4 ms·

"Spec work has become a major force in devaluing the perception of graphic design in the business world," writes eyeCinq. It's a well-deserved devaluing. Is c

"Spec work has become a major force in devaluing the perception of graphic design in the business world," writes eyeCinq. It's a well-deserved devaluing. Is crowdsourcing evil? Not in the least. If one thinks about the actual costs necessary to be a successful graphic designer, it's marginally close to zero. Aside from a laptop, and a wifi-connection (necessary to hook up to these contests), there's not much else needed for a person with even an iota of design skill. As such, it's not surprising that the market is forcing the prices downward, closer a natural equilibrium for a competitive market. "Graphic Design Firms" that have prime office space, secretaries, luncheons, hobnobbing events . . . these things all add unnecessarily to the "cost" of supposed "professional" graphic design services. Firms and their employees my think that this is why their services are more "valuable" than a freelancer, or somebody who works on spec, but they're wrong. These things add zero value to the end product. How much is a graphic design worth? Exactly as much as somebody is willing to pay for it. I think there will be more upheaval in the coming years regarding industries where this type of work can actually lower costs for buyers. Side note: I have an idea for a startup that crowdsources advertising (tv type ads OR print advertising); I think the agency model that most big companies or "stations" currently use is grossly overpriced. There's room for a new type of market entrant: one by and for the people. I actually almost started this idea a couple of years ago (spoofwink.com), but lacked the resources and was busy with other projects. If anybody wants to go with this idea, please let me in!

ankhmoop 18y ago
I'd like to go with your crowdsourced advertising idea, but I'd like to crowdsource the implementation to see who can build the best prototype. I'll fund the winner.
- SwellJoe 18y ago
  Every business is in a competition. Just not an artificial one. He would be directly competing with the old school advertising agencies, as well as a half dozen other crowd sourced advertising firms. Your point would fit better if he were offering high end software development consulting because it would be the software development equivalent of the high end ad agencies he spoke of. Of course, if you were to take this idea over to rent-a-coder or eLance, you can have it your way and have the developers fight it out to reach the lowest price. (They won't develop everything on spec, but I imagine some of the newer providers might do a small mockup for you). The difference here is that each individual logo "concept" only takes a few minutes to mock up. If the client likes it, then you spend some more time polishing it and refining it to their tastes. The problem with all of the arguments against crowd sourcing design work is that it denies the reality of the market. Most buyers of design work have no network that can inform them of who a great designer is. Most buyers have no way of determining when they've met a great designer, short of studying their portfolio, and taste plays a huge role, as does luck (great designers may not always have great ideas for a particular logo). Most buyers don't know what a fair price for a particular project is, but they can see what the going rates are at crowd source sites. Finally, the response of every anti-crowd sourcing proponent I've seen has been, "Find a designer you can work with, who will take time to understand your needs, etc." But that simply doesn't address the needs of most design buyers. Crowd sourcing solves all of these problems, and more, for most buyers. Just because a certain (possibly large) percentage of sellers don't like it doesn't mean it isn't good, as far as the market is concerned.
- indiejade 18y ago
  All righty then. I still want in. It's one thing to set up a tentative pricing model based on one person's idea, and quite another to have the prototype up with empty dollar signs. Building the site would be the easy part! Setting up a pricing model as a first-mover is quite another. I'd need a sort of group brainstorming session to get started. :)

ankhmoop 18y ago

I'd like to go with your crowdsourced advertising idea, but I'd like to crowdsource the implementation to see who can build the best prototype. I'll fund the winner.

SwellJoe 18y ago
Every business is in a competition. Just not an artificial one. He would be directly competing with the old school advertising agencies, as well as a half dozen other crowd sourced advertising firms. Your point would fit better if he were offering high end software development consulting because it would be the software development equivalent of the high end ad agencies he spoke of. Of course, if you were to take this idea over to rent-a-coder or eLance, you can have it your way and have the developers fight it out to reach the lowest price. (They won't develop everything on spec, but I imagine some of the newer providers might do a small mockup for you). The difference here is that each individual logo "concept" only takes a few minutes to mock up. If the client likes it, then you spend some more time polishing it and refining it to their tastes. The problem with all of the arguments against crowd sourcing design work is that it denies the reality of the market. Most buyers of design work have no network that can inform them of who a great designer is. Most buyers have no way of determining when they've met a great designer, short of studying their portfolio, and taste plays a huge role, as does luck (great designers may not always have great ideas for a particular logo). Most buyers don't know what a fair price for a particular project is, but they can see what the going rates are at crowd source sites. Finally, the response of every anti-crowd sourcing proponent I've seen has been, "Find a designer you can work with, who will take time to understand your needs, etc." But that simply doesn't address the needs of most design buyers. Crowd sourcing solves all of these problems, and more, for most buyers. Just because a certain (possibly large) percentage of sellers don't like it doesn't mean it isn't good, as far as the market is concerned.
indiejade 18y ago
All righty then. I still want in. It's one thing to set up a tentative pricing model based on one person's idea, and quite another to have the prototype up with empty dollar signs. Building the site would be the easy part! Setting up a pricing model as a first-mover is quite another. I'd need a sort of group brainstorming session to get started. :)