aquent site redesign-spec work
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- ukit0
How do you think they arrived at the point where they decided to use 99 Designs?
- Whoever made the decision doesn't understand their brand, or branding for that matter.Transit_Broadcast
- cast0
to be honest i have'nt read this thread [hvnt got that much time]
but can we assume that http://99designs.com is a right off website ?
- SoulFly0
I don't think they had a choice. Update Graphics has a brand new site, and the Creative Group has a pretty recent look.
The other thing is also Aquent probably had all the designers on the road on jobs, so they couldn't find anyone.
- PonyBoy0
lol@$500... must be nice to consistently steal from poor students who know no better...
:(... fuckers
- cannonball0
So what happens to the fools that submitted their designs? I guess nothing.
- we ridicule them!!!PonyBoy
- cannonball, your submission was shite ok?!!?
;)Dancer - haha i didnt submit, but im sure it would have turned out pisspoor.cannonball
- calculator0
pathetic
- design_bitch0
i was just talking to a friend of mine and i'm curious to know what you guys think about the future of design as we know it. although the wal-mart effect of the business seems inevitable, what are the things we shouldnt compromise? i'm already tired of battling against Logoworks and the other template driven companies. how else do we educate other people on the business side of our value? what can we do better?
what do you guys do to address this?
- Do you have your own blog?
You sound very insightful.SoulFly - actually no lol. just talk to a good friend of mine about this all of the time :) curious if everyone else is on the same thoughtdesign_bitch
- Do you have your own blog?
- Josev0
The AIGA has sent Aquent a formal response.
- Do you happen to know where they sent that?Aquentminister
- OK. I've seen it.Aquentminister
- utopian10
ID HIT IT
- monkeyshine0
Judi_in_Disguise...why are you picking a fresh scab? Seriously, I hope you are not an employee of Aquent because you're undermining the progress we've made here.
- the email address for that account is jwunderlich@aquent.c...Josev
- Yes, Judi is Aquent. Apparently she wants to throw herself down the stairs like Matt did.Lt_Jack_Hammer
- utopian10
$500 bucks goes along way in India!
- I think this is a good point. Is outsourcing design to India or Malaysia bad as well?Aquentminister
- Yes, if you want to undermine the American economy and American design jobs.hedgehog
- I've had Indian design firms contact me for oursource work and while it may be cheaper, I refuse as I'd rather send my outsource work to quality designers that I know and work with and pay them a fair wage.hedgehog
- I'd rather send my outsource work to quality designers I know and pay them a fair wagehedgehog
- This is why we should be supporting shared values. Respect for proper process and for the profession as a whole does not end at our borders.Josev
- does not end at our borders. We should be setting a standard.Josev
- agreed, everyone should get a fair wage.hedgehog
- I think that standards and ethics are not enough - you need actual agreements, laws, and treatiesAquentminister
- "you need actual agreements, laws, and treaties" Is that a joke?Josev
- not a joke, I'm serious - shared ethics are not and will not stop globalizationAquentminister
- tkmeister0
I’ve never had any good experience with recruiters. I’ve never trusted any of them since I know that behind the closed door, they are most likely presenting 10+ candidates from their list, if not more, for the same job you are after. You become just one of many on their list. Not mention, many recruiters don’t fully understand the position they are recruiting for or that much detail about the clients needs. Should I put my trust in them to represent me fairly and clearly to their client? I think not.
They obviously profit from exploiting young talents who are just out of school or do not have any connection established within the industry. Though this can happen regardless, recruiters make it a lot worse for young designers and do so unethically. I wasn’t shocked to find out Aquent hosted a contest. It simply confirmed my belief that recruiters don’t have any respect for the design industry.
What’s wrong with giving chance to young inexperienced designers to put something to their portfolio? If you believe there’s nothing wrong with it, you can do so as you please. Like many others have said, I think it undermines the profession and Aquent's brand image, especially given the context. It’s like Aquent saying “I don’t know if we got any good designers or young talents who are capable. Fuck it, it’s gonna take too much time to go through our list. Let’s just have an open contest. Let’s experiment and totally undermines the design process and have them go at it, for $500. Young designers don’t know any better. $500 is a lot of money for them. They are lucky we are hosting this contest...” I might be totally wrong but I am guessing that’s the kinda conversation going over there.
- bang on in paragraph 1. my wife is having that very problem now. her agent doesn't know and doesn't care.Gucci
- sintaxera0
Wow. Just goes to show how much they respect the people that go to them for jobs & the industry they work in. absolutely insulting.
- Aquentminister0
I'm still reading. Still sorry - not that "we got caught," but that we did something that people find totally fucked up. Feeling pretty idiotic for not having foreseen it.
- jevad0
"There might have been a right way to do this thing, but we didn't do it the right way."
'MIGHT' have?! No mights about it - there is a clear right and wrong way to approach something like this and they though - wrongly - that being cheap and stupid about it was good enough!
The most unprofessional approach to something like this by a company purporting to support the freelance community that I have EVER seen.
- The response posted on that blog makes me SO MAD. More 'whoops we got busted'...jevad
- ...than 'oh shit...we fucked up...we're really sorry.'jevad
- Oh, shit, we fucked up, we're really sorry. MattAquentminister
- Josev0
It's interesting to note that while the call for web designs may have been an "experiment", the use of the 99designs site is something that Aquent is familiar with. From a post on No-spec.com:
Brochure Design: http://99designs.com/contests/25…
Website them design: http://99designs.com/contests/37…- Typo, should be "theme"Josev
- oh no. ...here we go. :/monkeyshine
- unbelievable.roundabout
- Josev0
Educating people (clients AND designers) and being stronger as a community would address this problem.
- ukit0
I'm still bewildered by their explanation that it was just so they could give a young designer some face time. By letting them design your corporate homepage? REALLY?
- roundabout0
Bloody hell this is a sad situation, I never thought I would see a company like Aquent go down this road. It's an insult to are industry?
- max_prophet0
What's odd to me is that you had such lack of respect for your own brand that you would be happy to just throw it out there and see what 500 bucks could get you - surely someone at Aquent has a clue about IA / UI and marketing and realises that actually it may be worth spending sometime and money on with a team of professionals rather than random people on the web.
- again, this whole process serves to communicate their lack of understanding of several aspects of the design process, usability, and brand management to the design community.johndiggity
- I understand that you interpret this as a lack of understanding of the design process. I view it as lack of understanding of the communities strong aversion to this.Aquentminister
- community's strong feelings about contests like this.Aquentminister
- that seems to be your big problem.johndiggity
- Matt, I think Max's point was that there is NO process in contests like this. That's one of the reasons we hate them...not to mention the pay sucks.sintaxera
- to mention the pay sucks. We thought Aquent would have known the value of good design...you know, repping designers and all.sintaxera
- designers and all.
(damn these comment boxes dont fit alot!)sintaxera - not that it matters now, but does everyone know that participants can and do communicate with contest holders?Aquentminister
- holders? I think part of my problem is that we're not always talking about the same thingsAquentminister