If you’ve ever been the position of needing a logo, a brochure or even a name for your new product, you know the value of having a sharp, creative mind at your disposal. But what if you had thousands? By the same token, what if you’re the person who always wins accolades for doodling logos and thinking up taglines on the fly, but you have no clue how to parlay your talents into work?
The answer is crowdsourcing.
A number of firms have sprung up around the idea of pooling both talent and ideas together into virtual creative marketplaces. The result? Companies save time and money pursuing creative solutions, and writers and designers enjoy low barriers for entry into the process.
Here are some of the major players on the scene:
crowdSPRING
One of the heavyweights in the crowdsourced creative field, crowdSPRING boasts a pool of more than 67,000 writers and designers ready to tackle anything from logo design to product naming.
99Designs
Touting more than 76,000 designers among its ranks, 99Designs focuses exclusively on design, including WordPress templates, t-shirts and stationery alongside the more traditional logos and icons.
Brandstack
This company offers two options: you can peruse their marketplace of designs and purchase directly from the designer, or you can use their premium service Upstack to hire designers for custom work.
Genius Rocket
Genius Rocket offers a wide range of creative services, including video and animation creation.
BootB
BootB brings a whimsical approach and international flavor to crowdsourcing creative challenges for both brands and creators.
Do you have any resources that you use that we didn’t cover here? Let us know in the comments.
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Crowdsource and risk that what you bought violates copyright laws…
Example:
http://www.specwatch.info/SW1-stock-photo.html
Designers who know what they are doing and do it for a living won’t touch these sites with a ten foot pole.
http://twitter.com/specwatch
I use DesignCrowd, the comeptition isn’t as bad there. The entries are kept private, which is good to protect the designers from being copied and they have a ‘participation’ payment feature. Few designers from each contest get anywhere from $10-$40 for participating in the contest.
I’m actually surprised to see an article promoting this type of thing tied to envato.
no kidding!
I agree. I am very against crowdsourcing. It devalues our profession and disillusions young designers who think this is a great way to “break into the biz”.
I shake my fist at thee, WorkAwesome. I know you’re more awesome than this.
As a designer, I do not support sites like this. Spec work sites like these are ruining our profession. I am really disappointed you guys are pushing creatives to use sites like these.