Crowdsourcing: A Viable Alternative for Clients or Value Killer for Designers?

In recent years, the use of crowdsourcing in many industries has increased. For those of you who are unfamiliar with crowdsourcing as it relates to graphic design, it is when a company in need of graphic design services posts a project request on one of multiple websites dedicated to this practice, hoping to attract designers interested in working on the project. Designers who are interested in the project post their solutions – that is, they do the spec work – and the poster pays only for the work he likes best. All the other contributors are out of luck. In a way, it’s like playing the lottery, but with one very important difference: the lottery costs a dollar to play. Crowdsourcing costs a designer his time and talent, both of which may be better spent on something else.

Looking at it from a client-side perspective, it’s easy to see how crowdsourcing might be tempting to a small company looking to fill a need for a quick event logo or other small project. If a company just needs a quick answer to a design problem, it may make sense to invite many folks to the party, while knowing full well they will end the night having danced with only one. After all, why should a company shell out big bucks to a designer just to create a logo when that same company can choose between potentially hundreds of crowdsourcing entries?

Well, there actually is a good reason. It’s what designers like to refer to as “the big picture”. And while crowdsourcing may have its place in the world, it completely misses the big picture.

A good design firm brings more to a project than just the ability to follow a client’s orders. A good design firm will help a client define the design objective, articulate the goals of the project and contemplate what the next steps will be once the project has been completed. Creating strategy, lending imagination, offering ideas and helping maintain focus, while at the same time advising and supporting a client’s aspirations, are all a part of what a client can expect from a one-on-one relationship with a truly first-rate designer. In short, what a good design firm brings is value – value that just can’t be found through the “y’all come” approach inherent in a crowdsourcing environment.

There will always be people willing to do spec work: Students looking to build a portfolio, design firms that have more capacity than they have clients, and even some talented designers who, sadly, underestimate their own worth.

But if you’re looking for a design firm to partner with you over the long term, and commit to your ongoing success, it is well worth the time and money to join forces with a designer who not only understands and respects your value, but also her own.