the long run - a much higher payback. Spam’s only real appeal is that it’s cheap, if not free, for the so-called ‘advertiser’. How does this relate to a website dealing with graphic design services, you might ask. Well, in my humble opinion, logo design contests - sometimes euphemistically referred to as 'crowdsourcing' or 'a dispersed workforce' - are nothing more than visual Spam. With similar results, driven by similar motives.
What is a logo design contest?
i guess before we take a look at logo design contests we should clarify what we're actually referring to. We're not talking about some home-made blog asking their 'community' to create a logo in order to make their website look 'nice' - generally involves offering of an Amazon gift certificate (or the princely sum of $50) to the winner. These types of contests are generally fun for all, and represent a chance for would-be designers to get involved in their favorite acre of cyberspace. While many purists may disagree with me here, I really don't see the harm in this - to the folks holding the contest, or the folks entering their designs. People who submit their logo concepts are doing so for the 'bragging rights' of designing the logo that will emblazon their favorite blog or forum masthead. The internet version of 'Kilroy Wuz Here'. These kind of contests are merely an extension of the open-source nature of the blogosphere, and a refection of the 'community' atmosphere to many sites. More often than not, the blog is not a professional affair (other than a few Google Adwords here or there), but just another stop on the ever-expanding information highway. There's nothing unfair, or underhanded, and these kind of contests have been around forever (heh - i had my first 'professional' design gig when I won a logo design contest for my high-school radio station. Was a $100 richer into the bargain). The logo design contests that I, and most in the graphic design community, have an issue with are organized contests for professional, and sometimes multinational companies, who view contests as a way of getting a load of design work for free.
Something for nothing.
Here’s the usual pitch - a company who wants a new logo created for their fledgling (or sometimes already established) business offers a prize (I’ve seen everything between $50 to a few grand and some with nothing but the ‘glory’ of designing the job) as part of a contest, during which designers will submit their work, without any contract, payment or agreement (other than the ‘winner’), in the hopes of having their work selected. The winning entry then goes to on to represent a company, with all that a corporate identity entails, and is used by that company to promote their services or products to the world. There's nothing 'open-source' about it. It's not to engage any community. It's merely a cynical method of getting people to work for nothing, referred to by most graphic design organizations as spec (speculative) work, and the bane of the industry. Rather than hiring a designer, or logo design firm, the company figures that they can persuade a whole mess of designers, or design firms, to create logo concepts without any remuneration - the company has a slew of designs from which to pick from, and it saves them a load of dough. Is it effective? I'd argue not. Is it ethical? What do you think?
Logo design contest forums.
Gets worse too. As with any kind of venture, there's always someone who sees an opportunity to cash in on this or that situation. You know - "take it to a new level" - why should we expect design contests to be any different. Much to the consternation of designers and the design community, there are now logo design contest forums popping up everywhere, a new 'business model' where so-called clients can pay the forum owners directly, post their contest on the site, and watch while a myriad of designers - some good, some not so good - vie for whatever prize is being offered. Such a practice is ultimately a bad idea for clients and designers alike, and a blight on the design industry itself. The issue with these kind of sites is not only in their flawed model (design contests in general) but the way they market themselves to the unsuspecting client searching for a cheap way to get their hands on decent logo artwork. One bills themselves as a "Unique Design Firm", and goes on to describe their 'services' -
"It's like being in your own virtual board room with a team of over 100 designers that, with your direction, will create the perfect design for you".
All fine and dandy except none of the designers boasted about actually work for this web site at all - the 100s of designers are simply forum members who are not linked to the site owner in any tangible way. Which is admitted in a disclaimer at the bottom of the order page -
"We are not responsible for the actions of our designers. They are independent contractors and are responsible for their own practices."
No problem with that - why, it's commong knowledge that designguyz105 is on the up and up (sarcasm filter off). I will agree with them on one thing. Damn straight it's a "unique design firm". They're not responsible for their designers nor the work created as a result of the contests held on their site. When I, or any other professional, work with clients - we are very responsible for the actions of the designers we employ. I understand why the people behind these logo design sites would set up shop in this manner. They get a slice of every transaction (10%) and don't have to spend any of their time in the development of the 'client's' corporate identity. I sort of understand why 'clients' (term used loosely) would do this, though most of their expectations are based on promises that are neutered by the fine print in the Terms Of Service (TOS). They think they're getting top-shelf design (they're not) for pennies on the dollar. What I don't understand is why designers (or even would-be designers) would agree to any of this. The forum takes a 10% cut on everything. They also own all the rights to designs you post on their site, without ever having to pay a penny. Or shoulder any responsibility. Their risk is zero. The designers' risk is 100%. And the clients? Well, the forum takes no responsibility for anything they're presented with. Unique design firm indeed.
Next Page: Contests - Bad for clients. Bad for designers
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