99 designs

I recently became involved in the Site Point spin off 99designs, in which a competition style design contest allows user to join for free and either create contests or compete in them. These contest span the genres, from designing logos to designing fully coded html websites. There has however been somewhat of an uprising in the design community over the scandalous behavior of the contest holders, who have made themselves very unpopular by holding contests without awarding a prize, despite countless entries being submitted.

I have found myself in this very same trap, entering a contest, completing several designs in scope with the brief, even receiving positive feedback, then finding the contest ends. No winner is selected, and to my astonishment a new renamed contest begins, with a brief, identical to the one which was delivered previously. I liken this to holding a raffle, selling all the tickets, then just jumping on a jet plane with the prize-money.(yeah thats right, a jet plane!)

Of course i am not the first to recognize this. graphicpush strikes a compelling argument against the shambolic behavior of the contest holders. All points i agree with. The premise is great and i feel strongly that the idea has potential, but as he states in his article, to offer a fee in which no contract is won, no merit given the to the failed entrants and the possibility of nothing being awarded anyway, it certainly is comparable to third world wages for talents unapreciated, because even if you design doesnt win, when you submit the design you also submit the rights to the design, so you cant even lay claim to your work if its not picked.

We as designers live in a fast paced, ever changing environment, we are persistently working harder, to meet clients needs, but perhaps there is a lesson to be learned in all this, when you look at the designs which are wining the contests, and you will soon notice as i have that there are repeat offenders, the winners aren’t treating this as a do or die atmosphere, they are instead using 99designs as a platform to showcase work, to use headed design templates to put out the marketing message, ‘im here, this is what i can do’. So enough flight, this is new media, this is what its about, and this should be what we all thrive on.