aquent site redesign-spec work
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- max_prophet0
AQUENT: "we haven't got as clue what it is you do, and don't even give a shit, but hey, maybe we can get you a job or something somewhere. For a fee."
- kld0
I got 99 things to design but this bitch ain’t one.
- MrDinky0
cheap way to get a design out of it
- GammaRay0
...and all that design contests do is continue to broadcast the flawed idea that design is only about making something look good and that's it.
heavy sarcasm ---> No other work or thought goes into it...it's easy right?...anyone can do it..."My nephew knows how to use Photoshop, he's a designer, right?"...just learn the Adobe softwares and get some business cards done up and you're now a designer!!!
- seffis0
Matt, what's threatening to people isn't the mere fact that things like this exist. There are many examples out there -- companies that charge you $75 for 12 options for a logo, people overseas that promise quality work for only $10 an hour, and contests like this -- and they've been around as long as the industry. This isn't a new trend.
What's threatening is that a global organization that purports to support design and marketing professionals would take such an approach for redesigning one of its primary marketing vehicles. It is a slap in the face to the design community from a company that we thought (at least somewhat) had our backs.
And preventing people from seeking cheaper design solutions is not the objective here – they don't need any help with that.
- DING...we have a winner!sintaxera
- Well said seffisukit
- seffis - that expression "slap in the face" has been used a lot here. our intention was not to insult or degrade anyone. I'm sorry that's what this feels like.Aquentminister
- sorry that's what it feels like.Aquentminister
- nicely said seffis! Matt, clearly you didn't think it through.GammaRay
- lorac770
its a insult to the "talent" they're supposed to be placing - taking advantage of their ideas for a measly $500, those bastards.
- Aquentminister0
um, i've been on this forum all day and I've actually been representing the Aquent brand in design forums (like AIGA conferences, etc.) for 10 years. I have not once here or there said that design is overvalued or anything like that. All we did was run an experiment and the "shitting" has been taken care of by the community.
I'm here. I'm engaging. I'm listening. I'm responding. I thought that was what the new world was all about.
In retrospect, do I think it was a good idea to launch this contest the way we did? No. Do I think that contests like this "devalue the profession"? No, I don't anymore than I think online job boards and social media sites devalue recruiting.
Is the playing field changing? Yes. Does it make us work harder to demonstrate to our clients and talent that there is value in working with a staffing firm as opposed to using the numerous resources at their disposal for finding talent or finding jobs? Yes. Do we lose ground in spite of our efforts? Sometimes, we do.
I keep coming back to this. People perceive design contests, the sites that run them, and the companies that use them as an attack on their livelihood. I see them as an emerging challenge that may actually have appropriate uses.
Remember, people saw the desktop publishing revolution in the same way (as has been mentioned on this forum). Desktop publishing didn't kill design or the profession anymore than crowd-sourcing or outsourcing, for that matter, will. It will change it.
The question is, how can the profession work with and within this changing environment?
- Yikes dude, you are seriously clueless. I feel bad for you.GammaRay
- There's no way in hell that quality designers have to compete financially with those bottom of the barrel contestsIggyboo
- Further more it's insulting to assume that we should. You pay for what you get. business people don't get it at all.Iggyboo
- excuse me business people that endorse buying artwork off of contests don't get it.Iggyboo
- I am amazed you have a business thinking like that. Shocking.roundabout
- You have been working for Aquent 10 years and still don't get what the design community is all about. If I were one of your supervisors reading this postings, I would have given you a pink slip. Unfreakingbelievable...rowermart
- gramme0
I hate Aquent. Actually, I hate all head-hunting agencies in our field. They're sharks, all of them.
- utopian10
$500-
Blow Me®
- ephix0
its quite clear that Aquent have hired the wrong guy.
- monkeyshine0
So, if a design centric company like Aquent doesn't understand the value of design, what's the point? How frustrating, really. All the time I spend with clients, understanding their business, their objectives and needs in any type of redesign. All for naught, apparently. :(
- gramme0
...And I see that it's all been said an well covered before my arrival. Nice work to the articulate among us.
- monkeyshine0
I just posted a response to his comments. His comments about RFPs are just lame. And that he questions AIGA's position on spec work? This makes me feel that if AIGA doesn't step up I'll cancel my membership.
- tkmeister0
i always hated aquent.
- Aquentminister0
I fully understand the problems inherent in design contests, though I don't think that people realize that contestants can actually interact with the people sponsoring the contests.
My question remains: if clients actually see value in these contests, or crowd-sourcing more broadly, what is the best response from the design community?
Crowdsourcing, portfolio sites, job sites like this one, are part of the web. They are a threat to us as well and a threat that is not going away.
- johndiggity0
you seemed to have missed the point. the "people" that perceive design contests, the sites that run them, and the companies that use them as an attack on their livelihood are the people you should be listening to, because these are the same people that come in to meet your recruiters and the same people that you send off to your clients to meet their needs.
what your words on this board, and actions by posting a web design contest say, much like you say above is that you (aquent) don't care about these concerns. your personal opinions aside, regardless of how you personally feel about the use of contests, you are an ambassador for the aquent brand, posting on a forum populated by designers who, along being the company's chief source of income, are also among the most brand savvy consumers in the world, and you are here to say that we our opinions are wrong?
i think the more appropriate question here is how any brand manager at aquent has allowed this to happen, and how they have allowed you to continue posting on the internet after you put up that contest page.
as someone who has worked with aquent in the past, and was actually going to call my local office monday to find some freelancers for a project, i have decided no to do business with a company that does not share the same values i do as a designer. i urge others to do the same.
- John - I'm sorry that you perceive my statements as a way of showing that I don't care about the concerns addressed here. If I didn't care, why would I still be here?Aquentminister
- here. If I didn't care, why would I keep wading into it?Aquentminister
- ego? saving face? you tell us.johndiggity
- Yeah, it's a lot of trying to dig yourself out of a hole. You're in too deep dude.GammaRay
- chuparosa0
Thanks for posting this. It is totally outrageous!
- GammaRay0
Let me re-post what sintaxera wrote:
It seems to me that this would also be bad for Aquent's busines, no? If they're not even willing to hire a designer to do their own website, wouldn't the companies going to Aquent expect to get design work for nothing as well?
- Believe it or not, we actually do have designers on staff who work for us and have even hired well-known firms to do work for us. Just so I'm clear, trying this, in addition to all that stuff, is just over-the-line and demonstrates something deeply flawed about us.Aquentminister
- monkeyshine0
So, Matt...are you saying that Aquent's position is to squarely disagree with AIGA's position on this type of spec work/contest/call it what you will?