WOAH! Hang on there! Design contests are not good! If you're a startup, you need to read this.
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Let me start by saying this is one of my most anticipated subjects and one that I am very eager to share my opinion on. It’s going to be very in depth and it’s targeted to the newer graphics designers. I’m also going over why it’s a bad idea to host these contests, and steps you should take if you do need graphics.
WHAT IS A DESIGN CONTEST?
A design contest is where a person or group of people offer a bounty for the most attractive graphic presented in a set amount of time.
You can find these sorts of contests usually on public forums, and a few websites specialize in these sort of things. These contests are usually made attractive by “Runner up” prizes if any.
If you’re a graphics designer that has respect for the trade or have any aspirations for making a career from graphics designing, you should stay far away from these contests. If you’re a startup company, you should dismiss the idea of securing a brand from this.
Let me explain why.
DESIGNING FOR COMPENSATION YOU MAY NOT RECEIVE.
By joining this contest, you’re effectively being employed with the possibility of being paid. True, the person that is running the contest may never use your graphic in anyway, but the time and effort you spent on your submission is very real. The researching, Sketching, Drafting, and creation process you put in should be compensated. In reality, the chances of you being paid is extremely low, depending on your ability and quality of your competition.
But let’s look at this in another way...
If someone approached you with a design brief and said “If it’s good enough, we’ll pay you” would you work for that person?
DRIVING DOWN THE MARKET OF GRAPHICS DESIGN SERVICES.
Now, you may not be aware of it, but by even contributing one submission to a design contest, you’re shaking your head to a very serious question that business owners have regarding graphics design.
Is it worth it?
This is a question that all entrepreneurs have thought of, and many more will ask. Is it worth hiring a graphics designer? Or is a Design contest the better option. The typical entrepreneur is ignorant of Graphics design, especially when it’s time to get some graphics for his/her business. So naturally, what they’re going to do is look around them.
What have other businesses done? When they start researching, they’ll see that Graphics design contests are the cheapest route they could go. Effectively, lowering the expected cost of hiring a graphics service.
Let’s look at an example.
Meet Mark. Mark has a brilliant idea (So he thinks). He wants to launch a Bitcoin based gambling site. But Mark has a big problem. He doesn’t have the budget to hire someone to make a logo for his website.
Mark knows there’s actually hundreds of other sites just like his, and knows the only way he has a chance is by being as unique as he can by having a unique brand (So he thinks).
He goes on some local forums and sees that a bunch of other people are hosting design contests and there are plenty of people participating them, and after looking at the prizes, he’s filled with excitement and sets off to create his own graphics contest.
The thing is Design contests promote the idea, that they’re excellent practices for businesses, and sure, often times, people get what they need from them. But in all that rush for obtaining a graphic, entrepreneurs forget what they’re actually doing and encourage others to follow that practice, driving down the expected price and what startups will actually be willing to pay if they did want to hire someone to create their graphics.
So today, you won that graphics design contest and got a cool 50 bucks, but tomorrow your graphics will be worthless, and so is everyone else’s.
IN ANY OTHER INDUSTRIES, DESIGN CONTESTS WOULD BE ILLEGAL.
Can you run a contest on who builds the best house? Everyone, design me a house, the one that looks the best is the house I’ll pay for. No you can’t.
What about the “Design me the best car” the one that looks and drives the best is the one I’ll pay for. Uhm no.
Custom build me the best computer. The best one gets to be paid for labor. I don’t think so.
So why can people do it with graphics design?
Because there’s a bias. A big ugly one. Because the nature of a graphic, understanding of what it is, is skewed, especially with people who don’t know a thing about graphics. And contests also feed this bias. Also, by the number of people who participate in them.
What’s the bias?
Graphics designing is EZ.
They think that graphics design is simple, easy and fast. That because we sit on a chair and design behind a computer screen, that no labor is involved. Just copy and paste and move stuff around.
No, just no.
