aquent site redesign-spec work
Out of context: Reply #74
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Matthew -
If the "crowd-sourcing" model is here to stay, the question becomes what impact it has on the profession and the value of design.
Right now, I would say that sites like 99designs occupy a fairly low niche in the design food chain. They serve as a place where small businesses can go and quickly and cheaply get a number of designs created for them. The quality of design, while maybe not terrible, is certainly not very good and definitely not representative of the best the industry can produce.
In other words, I don't see them as a threat at the moment, because most of my clients would not use a service like that. They tend to put a premium on good design and wouldn't consider using a site of that kind for their corporate communications, the same way a large company wouldn't hire some kid fresh out of law school to be their lawyer just because he was cheaper!
What is problematic for many of us is when a major company - scratch that, a major DESIGN company(!) - like Aquent steps in and makes use of that service, to redesign their homepage no less. That begins to legitimize the concept for mainstream and professional use, which makes it harder for the rest of us, who occupy that professional space, to sell our services at a decent price. And quite frankly, it reduces the quality of design for the client as well. Basically it leads to a lowering of everyone's standards, including ultimately, the user's.
In the end, it will always be a struggle to convince people of the value of good design because it is such an ephemeral thing. Any kid can crack open Photoshop and slap together a design these days, and he might even do it for $500. However, I strongly believe that good design, which comes from years of study and experience, is an important component of a business's success. In my mind, companies like Aquent, whose livelihood depends on design, should be working to increase recognition of the value of that service, rather than reducing it.