the case against crowdsourcing
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- johndiggity
i need to speak to some prospective clients monday and i know a few of them are hot on using a logo contest website. what is some rationale against this that i could provide to them?
- spendogg0
you can do logo contests - just make sure they pay well when you win
- monospaced0
Guaranteed amateur work.
No guarantee on originality.
- TheBlueOne0
It will suck.
- dropdown0
Ask if they would do their BEST work, if they didn't know if they would get paid for it.
- dropdown0
Make something up about how they would never "legally" hold the rights to the logo. That should scare them off.
- ukit0
If they want a serious branding effort (ie, strategy) to help them succeed in the market, it might take more than teenagers from the third world throwing out random logo ideas that are about as good as the clip art that comes with Microsoft Word.
- tgqt0
Why not hold the contest on qbn and have a good payout with some firm requirements.
So it's crowdsourced within a vacuum of shitty designers - lol
- Pupsipu0
give them the tired old design isn't just clicking buttons argument, it's strategizing, finding visual solutions, blah blah.
http://www.ideasonideas.com/2009…
or hold the crowdspring contest yourself, pick the best logo designs yourself, show those to the client, and polish them up.
- vaxorcist0
Risk of being sued by somebody with a similar logo.
I once worked for an org whose logo was deemed to be too similar to a giant insurance company's logo, we were threatened with a big lawsuit and had to change everything. The designer of the logo helped us though this process...
If a designer does logo, designer assumes risk, if crowdsourced, not likely to be able to make somebody from the crowd assume the risk, even if the legal says so....
- Knuckleberry0
Ask them is they want to join the Pen 15 club
- Rand0
be like the river flowing down the mountain, not the boulders obstructing it
- robotron3k0
we are all being replaced by crowdsourcing and software.
- not memonospaced
- I'm working on some software right now, so designers don't have to work anymorePupsipu
- or be paidPupsipu
- survival of the fittestfunkgawz
- Meeklo0
clients love to tell you how awesome apple's design is.
Just tell them that the apple logo was not a result of crowdsourcing.They will instantly change opinions on the subject, done deal.
next question
- akrokdesign0
how about "sell their soul to the devil". as the brand is the CORE of the whole company and beyond.
- formed0
Competitions aren't inherently bad, it's when the designers are abused or taken advantage of (which, of course, is most of the time) that they suck.
If they insist and you are ok with it (which, if you want to get paid to design it, you aren't), I'd tell them that they need to make a budget for the competition, both for those that enter and the winner.
Ask for RFQ's from people or firms, select 5 or so, give them the brief, pay them once you get the designs, etc., etc.
This assumes your client's business is worth the effort. For example, in architecture, we did this for a $150mil building (and won, and it never got built) because it was worth the financial risk. While we lost man hours, we did get enough to cover printing and misc. costs.
My guess is they just want to save money, not get the best design, so that suggestion of paying people would be money "thrown" away, which would make them not want to do it.
- airey0
if they're already heading in that direction you might have to cut your losses. an option you might have would be to let them do it and tell us what it is. as many of us as possible enter and enter with real shite. you do a few versions yourself and when the comp closes you can show your work and how much better it is compared to the crap in the comp.
- Pupsipu0
yea like clients could tell the difference
- funkgawz0
you get what you pay for
- Pupsipu0
but it doesn't matter if you can't tell the difference. It's a psychological thing.
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