While I will support the idea that anyone can do graphics design, it takes time, understanding. Interpreting, researching, techniques, philosophy, technical skills depending on the project. Graphics design is complex, and the more professional and experienced a graphics designer is, the more this reality comes into play.
Because at the end of the day, when that person decides to buy a logo for 50 bucks, he’s still wanting to buy a logo for 50 bucks.
Design Contests are heavily based on this bias.
NEVER ENOUGH PRIZE MONEY.
I’ve never seen a prize pool be equal to what it actually costs for a personalized graphic. Always 50-200 dollars prize pool. Even if the prize pool were 500 usd, it still wouldn’t be enough to cover what they actually receive. And that’s for first place.
If we wanted to be technical, we would take the prize pool, and divide it by the amount of submission. The result will be what each submission is what they paid for. Of course, not to all participants, but to the winner.
I’ve seen some contests, most of them fail pretty badly, where the contest owners have to pay for extremely shitty graphics. But I’ve seen some contests where genuine talent actually participates. Extremely rare, but it has happened. A logo that should have cost upwards of 1k were let go for a mere 50 bucks.
In design contests, you will never get what you could have charged.
TEMPTATIONS OF DESIGN CONTESTS
By now, it’s fairly obvious, this article is targeted to the newer graphics designers. As truly professional designers will never touch a design contest. It’s important that I go over some of the temptations of graphics design contests.
EXPOSURE.
Hey bro, join this contest, it’s a good way to expose yourself.
It’s not, because the only audience you’ll be exposing your work to is other misinformed graphics designers, and other cheap entrepreneurs. Do you think your submission is going to be framed and held in a museum? It most certainly will not. You think that startups will be looking for talent in someone’s design contest? That somehow your submission will generate views to your work?
Highly unlikely. The only people interested in your submission, are the people who are too cheap and ignorant to properly hire someone in this field. That’s exposure you can do without.
There are plenty of other “Good” ways to expose yourself. Networking and social media. Donating a few logos are also extremely good ways if done sparingly.
FRIENDLY COMPETITION
There is no doubt of competition, you will definitely be competing against other designers if you want that prize. But it won’t be friendly. Prize money is the target, and at this point, if you’re not winning, you’re wasting your time.
There are other ways to be competitive and not at the expense of other people or yourself.
MONEY
Obviously, this is a pisspoor temptation but it’s one that I get all the time. How can you be tempted into joining a graphics design contest if there’s actually no guarantee of being paid altogether? You're morally wrong if you try to tempt people into a contest if you’re not going to pay everyone who joins your contest.
ENTREPRENEURS
If you’re a startup. Design contests of any kind will never help you. I’ll go over some of the reasons, that’s if the reasons why graphics designers shouldn’t join design contests isn’t enough for you.
LOW QUALITY
An actual design entry from a very old design contest I saw on bitcointalk.
If you think that offering 100 bucks is going to get you top notch design submissions, absolutely not. Experienced and talented graphics designers give top notch submissions, and I can promise you none of these will join your contest . Almost all the time, the only submissions you’ll be getting are extremely low quality and crappy submissions. You’ll almost never get something you can use. And may actually cost yourself money you could have used to hire someone who knows what they’re doing.
COPYRIGHT ISSUES
Sometimes you’ll really like a submission, but guess what, that graphic that was submitted to your contest, was actually a premade logo that was bundled in some logo bundle. And guess what? You don’t have the licensing to use that logo commercially. So one day, you’ll get slammed in the face with a summons. Would you really take the risk?
BUDGET ISSUES
If you can’t afford to hire a reputable or design firm or service to create a brand for your company, this is a good indication that you’re not ready to start said company or business. Even still, you actually might find something that will find you budget if you simply go out and collect quotes from various graphics designers and services. You may be surprised at what you can actually afford. Even more so, many professional designers will give you break downs of the proposed graphic, that sort of information is extremely valuable.
HARMING A MARKET
By hosting Design contests, you’re encouraging an extremely toxic business practice. You’re being an example, which inspires other people to do the same. Would you like it if someone drove down your business market? I guess this is really a question of morality.
