I'm in the process of submitting a project on 99designs for web design. As I was researching which design site to use out of the abundance of sites: 99designs, crowdspring, Choosa, 12designer, 48hourslogo, Astada, Brandsupply, Creads, DesignContest, DesignCrowd, DesignOnClick, Graphiste, Hatchwise, LogoDesignGuru, Wilogo, Mycroburst, LogoTournament, and others, I came across a number of articles discussing how these sites are bad for designers. How they're cheapening the design process and forcing designers to provide their skills, in many cases for free.
The argument goes like this... as a designer you submit a design for a project. The project submitter likes your design as he likes others and asks for revisions. This leads the designer to think they have a good shot at winning. They continue submitting revisions until the end and find themselves on the losing end of the contest. Thus... work for free.
I can disagree more. And there are several reasons:
Practice makes perfect: As a fledgling designer, there's nothing better than honing your skills with real practice. These sites are the perfect opportunity to improve skills, using real world feedback. Listening to your client is priority one on any job. Regardless of outcome, you'll learn these skills which can payoff on future endeavors.
This happens in all industries: Ever hear of that manufacturing outsourcing problems the US constantly complains about? This is one and the same. Jobs are getting outsourced to cheaper and more efficient places. It's the natural progression of industry and it's something we should embrace not hinder. It will only make people word harder to become better.
Global Opportunity: These websites are giving opportunities to people who wouldn't otherwise have it. People from all over the world can now compete with hometown designers. Best designer wins.
If you're that good... then you shouldn't have a problem finding work that compensates well. Having spent the better half of 12 years in the Bay Area, there was always a shortage of good designers and this gives entrepreneurs and businesses the opportunity to find designers.
Corollaries: There are already corollaries across the internet. And people aren't complaining about that. Look at oDesk, elance, or freelancer.com. Any complains about these guys destroying industry?
People need to stop complaining about things being unfair. Tis' life. This is a free market. Time to play.
7 comments:
Amen
Change was always difficult to accept for people. This innovation will open up the design market to millions of micro and mini companies. Their fist experience with buying design. The cake will become increasingly bigger as these small business owners start understanding how to buy and appreciate good design. Crowdsoucing of design is a good thing and it is time that designers recognize this too.
Peter van Grinsven
Founder Choosa.net
*stares at you like you just told me it's okay to order pizzas from 99 pizza places, have them deliver it, only pay for the best tasting one, and then telling everyone else you did them a favor because they "got more practice" making/delivering pizzas*
I'm in the process of submitting a project on 99designs for web design. As I was researching which design site to use out of the abundance of sites: 99designs, crowdspring, realizzazione siti web civitanova marche
Good logo web design. However, where we can rate for these designs?
If a user perceives the usefulness of that website, they are more likely to continue using it. Web Design
Good article. I used Crowdsite to get a logo for my business BeFit. I was surprised about the good quality of the designs. I just have not the budget to get an expensive design so this was a good alternative.
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