Don’t want to get labeled as a snooty designer (again), or an elitist gatekeeper (again) so rather than turn this into another “some designers on 99designs swiped our stuff” whiny baby screed (again), perhaps we should use this example of spec work ‘inspiration’ to demonstrate how to enter a logo contest on 99designs in ten minutes flat. Without actually having to design anything. You know, “evolving“, as in the “evolve or die” mantra that graphic designers have heard so much recently.
Step #1: Find a suitable image
First, you should take a look at what the contest is all about. In this instance, you’ll be entering a contest for a marina boat repair business. Cool. That would need some boat artwork, so let’s hop over to Google and run a search for related terms. Ah hell, cut right to the chase and type in ‘boat logo‘. Awesome. Lots of stuff, and Big ‘G’ even doles up mini images as part of the search. Liking the first one, from some online outfit called The Logo Factory. That would be perfect for a marina boat repair design, no?
Step #2: Adapt said image to personal tastes
Lessee. You don’t want to submit a complete knock-off as that wouldn’t be cool (logo contest value and all that). Also wouldn’t want people to notice our ‘homage’, so we’ll need to perform a few perfunctory changes to make the design completely ours.
Let’s remove the portholes, waves, add the appropriate text and voilà, one handy-dandy custom boat logo in just under ten minutes. If you can pick up 150 ducats for ten minutes work, that works out to about $900 an hour. And that ain’t bad scratch in any currency.
Step #3: Upload new image and hope nobody notices
Once we’ve finished, ahm, tweaking the logo into its new form, we can upload to the 99designs contest and hope for the best. If our entry doesn’t win, it falls squarely under the “nothing ventured, nothing gained” category. Even if it doesn’t win, let’s not forget all those lovely, ever-so-important stars we’ll receive from the ever-so-grateful contest holder. Not really sure how, but apparently these will make us a better designer. And if we win, huzah! 150 bones straight to our handy-dandy PayPal account, or in this case, the PayPal account of some user called [re]Design (alas, I wish I was kidding) who uploaded our beautifully reworked logo thusly:
This boat logo ‘homage’ did pretty well, receiving 4 out of 5 stars from the contest holder (making [re]Design a better designer I suppose), but still firmly entrenched in the “close but no cigar” territory. Translation: no bloody cash. As this is also supposed to be “professional design services“, with the word ‘professional’ generally describing exchange of said cash, it is at this point you may wish to move on to:
Step #4: Let someone else have a go
Having invested five or ten minutes with this contest (the maximum you’ll wish to expend to keep things ‘profitable’), you should probably stand back and let other participants have a go. Let them use Step #1. Find the image and rework it from a different angle. Perhaps removing the portholes and the waves was a little spartan for the contest holders tastes, so the next entrant may want to leave the waves in this time. A word of caution. Two (or more) people entering a logo ‘homage’ from the same source is going to require some designery soft shoe as we mix things up a little.
Squish the hull. Re-size the waves. Skew the windshield a bit. That way, no-one will ever figure out our ten minute hatchet job is, ahm, cribbing the same source logo as someone else. That wouldn’t be terribly cool (logo design contest ‘value’ and all that). Which might explain how this second “designer” came up with yet another derivative design which was also entered into the same contest. Like so:
Yowzah! Now that’s more like it. Five out of five stars this time. With that many, second dude’s gonna turn out to be a really, really good designer (though I’m still unsure how). The design coulda been a contender for the cash too, if it weren’t for some busy-body piping up in the comments section and putting paid to this time-saving enterprise. Ah well, nothing ventured nothing gained, I suppose. Not to worry though – there are hundreds and hundreds of contests that this time-saving technique can be used in. Who knows, maybe even one that needs a boat. And that would cut our time down to three minutes. Flat.
And we still wouldn’t have to design anything.
Related Posts
- Spec work hackery redux. More of our work copied & entered into 99designs logo design contest
- Oh c’mon now
- Yet another 99designs logo contest knock-off
- How to win a logo design contest
- More logo design contest nonsense…
Tags: Contests, plagiarism, rants
EXCELENT POST!!!
Great post. A nice and creative way to address the theft…err…homage of your design.
This is what we all do…right?
I think you have only yourself to blame, since the EuroYacht logo came up TWICE in the first line of images in the Google search. You just have stop being so damn popular. Right?
