Graphic Design Crowdsourcing

The term crowdsourcing generally refers to the term of engaging an indefinite number of people (generally a large number) for a particular task or work that was previously performed by one individual or agent for a fee or remuneration. In other words when a work or task is crowdsourced, a lot of people compete for the remuneration by showcasing their finished product. So the term crowdsourcing when applied to graphic design means that if you need a logo design for your new business or a website design for your restaurant then you go to a crowdsourcing website and post your requirements there. A lot of professionals or individuals or graphic designers in this case who are registered with that website put forward their concepts or designs. The buyer rates them and talks to them via a message board to pinpoint what they want and finally picks the graphic design they like most. This is graphic design crowdsourcing in a nutshell.

Some designers have formed a community against crowdsourcing. Designers argue that one cant guarantee that his or her design is going to win and he or she is going to get paid for their design work. Well it is agreed that you don’t stand a chance to win ever design contest you participate in. It may so happen that you submit design entries for 10 contests and win only 3. The point designers have here is that they work for nothing for the 7 remaining designing contests.
Here the counter argument is that you need to compare the graphic design crowdsourcing model with conventional designing model. We have to list down the things we have to do to win a conventional design process.

1. To bid for a graphic design project for a conventional company you shall have to find a client. To find a client you have to look around or subscribe to some website where graphic design projects are posted. OR you shall have to find a local company needing some graphic design work.
2. Then you shall have to prove your credential by showing them some of the graphic design jobs that you have worked for in the past. They will like some and not like some. If they find most of your graphic designs impressive to their eyes then you might be selected for their graphic project.
3. Then you shall have to prepare a proposal for the graphic design project in question. Here you shall have to keep in mind that many graphic designers will be bidding for the same work and hence you shall have to be competitive in your pricing. In today’s world price is a big deciding factor for any project.
4. If the client is local then you might have to visit their offices as well and have to meet a few of their officials to convince them that you are the best graphic designer for the project in question.
5. Then after all these, you might as well have to prepare a mock up design to prove that you can give them satisfactory result.
6. If all these work in your favour then you stand a chance of winning the graphic design project you are bidding for.

Isn’t all these quite a lot of work? Well my point is that in the crowdsourcing model even if you win 3 out of 10 graphic design contests you don’t stand to loose or you don’t work for nothing because in the conventional system of winning a graphic design project lot of overhead work is still involved.

Crowdsourcing is there a win win situation for both the buyer and the graphic designer. For the buyer’s point of view it is unjust to commit to one particular graphic designer and then accept whatever design he or she comes up with. The buyer might not like the design at all. It is also a matter of chance that a single graphic designer will come up with 20 or 30 design concepts equally creative. It’s just impossible. So the buyer has the right to choose not the graphic designer but the design he likes and pay for it.
From the graphic designer point of view you don’t have to prove anything if you want to work for a particular project. No credentials, no proposals, no client visits. Just choose the project he wants to work on and plunge into the drawing board.  All you need is an eye for graphic design and understanding of the likes and dislikes of the buyer. If you have a sixth sense as a graphic designer and if you can figure out what the buyer wants then you shall do just great working in the crowdsourcing model.
You can even be straight out of college in order to be working in graphic design crowdsourcing websites. All the buyers look for there is a good graphic design concept. So get set for crowdsourcing!