Crowdsourcing and 99designs
In Affiliate Marketing | 14 comments | permalink
Whilst in Los Angeles I was told to check out something called “crowd sourcing” by my good friend and fellow Brit Andrew Lock
At first it sounded like something from a rock concert, but today I am going to share my first experience with you, and also will be showing you the new logo for DeanHunt.com
What is Crowd Sourcing?
Essentially it is the art of having a specific task done by many different people, and then you choose the best one.
Why is it Useful?
Crowd sourcing let’s you see the vision and skills of many different people BEFORE you pay. Also, whilst you may get 20+ different versions, you only pay for the one that you like the most. So it dramatically reduces the chance of failure.
My Experience with 99designs
I used 99designs.com recently because I wanted a new header image for this blog. As you can see here I got over 30 entries.
The Cost
I paid approx $39 to list the contest, and I paid $129 to the winner. So all in all I got a new header image and logo for well under $200. Not bad at all in my opinion.
Yes, I could have gotten one for less than $100 if I had asked around, but there is the key issue…. “ONE”. What if I didn’t like it?
With crowd sourcing you get to spread the risk around, and like any good investment, that is key.
The Winning Design
In the end there were 5 or 6 I really liked. Which were narrowed down to three. But the eventual winner was this design which will be added to the blog soon.
I am happy with this header, but truth be told, it wasn’t my personal number one choice, but a lot of my friends, contacts and you the readers voted for it… so for once, I went with the majority. I do like it though, and have made plans for future versions of this to be released (halloween, Christmas etc…)
Summary
Overall I thought the experience was great. I was so happy with their efforts that I intend to promote all of the designers on here in a future post for FREE. Something that could be worth thousands of dollars in publicity for some of them.
I think the power of a crowd is unbeatable, and I am racking my brains trying to think of ways we can use this for some fun.
So don’t be a loner… join the crowd.
Dean
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14 COMMENTS
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Happy to work with you mate. Hopefully next time i’ll be the winner!
enjoy your design
Quite a cool idea. I might use that for a logo I have coming up that I need to be designed..
But I like your final choice of header.
Works well with the site.
Go dean
I think regular use of “crowd” ideas could
be very disheartening to many.
The reasons for this view is the efforts of
many are discarded, i.e. wasted. The price
for your success (in this instance) is paid
for by the many losers, much like a lottery.
Good for the instigator, not the players.
jt.
Great to hear you enjoyed the contest.
Congratulations to bvivant - I think that’s about the best blog header I’ve ever seen!
It looks great Dean…not my number 1 choice but it fits the bill…
all the best,
Doc
JT - I appreciate your point, and in no way am I a spokesmen for 99designs… but I can safely say that none of the designers had guns to their heads. So they entered into it wilfully.
I also have been told that many of the designers used to do this sort of thing as a hobby, and now they have a chance of getting paid and making a name for themselves.
That said, yes, I am glad I am on this side of the fence.
Also, I have been contacted by the 99designs owner, and am trying to arrange an interview, so we can put these questions to him directly.
Dean
Thaks for sharing. I am in the process of deciding to change the look of my site and was not sure the direction I wanted to go. I LOVE the idea of getting a “crowd” to create different options for me to decide on. I will be using this service very soon!
Chris
P.S. I love the new header!
us bunnies at big marketing are very happy with the design. we typically just mount humans to show them we are the boss bunny but if killing a few helps…..
piggly wiggly wabbit
Killer bunnies! Not bad. I like the idea of crowd sourcing, more choice, very cool.
But whilst? Upsie daisy! We typically use while these days.
Just messin’ with ya!
Nice experiment - good luck with the great new logo.
@ jt
yeah it sucks if you lose, but I feel it provides me with some experience
Who came out with this great idea of crowd sourcing? I wish we knew about this when we needed a logo, not that I don’t like ours now. This idea is fantastic for the consumers, not sure about the designers though.
Congrats for giving this special type of outsourcing a fantastic name – “crowdsourcing” !
I got to know about this type of project bidding from Armand Morin. He demonstrated it with a logo design project on stage here in Singapore. For the bidder it’s an excellent way to get in contact with a designer who delivers designs best for the bidder’s (or his audience’s) taste, and not get stuck with a designer that has difficulties to understand the characteristics of the project.
Cheers,
Virpi
PS. About your new header graphics – I hope that you are content with it. I didn’t vote for it because the “bleeding corpses” in it make me feel nausea…
Great design, too bad i was traveling a lot and did not get a chance to vote on it, but i like that one, it looks just right for your site.
Jase,
As a graphic designer, I resent the word contest when asking that designers work for free so that you can choose a design you like. The proper way to hire a service provider is to research portfolios, choose a designer and then actually pay them to work for you. This “crowdsourcing” or “contest” is simply a fancy name for freeloaders looking for free work from designers.