: Are logo design contests considered "spec" work and what are the pros and cons of participating as a designer? I know logo design contests and the whole "spec" work issue is a controversial

@Murray976

Pro's for doing these contests are:


keeping your creativity flowing, use it or lose it.
Improve your skills, could be speed, program you want to work on learning.
Self improvement


Con's for the contests are (from someone who has done two different sites)


hourly rate can be as little as .01 - that's right one penny an hour. I did my first contest the rate was .00-.00 commission= 45.00. I spent a good 3 hrs on the original design, they asked for three changes in the middle of the contest, 3 more hours, after I won, the whole design changed...colors, text... 15 hours of changes.
Some sites want you to do work for as low as 7.00 (not an hour, a project)
Briefs are not clear, don't contain viable information on the project and can change in the middle of the contest, because they weren't clear. Example: Design a notebook cover (0), I spent hours and submitted three designs, 3 hrs after I submitted my design, the brief changed and said, design the wrap, the cover is brown craft paper. Another I designed for the site, said it was to scary for children, the brief did not give an age category, it said "people", my ten year old cousins thought it was hilarious.
The client can pull a project at any time and ask for refunds.
5.I made it into the finals on several projects, made changes... then the other designers started copying my work and won.
6.Many designers are using clip art, stealing other peoples work, and leaving messages on the clarification boards to "look at my work" if you are trying to read comments left by the client you have to sift through the trash.
You are competing with 100-1000 of people, clients really can't handle that many choices.


I thought it would be a good way to get some clients, but why would they want to hire you at a decent wage when they can get 40 hours of work for .00?

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@Sent7350415

There are several good answers here that deal with the ills of spec work and mention that design contests pay a pittance. This is just a little deeper look into the numbers...



I happened to come across a competition site today and was amazed at the numbers they advertise on their front page:



They're trying to pump up the designs per project and the total payout, but the number of contests lays it all bare. That's 117,766 designs at a cost of 0,401, or .95 per submitted design. Ouch!

Competition sites are the "slot machine" principle applied to the design industry. Slot machines have calculated payout percentages. Essentially, over a long enough timeline a slot machine will always pay out X amount in winnings for Y amount spent. Players think this doesn't apply to them because they'll win... but reality dictates that most will lose, and those who play long enough are guaranteed to lose by the rules of the game.

Design competitions are built on the same principle and sucker people the same way. If you are lucky, you may submit a design and win a contest and pocket a few hundred dollars. However, you would have to quit right then for it to be worthwhile. Every competition has a similar probability, so you can be fairly well certain to lose a few rounds. The result is submitting many designs and, if you win at all, making substandard rates for the hours you have spent.

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@Jennifer810

What every designer should understand about "clients" who use crowd-sourcing, or who get their logo designed by their step-sister's nephew who knows MS Paint: you are looking at someone who views design as an expense, not an asset. If you're a designer worthy of the name, these are never going to be your clients and you should not waste a moment on them.

When Steve Jobs dropped a hundred grand on a designer to create the NeXT logo, before he'd even set up office space or hired any staff, he knew he was investing in a new brand. Apple spends a bazillion highly-paid man-hours on the design of its products. Last I saw, they were getting a pretty good ROI on that expenditure...

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@Cofer715

The cons: When participating in these logo contests, you are devaluing the design industry as a whole. Also it gives off the perception that logos can be "ready made", with the ability to simply change the name and have it work. There is a LOT of hard work, research, and unique consideration that should be taken into account when creating a great logo. Even if you decide that you would like to work for pennies, think about the greater implications of bringing down the industry as whole.

Example, "Why would I pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a logo from you, when I could go to this site, have 50 people make me different logos, and choose one for 0?"

That is the point of view that people begin to view the graphic design industry with after seeing or using these contest sites. Of course many will be able to spot the difference in quality and understand that you get what you pay for, but at the same time many will not.

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@Samaraweera207

The only pros are for the people who ask you to do spec work. You do the work, they get the work. They will be cherry picking meaning your work may be used and combined (sometimes without your knowledge).

The thing I find is the worst property of spec work: no good and no direct interaction with the client and as such you're more into producing work on the base of their brief when you should also be challenging them and vice versa.

And then there are the time constraints.... no more crowdsourcing for me.

Unfortunately sometimes the website/design business demands it, so accountmanagers ask it of me. I usually try to dissuade them or try to contact the clients beforehand to get more info but that's is not in the case of crowsourcing but more with RFP's.

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@Holmes874

The Cons:


you're working for pennies
you're working for a 'client' who has committed next-to-nothing to the project
you're not designing based on any real client or business objectives/requirements
there is no proper feedback loop
you're competing with people that are likely using unlicensed software and type
you're wasting your time


The Pros:


umm...let me think...err...hmm...nope. No Pros.

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