A big difference.

Let whatever users that use spec work do it – they are working more than what they are getting paid unless they win, which is a usually pretty poor chance. And let whatever businesses that want it use it, they get a variety of general and poor grade designs, which eventually likely lead to a loss in brand recognition. I’m willing to bet most of the companies that use spec work are likely to fail after their first year.

I suppose either way we will just have to wait and see which way things go in 2009.

Most of my clients (like me) have a hard time keeping up with the latest trends, so to that extent I doubt they will exploit spec sites, however, if they knew that it was available I might help them formulate the contest and assist in judging the winners or make changes to the final. At that point, what’s to keep the client from awarding a winner? Not saying I would condone cheating my fellow designers, but where there is a way there will be a will.

Now if a professional chooses to stay fresh, up-to-date and not adhere to the same style they’ve stagnated to – they’d have a fighting chance of a.) Staying in direct competition with these new designers and b.) Offer advanced services i.e. upkeep, interactivity, stability, compatibility etc etc. and easily out-match the newbie in experience. The idea is to offer more value for what seems like a worthy enough price-up!

I have hope! – I’m not super experienced, but not new either. The idea is to stay ahead of the wave constantly with fresh ideas and continuously try to set new trends. Because if you ever “follow” – you’re already “behind”. We will continue to fight the front and I will offer my services at my set price, and in my experience – they’ve always come back, paying extra because this person’s brother’s niece takes forever to reply and is not as professional.

i mean by amateurs and by anything else…

i mean typographers almost dissapeared from the planet after the computer was invented…

i dont know so im asking

please let me know

I wanted to mention two things, generally. First, crowdSPRING operates very differently from other marketplaces. Among many other differences, we require escrow in all projects, we provide free customized legal agreements, we offer projects with full privacy and user control, we have rigorous intellectual property policies, and we work hard to enforce those policies. We’ve built a community of over 10,000 creatives from 130+ countries in six months.

Second – when we hear criticisms from other designers to spec work – we certainly respect those criticisms but we remind them that other industries, including music and copywriting, faced the same changes. Some feel threatened by increasing competition. But the industry’s attitude is far more damaging to the industry than spec work. Here’s what a friend had to say in response to the attitude reflected in some of the above comments:

“The NO!SPEC crowd want to prevent willing parties from engaging in commerce only because they fear that the resulting competition will hurt them. If they were secure in their own business model, they’d not be concerned about others’. They are just the latest incarnation of the “You can work only if you are not part of the right guild/club/gang/race/ethnicity” mobs so popular during every dying gasp of an artificially privileged minority. Grow up. Competition is here.”

The words are harsh – and I would not put it quite that way. But they do ring true.

And let me ask those who’ve contributed to this discussion. How do you feel about traditional marketplaces (elance, guru) where graphic design projects are awarded almost always based on the lowest bid, and where logo design projects are done for $25? My personal belief is that price competition – what you see on traditional marketplaces – does far more to cheapen the industry, but I am interested in what you think.

Best,

Ross Kimbarovsky
co-Founder
http://www.crowdspring.com