CrowdSpring is “crowdsourcing” graphic design. It’s a business model that makes sense on the The Internet, in that it connects people with services to offer with people who want to buy those services.
A writer from Forbes looks the company’s progress and the “snooty” response from industry pros.
CrowdSpring.com, allows buyers to run competitions for company logos, Web sites, T-shirts and the like. For buyers of designs, that means more choice at a fraction of the cost; for aspiring designers, it means a shot at stealing work from entrenched design firms.
“The beauty of our site is that it doesn’t matter if you have a degree from the Rhode Island School of Design or if you’re a grandma in Tennessee with a bunch of free time and Adobe Illustrator,” says Samson. “If the client likes the grandma’s work better, then she’s going to get the job.”
“In the design world, the gatekeepers are fighting hard to keep the status quo,” he says. “Now if you live in India or Peoria you can buy a computer and sophisticated software for a little bit of money and compete with big agencies–and they don’t like that.”
A grandma from Tennessee versus a RSID grad? There’s something absurdist about it. Yet, the design community’s response–a “No Spec” campaign, urging designers not to work in advance of getting paid–is entirely practical.
