A few posts back, we wrote about the battle continuing in the logo contest debate. Continuing with that metaphor, looks like a war may be breaking out, with folks cheekily posting No-Spec! logos as entries into 99 Designs logo design contests. 127 logos to be exact. According to the 99 Designs blog and their No-Spec Shenanigans post
Overnight we had someone presumably from No-Spec! posting propaganda in our contests. They posted their No-Spec! to 127 of our contests. Isn’t it ironic that a group which claims to be out to protect designers would make life hard for our design community who at the end of day are just trying to make a living like everyone else. Thanks to everyone who quickly reported this to us – it’s all sorted now. Apologies to any contest holders who were inconvenienced.
This led to 99 Designs supporters blasting back, posing comments on the No-Spec! site accusing them of ‘spamming’ contests and acting unprofessionally. While I must admit to getting a little chuckle, I certainly wouldn’t go as far as to condone the tactics, (and for what my opinion is worth, it’s highly unlikely that this was a sanctioned action from No-Spec! who utilize public education to battle what they see as a threat to the graphic design industry). Having said that, I can certainly see why it would happen.
And for what it’s worth, it’s not the first time.
(Hat tip to Ryan for the heads up).
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Not surprising really, but thanks for the sign-post, Steve.
Hi Steve, you are right. We do NOT condone spamming.
And if both sides would just read the no-spec.com site, they’ll see that it’s so.
It’s linked right on the home page actually –>> What you can do: Read NO!SPEC’s Protocols
And while our supporters believe they are doing a good thing by spamming, I have to put up with all the cacca emails of protest.
Dave
Welcome as always.
Cat!
Nice of you to drop by. Probably some over-zealous designer thinking they’re helping the cause. Must admit, if I were a little younger, and as idealistic as I used to be back then, I might be tempted to get a little more involved than writing the occasional blog post. While I’m probably a little biased, not even sure if it’s ‘spamming’ or a legitimate form of protest, not unlike placards and signs used in more traditional venues.
Thanks for linking to the Protocols page – should clear a few things up for anyone who’s reading.
It’s a shame really, as it negatively impacts on the professional image of No-Spec and their supporters. It does, I suppose, highlight some of the inherent flaws in design contests – namely that there is no level of quality control over who is submitting designs. The action might have been more successful if the spammee had been a bit more creative and used something other than the No-spec logo.
eg.
Different logo designs with no-spec subtly worked into it to subtly promote the no-spec campaign (bonus irony points for each logo actually used by a client)
Just the same generic logo entered multiple times into every competition with superficial changes such as colours etc. to highlight the fact that most of the logos are recycled and the designers often provide little or no artistic input as part of their service, relying on the client to act as artistic director
Or perhaps even just something ridiculously obvious like submitting famous logos such as McDs, IBM, UPS etc. to highlight the rampant logo-stealing that many of the ‘designers’ engage in.
Personally though, I think it’s possibly better to simply not engage with the design competition sites at all. I’m not sure any good can really come from interacting directly with them.