Contests

Criticize spec work, design contests or crowdsourcing sites, and you run the risk of being called a snooty designer, a gatekeeper, a parnoid bedwetter, a high-maintenance whiny art baby. Or worse. Being opposed to designers (mostly younger ones, often from developing nations) working without pay means you are a dinosaur, unwilling, or unable, to adapt [...]

Continue reading about Numbers – The ever-shifting realities of crowdsourcing and design contest sites.

If you’ve been following the design and advertising industry news over the past month or so, you’ve probably bumped into someone sqwaking about the CP+B (Crispin, Porter & Bogusky) crowdsourced project for the Brammo company, creator of the Enteria electric ‘power bike’. If not, let’s recap quickly. CP+B, a big thing among trendy ad agencies, [...]

Continue reading about Defending crowdsourcing & design contests. The platitudes of spec work.

Steve Douglas on June 30th, 2009

The argument about speculative work and design contest sites continues unabated as designers and creative types grapple with the most contentious subject in the graphic design industry today. If the ongoing forum and blog arguments weren’t enough, the debate has now moved into the Twitterverse (that’s Twitter talk for people who, ahm, Twitter). First, there’s [...]

Continue reading about Battle for hearts and minds continues

Steve Douglas on May 25th, 2009

Taking time this morning to do some blog house cleaning – catching up on unfinished business and unpublished material. First up, a full transcript of the SXSW 09 Is Spec Work Evil? debate from March. A little late getting around to posting this (The Jon Engle vs. Stock Art flap knocked it to the wayside), [...]

Continue reading about SXSW “Is Spec Work Evil?” panel transcript

In the ongoing back-and-forth debate (well, not exactly a debate – more of a series of talking points and opposing vents) about so-called design “crowdsourcing”, design contests and spec work, there are arguments floated, often by people who should know better, that beg to be looked at a little more closely. Here’s one such example [...]

Continue reading about Twitter graphic $6 proof that design crowdsourcing works? Not quite.