September 18, 2008

Resource: Inexpensive Design Work

I was at a conference this week and met a health professional who told me about a cool new resource.

Check out CrowdSpring.com - A place where all kinds of graphic designers hang out and wait for people to post a project and they all get a crack at it. You pick the winner.

Here's the story she told me about her experience with Crowd Spring.

She submitted her logo design specifications for her nutrition counseling business including how much she would be willing to pay for it. In this case, she placed a $300 bid.

She received about 30 designs from 30 different designers and LOVED 10 of them.

Now she picks one and that designer receives the dough.

The only down side is that her project was very public and, in a sense, collaborative.

She said it felt like good publicity for her company so she didn't mind.

CrowdSpring now offers private bids too if your business requires privacy before you launch your new design work.

What I love about this idea is that you're not tied to one designer. And in the world of graphic designer, it seems to me the risk is all on the client. This evens out the odds and also gives graphic design students a chance to build a portfolio. (If you remember, the NIKE Corporation got their SWOOSH logo by giving open design forum to design students).

Sounds like a great idea to me.

Check out CrowdSpring.com

To your success,

Karin

Filed under Blog, Personalizing Your Materials, Resources by Karin

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Comments on Resource: Inexpensive Design Work »

September 18, 2008

Ross Kimbarovsky @ 8:11 am

Hi Karin,

Thanks so much for writing about crowdSPRING. As you've described, crowdSPRING is the creative marketplace. Buyers post creative projects (logos, websites, print design, illustrations, marketing materials, etc.) and instead of receiving bids and proposals, creatives from around the world submit actual designs. Buyers choose the one they like. Since our launch in May 2008, nearly 700 buyers from 30 countries have posted projects. And we have over 6,000 creatives from 130+ countries working on crowdSPRING.

We did recently launch crowdSPRING Pro which gives buyers maximum privacy and user control in their projects. While most buyers want publicity, we wanted to give an option to buyers who do not.

We provide free customized legal agreements to protect the purchase of intellectual property, full project management, and take care of paying creatives anywhere in the world. Buyers can focus on getting the best designs, and pick from actual designs without worrying about what their logo might look like.

We do hope your readers will take a look.

Best,

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

Angeline @ 8:26 am

Karin -
Thanks so much for mentioning crowdSPRING, and also to the health professional that told you about us! The site launched in May, and already, we have 6,000+ creatives from around the world sign up to participate on our site. Many small businesses, consultants, internet startups, and even bigger companies such as Epic Records, Tribune Interactive, and Element79 have signed on to use our site and tap into our global pool of creative talent for their design needs. We've also been featured in the Chicago Tribune, WIRED's Blog Network, Cnet, US News + World Report, and more.

We look forward to having your blog readers check us out as well.

All the best!
Angeline
crowdSPRING Community Manager
http://www.crowdspring.com

October 9, 2008