I don't really make websites, sorry, but programmers have been facing this head on for many years already. Sites like odesk, guru.com, elance, dice all offer an "auction" style bidding place for people to get programming and web work done for very cheap. As much as designers want to bitch and complain they don't release that this has been happening to every other sector for a long time now.
As a programmer I've tried those sites and discovered that it's not worth my time. For 1/4 of the price I would charge a buyer can have a program developed from someone over in India. I have two options, I can lower my rates to around minimum wage to compete or I can go elsewhere...I chose the later. If you're worth the amount you charge and your work is better then the rest you should be fine, if not then maybe you should be on those sites bidding for work.
That's a pretty foolish attitude, but I'm not surprised to hear a programmer downplay the design process. As someone who does and has done both in the past, GOOD design work takes as much time and energy as good coding, and there's a lot more to it than just drawing a pretty picture. You have to do research, you have to understand what the client is trying to convey, not to mention you have to come up with something that doesn't infringe upon copyright, and you just can't get that with this type of thing from a contest. Unfortunately, cheap business-types won't understand and don't care, making this type of thing "good enough".
So while all the "real designers" are complaining about these sites the people that embrace them or ignore them will get all the work. I've used 99designs a few times and I've been very happy with the work. I even keep in touch with a couple of the designers that won my contests so they can do future work for me.
Are you supporting yourself and making your living entirely off of using these sites? Because if it goes too far (and it will), that's what designers are going to have to do.
Just because it's affordable does not mean it's bad. I would bet 1/4 of the people on those sites could out design "professional" designers anyway.
?? You would bet? Really?
Its not about being "affordable"... when a designer does work in the hope that they MAY get paid, its bad for the designer and its bad for the industry. Why should anyone, in any industry, be *expected* to work for free?
Exactly
Are those designers forced to work on those sites, is that the only outlet for design work? They are looking at it as an opportunity to make money and on those particular sites you have to show that you're good enough to get paid for your work. Obviously there are lot of people interested in it on both sides because there are a ton of new contests started daily and dozens on entries for each one. I think it's a great way for designers not only to get experience but they also get to pick and choose what they want to work on when.
No, they aren't being forced, but businesses will do anything, no matter how unethical (see everything Bayer has done in their history and the sweat shops that STILL exploit people in third-world countries) to turn even the smallest extra profit, and so we can be sure that if this continues unabated, businesses will be farming out all their design work to these types of companies, forcing real graphic designers to work for them.
And your argument that a lot of people are interested, making it a good thing is invalid. Entirely. A lot of beginning graphic designers, like those in school, would do this type of thing for fun and practice without thinking about the consequences, cheapening the market for other designers AND themselves, jeopardizing their future ability to find work. Not the type of thing that sounds good to me.
And how does it show that they're 'good enough'? Contrary to what you think, winning a contest isn't some kind of awesome thing to put on your portfolio, not that it matters if you don't even need or benefit from having a portfolio due to the fact that you're just submitting to contests that don't even know about your prior work for your bread and butter.
Designers are doing this to themselves, the last time I got a quote from a local designer I had to stop from laughing in his face. $300/hour with a quote of $3200 for a logo. Lets see, for that amount I could have 50+ designers all give me mock-ups and then pick and choose which ones I like at a fraction of that price. As the client that's a no brainer.
Well, that's true but you have to understand that people need to make a living. Most of the people doing these contests are still in school and don't have to work, which makes it easy for them to think three hundred dollars is a lot. If you live in somewhere like New York, do you really expect graphic designers to pour their talent into art and barely scrape by? It's not like you hear of any rich graphic artists living it up crazy or anything.
Yes, An architect. or any engineering company. Or anyone who I'd hire for a large design project. I would ask for a proposal.
Not the same thing at all. This isn't a proposal, it's fully-finished work on
speculation of purchase. Don't you understand that? Would you ask an architect to do a whole building design with the possibility of getting paid? Would you ask the construction workers to build the building on the possibility of getting paid? What do you do for a living? Should you do your work, turn it in and then get paid only after it meets some arbitrary criteria?
When I work on a proposal I have to think what are the chances of winning and how much would i make. (I say "I" but typically it is a collective decision) If it is a $1M job and we have a one in four chance we might invest a thousand dolars in the proposal.
Back to designers. If you are looking for a larger job and figure you have a one in 20 chance than why not invest a few hours making a logo? No you would not built a three level web site backed by a DBMS for free but a logo? If it can land you that big job why not.
This isn't landing anyone jobs, as far as I know. The site in the article does full sites and everything else on spec. Read before posting, people.
There is a huge difference between a proposal and spec work. You're not going to get any logos or concepts in a proposal. You will get a bit of research and similar case studies.
And I'm glad you think that a logo is something that takes only a "few hours" to design. Out of curiosity, what do you think goes into creating a logo?
Good points. It's amazing how ignorant some people are about artistic things. It's like they think we're kids drawing pretty pictures with our crayons or something.
