Hi
I was just wondering if anyone participated in the "contests" on this website?
I have a couple of questions...
Thanks
I was just wondering if anyone participated in the "contests" on this website?
I have a couple of questions...
Thanks
I have not participated. Maybe it's a personal quirk, but I prefer to get paid when I spend my time conceptualizing, researching, and designing.
Thanks for the useful comments... sigh...
As a novice designer trying to build a portfolio, the site has met my needs so far and I have made some money from my short time using the service. I was hoping to discuss/ get some feedback on the process, but instead you've decided to start patronising me.
I don't recall asking if you worked for free or if you enjoyed wasting your time, but for some reason you felt this was a suitable response to my query.
If this is the wrong place to discuss the subject that's fine, please say so and I will happily let the matter move on.
Okay. I can see how that came across as kind of harsh. And it was in no way meant as an attack. But I have a major problem with these crowd-sourcing websites, in that they essentially exploit free labor and, in general, you don't get paid anywhere close to market value — and a lot of young designers aren't aware of that.
There are numerous ways to build up a portfolio that won't result in you providing free work for a client. There are exercise books (which you could probably get from a library) that have faux-creative briefs in them. That's a great place to start. Beyond that, you can even donate your time to a non-profit organization and get the tax writeoff. Your portfolio doesn't need to consist of work you've done for actual living, breathing clients. It can have doodles or personal projects. Most employers are more concerned with the way you think and the way you approach a problem.
I'll try to find the name of some of those logo-exercise books in a bit.
Here's a site that better explains my position on spec work.
The analogy I like to use is this - you don't go to 25 different restaurants, order food, and only pay for the entrée that you like. So why should it be any different with design work?
The analogy I like to use is this - you don't go to 25 different restaurants, order food, and only pay for the entrée that you like. So why should it be any different with design work?
You may feel that as a designer these sites are taking away work from you, I feel that's slightly short sighted and wonder why should your profession be excluded from the DIY culture. When you DIY at home, is that not taking work from a builder, if you mod' your car is that not taking work from a mechanic...and so on.
Thank you for your feedback and it's certainly something I'll think about, maybe you could do the same with my points?
This is a great analogy! I usually have the "You don't contract 100 carpenters to build you a home, wait for them all to be built and then decide to only pay for the one you want". If you substitute any other profession people would laugh and think you are nuts for suggesting a crowd-sourced option.
How is it any different than getting a refund? If someone does shoddy work you should get your money back.
One final thing, to go back to the carpenter analogy, you wouldn't get 100 of them to do the work, but I would hope/assume you would get numerous quotes beforehand, then pick the best from them? Or if You were shopping online, you would google the item and find the best price - choice is king.
Maybe a better example would be "would expect 100 programmers to create a custom program for you and then just pay the one who does the best?" You can tell them that "all you will be out is your time."
Youre exaggerating, it doesnt have to be hard or time consuming and for $100 it shouldnt be. Any good designer can churn out an attractive logo in under an hour. If the designers who do work for these sites were smart theyd have templates set up to churn out stuff quickly and easily (and Im sure a lot do), for $100 theres no point in worrying about originality and those sites have time limits which make revisions minimal (which take up the bulk of design time in a job). The people who make money from those sites have strategies on how to play the system, theres low turnover (looking at the stats of the users its between 10-20% success) so you have to spend very little time on each logo, theres probably a lot of copy and pasting and then changing things a little, or you should only choose ones with bad competition and then wait until the last day and make a quick logo thats much better than the other crap submitted. I would play a ringer and avoid the highest paying ones and just go for the lowest ones where all the amateur looking logos are submitted.These sites only attract low paying clients and the designer works his/her ass off and still gets screwed in the end. $100 - $150 is absolutely nothing for the time and effort it takes in graphic design. Graphic design is HUGELY under-appreciated and is often a lot of time and work and research but since the end product "looks" small to most people they undervalue it. (Kind of like they do in the photography business, people assume the photographer just has to press a button).
I've been using myroburst for the last month and have done well. It's not something I'd recommend to make a living off of, but if you're a decent designer you'll make a few hundred bucks a month to enjoy.
However in the last week, I suddenly have been able to upload files on my mac. I can upload to other websites, so it's not the internet. I was able to use my boyfriend's PC, until I got this error message: " there was a problem with the upload. the server did not accept it". Has anyone else have this problem? I've emailed support, and they haven't been very helpful. If anyone reading this has a solution, I'd be eternally greatful. My username on Mycroburst is MarenMay. Thanks!
I appreciate you have a strong opinion on this, but at the end of the day you're making strong assumptions about people you don't know and have no idea of their background.
Me for example, I have three years of college study (and subsequant qualifications) in design and communication, but have somehow ended up working as a Infrastructure SME for a large UK bank - it pays well but I don't enjoy it. I know all about project lifecycles, I'm ITIL and PRINCE2 qualified so I know how these things work in the real world. BUT I do enjoy design work, and these websites offer an outlet for that- if I get paid then that's great, if not at least I've expressed myself and have something for my portfolio anyway...and also had some more parctise with photoshop...
I'll admit some of the designs on the sites are appauling, but some are really good.
You may feel that as a designer these sites are taking away work from you, I feel that's slightly short sighted and wonder why should your profession be excluded from the DIY culture. When you DIY at home, is that not taking work from a builder, if you mod' your car is that not taking work from a mechanic...and so on.
Thank you for your feedback and it's certainly something I'll think about, maybe you could do the same with my points?
Ok if/when you need your appendix removed or (god forbid) brain surgery; why don't you visit a DIY hobbyist who thinks their a doctor?