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NPR had an article on their website this morning about crowd sourcing, which made me write this rant.
< rant >
Crowdsourcing is an interesting concept, and probably a very alluring one to business people. The jist of it is that you put a request or an idea out there and ask people to do things for you. Then, you pick the ideas/designs that you like and only pay for those. While this seems like a great idea for the business owner, its horrible for designers.
Ill admit that I have participated on things like this before: Threadless. Heck…i still buy tshirts from there from time to time (sorry….cant help it) But i think crowd sourcing hurts the design industry – especially young designers that don’t really know any better.
I know that most established designers have enough self respect (and have trained their clients to know better) than to participate in crowd sourcing. It almost borders on spec work – which almost universally rubs designers the wrong way.
Its strange to me that people have no qualms asking designers to do this, but would they do the same to a doctor? A lawyer? Some other well respected and fairly lucrative profession? PROBABLY NOT! So why ask this of designers?
I guess in the end it all comes down to the sayings “You get what you pay for” and “You can’t get anything for free”. Nothing will replace that 1 on 1 relationship that a designer has with a client and the amazing results that will be produced.
(photo: An NPR sneaker designed — but not for sale — by RYZwear.com.)
< / rant >
How do you think crowd sourcing (or design contests) are affecting the design industry? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
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Grant says:
I totally agree. I think a big part of the problem is that people don’t see designers as a business more of just as a guy doing some work for them.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:33 am
Tony! says:
http://imdoingstuff.blogspot.com/2008/05/revelation-truth-is-bth.html
I don’t agree with everything he says, but he makes some interesting comparisons.
August 21st, 2008 at 6:33 am
curtismchale says:
I agree. While it is interesting to use Threadless (or similar things) as a means of passive income you kill a lot of good ideas before you ever make any $. With all the time you spent on the designs you get a very small return.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:43 am
Melissa M says:
It’s frustrating, as a designer. I feel it devalues our profession to an insane degree. It’s no wonder there are all those folks out there touting, “My cousin could design that for free” or “I don’t want to pay more than $50 for a logo.” Come on. Crowd sourcing makes anyone and everyone a “designer”. All you need is Microsoft Paint and a vision!
I WISH I could crowd source a doctor! “The first doctor to cure me gets paid! All youse others are outta luck.”
August 21st, 2008 at 8:59 am
laurel says:
I actually have a few thoughts on this in general…mixed feelings more or less. I believe that the use of design contests is a slap in the face for designers, however as designers, we also have the right to choose what design projects we take on, so there’s the known risk of doing a lot of work for no pay off. At the same time, I think that entering into various design contests could help younger designers increase their portfolio, so if they aren’t doing it solely for the money, it would make it worth while. One thing that does annoy me though is as an in-house designer, hearing my coworkers going “So I bought Photoshop the other night…now I can be a graphic designer just like you!” *head slam*
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:02 am