Contests

If there’s ever been an issue that ignites passion in the design community, it is spec work, its repackaged cousin design contests, and its cousin-in-disguise, crowdsourcing. There are two sides to the issue, and neither seems willing, or able, to give the other much sway. In this first of a two part series, we take [...]

Continue reading about Creative crowdsourcing & design contests. Hype or reality? Contest holder & buyer’s edition

As evidenced by features on NPR and in Forbes, spec work, crowdsourcing and design contests remain the darlings of the business media. Sadly, many of the inflated claims made are left unchallenged and become the accepted truth, when often times, they’re not really true at all. Conversations about spec work and crowdsourcing have turned up [...]

Continue reading about The Crowdsourcing Dilemma. Spec work, crowdsourcing and Crowdspring on NPR

To effectively describe a website concept in a few lines of type, summing it up in concisely and succinctly, is an art form all of itself. Ain’t easy either, so I positively loved this description of a new World of Warcraft inspired, medieval role-playing website: “We provide you the battlefield and weaponry to conquer the [...]

Continue reading about Snippets: Battling logos, a couple of Pint Tips, just like 99designs & the IRS logo scam edition

When web designer Zach Hornsby decided to write a blog post entitled 99designs is Effectively Ruining Client, Designer Relations he used a picture of 99designs staff to illustrate the piece. That’s probably cool under ‘Fair Use’ and ‘Parody’ provisions, but he promptly received an e-mail from 99designs founder Mark Harbottle claiming copyright protection and ominously [...]

Continue reading about Snippets: The wondrously wacky world of online logo design, legal threats and stock logo edition