[/joke]
Hi,
For those looking for another design contest site, Crowd On Tap has just launched and is in beta. Check it out at http://www.crowdontap.com
You, ahm, did read the article, didn’t you Nick?
Nice article
As a regular reader of The Logo Factory Blog and an admirer of your design work I usually avoid these negative posts, just not today…
I am sure you are well aware that the thieving bastards you waste so much time highlighting have always been within the design community. Only difference is with open design contests their copyright crimes are in the public where as previously they would have gone unnoticed having submitted work via the many freelance forums.
I know this is an issue you are whole heartedly committed to, and I respect that so only offer this comment to add a little balance to your post.
Please if you ever decide to spend your spare time and creativity figuring out a better way to crowdsource design please do drop me an email. I would love to help.
Have an awesome day,
Ade
Hey Ade. Thanks for the comment. You know, even I get tired of writing these “negative posts” from time-to-time. Trouble is, whenever I ask, readers of the blog tell me to keep writing them. And f the number of comments, Tweets, inbound links and numbers of people reading these exposes are any indication, they’re the most popular items on my blog, out performing how to, general news and tutorial posts about 5 to 1. Designers seem to like reading them, maybe because it validates their own opinions, and suspicions about spec work and design contests. Clients have told me that they’ve either opened their eyes towards spec work and design contests, or re-enforced their own personal experiences. Several have told me a variation of “if only I had found your article beforehand”.
The only people who seem to view these little exposes as a “waste of my time” (while I certainly appreciate the concern) are people who have a ‘pro contest’ axe to grind. Your site, Contesterous, with it’s stated goal of being “about you design contest loving people” would probably place you in that category. You dig design contests. I’m okay with that. Writing pro design contest features on your blog is your right, and I wouldn’t dare suggest that you’re wasting your time. Not really my place as it’s your blog, your website, your hosting and at the end of the day, your time to waste. And I’ll keep my opinion that you’re doing a great disservice to readers of your blog by tub-thumping so-called crowdsourcing without any real analysis, avoiding discussing the very real risks for clients and designers alike, to myself.
Though I might refer you to one quick example I found on your site, this interview, in which a decent designer from 99designs extols the virtues of logo design contests. What you neglected to mention is that the lad featured has entered 383 contests, while only winning 43 (you claim 48). Or this interview with a designer who’s entered 723 with 91 wins. To me, both instances illustrate the dismal success rates on any design contest site, even though both feature pretty talented designers and are held up as ‘positive’ pieces. From your point of view, you see both as illustrating how design contests are peachy keen, and the interviews articulate your pro-contest point of view. That’s your right. See, the design community, indeed the internet in general, is large enough for a wide range of opinions. The ones you’ll find on this blog are mine.
I’ve debunked your point about design contest’ copyright crimes’ being in the ‘open’ about a dozen times, so I’m not going to do it again other than the bullet points. Paid professionals run a much higher risk vs. gain scenario than some anonymous design contest participant who has, for all intents and purposes, no risk at all in passing off ‘over inspired’ work as theirs, to unsuspecting contest holders. As the post you’ve commented on illustrates quite nicely I think. In both instances, not only was there no ramification for the designers. but both examples remain in the contest gallery, despite being reported (in the contest thread) almost five weeks ago.
This is a sorry situation. Individuals or companies who claim to provide unique designs actually copy and paste and steal the designs of others. Buyers should be extra cautious where they buy their logos from.
It’s a great effort by The Logo Factory to reveal such cheap theft and to educate others.
Thank you.
Hi,
From my experience in working 4 years in an advertising and design agency, I think this problem not only applies to 99 Designs but also to the traditional agencies as well.
I am a copywriter and I have seen few designers following the same process.
I have a point of view I would like to share. In these small scale agencies in India, there are many brilliant designers whose good ideas get killed by clients who can’t get the appeal of those designs (I am sure that is the case with other clients in other countries too). These designers find a chance on these websites like 99designs to try their hands on something else. I mean, a friend of mine designed a logo for a funeral home, which he didn’t win, but still he was happy that he tried something else.
Ultimately, it comes down to the designer and the client how they use the opportunity on 99designs. The same goes with traditional agencies as well.
Thanks,
Subhadip