PROJECTED IMAGE
Regardless of what you say or think. All of these project an image of your company or business. It shows that you’re willing to do things crookedly, rather than professionally and controlled. It shows how reckless your company is by risking things like budget and possible copyright infringement. It shows your company is not the type of company that has pride in its image.
Nothing screams “Amateurs” then seeing a startup use these underhanded tactics.
Your Brand logo, or any type of graphic that your company uses, is a visual representation of what your business is all about. The market is crowded, and every single detail of your company needs to work towards your goal.
I’ve never seen a company stay on the radar long that used a design contest to get a branding, and I will never associate myself with a company that thinks it’s okay to do these sort of things, and have walked away from big commissions because I noticed these things.
What about investors and clients? I doubt you’d “Show off” all the submissions you got or even the fact that you held such a contest. Why should anyone take your company serious if you don’t take it serious enough to hire someone to create one of the most important aspects of your business?
That's all the time I have for now, and thanks for reading my insight on this topic.
Do you guys agree that nospec work is toxic? Share your ideas and experiences below! I reply to every comment.
Also, what do you guys think about my post? How can I improve? Lay it on me!
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Logo Giveaway
Alrighty so, In my introduction post I mentioned that I would like to help contribute to the steemit community right?
Well, I came up with a very fair and awesome way I can do just that. I will like to announce that I will be doing a weekly logo design giveaway.
Under normal circumstances, I would advise no logo designer to give away their product for nothing. However, steemit has embraced me, and I'd like to keep good on my word and return the favor.
Once every week, on Monday, I will select 1 random follower to have a one totally free logo design from start to finish. All that follower has to do is provide me a brief, and I will take care of the rest. That will be started up on June 12th.
So perhaps you're a startup and are looking for a good mark for your company, be sure to follow me for a chance to get yours!
For more information, check out my post
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I am a graphic designer. I am amazed at how many professional graphic designers are willing to prostitute themselves, as well as devalue the entire earning power of the industry by participating in speculative work, aka design contests. 7/10 times you will get paid nothing for your efforts, 3/10 times you will be vastly underpaid, and 10/10 times several people get screwed out of their time while you all devalue your ability to earn a living.
It might seem tempting as a buyer of design work to run these sorts of contests, but in reality you will get an inferior product with a poor brand, and poor design elements. Furthermore most designers are capable of doing much more by working directly with the client rather than jockeying for a speculative payout. As a buyer of design services, design contests aren't about getting a good product, they are about getting to feel like you are in charge while you order about several underlings to give yourself a confidence boost.
If you really want to do serious business, take your brand seriously, it represents all of your work, and it is what everyone associates it with. If your brand or logo are garbage you will be associated with garbage. Take the time to talk with several designers and pick ONE and hash out an agreement that satisfies both parties. Everyone will end up benefiting more in the end, including you who thought you were getting a deal running a design contest.
http://www.nospec.com/
You are amazing thank you, I couldn't have explain this any better. I am a designer as well I understand completely.
Couldn't agree any more with what you're saying. Thanks for sharing your opinion on the subject!
As a company, you have a responsibility to create and maintain an image. Shortcutting through that element is just like short cutting through any element of your project. Half assing it will only harm your project. And your image.
Nospec work doesn't allow for the most important aspects of designing. You do not get a 1 on 1, or get to communicate and draft ideas and goals for what your logomark communicates outward. Much like a suit, logos are tailored for a company. It's not just about what looks best.
Devaluing an industry harms design as a whole, not on an individual level.
Our thoughts definitely concur on this subject @ericarthurblair, I see you know your stuff!
Don't work for free. Companies that aren't willing to pay for design aren't going to be a good fit for anything but the most desperate of designers.
What can I say guys, I'm really starting to get addicted to this!
AWESOME post, I feel the same, I think it's shady af and just gives people free graphic designs and cheapens the brand/group/etc....... I ran one contest and literally just randomly selected a winner by closing my eyes and pointing and that was that. It was simply my way of just giving back a bit since I've had some nice post support.