Logo Design Contests – Good or Bad
posted in Design Contests, Logo DesignI recently found a contest website for designers, thanks to Michael McAlister, recently featured on the Freelancer Focus project. The site allows users to create contests, asking designers to submit entries to win the cash prize. I decided to play with this for a while last weekend, and it was definitely an enjoyable experience.
The first contest I entered was for a juicing distribution company, planning on opening up juice bars and printing their brand on all products and packaging. They created the contest to get a new logo for their company. So, I read the brief:
“We would like to see something that would fit our distribution aspect of the business and our retail aspect of the business.We need something smart and unique and something that would fit our distribution side of the business where we distribute juicing machines, and our retail side of the business where we open juice bars that sell freshly squeezed juices such as pomegranate, orange, kiwi, pineapple and many others including vegetable juice and wheat grass.
Our logo can be trendy, and fun, with a hint of sophistication and business like manner.”
This project seemed to me to be a fun first entry into the logo contest experience on this website, so I entered a logo after coming up with a creative, professional concept. They liked it right away and immediately I received 4/5 stars for my entry. There was also one other designer that received 4/5 stars, and I liked his entry also. Here are a few of the better entries for this specific contest.
Out of over 120 entries, my logo was chosen to be the best match for the client. The client had a few nice words to say and privately emailed me with this:
“Hi Brian, thanks a lot for all your designs, you are our favorite designer. You are very talented.”
Here is my winning logo, and a few variations of it, to present the possibilities for other media:
So, for designers, my question is this; Do you agree with logo design competitions like this? Have you ever entered a contest on logo design contest site like this? What was your experience?
I am slightly torn on this subject. On the one hand, these contests sort of cheapen the work of the designers (most logo design contests only have a prize of $100), they also remove the development process and close interaction between the client and the designer (this is often an extremely valuable process for creating a powerful logo for the client). On the other hand, it is a fun way for the designer to build up his or her portfolio along with the opportunity to make a bit of cash along the way.
I imagine that some designers make a living from almost solely spending their time on these design contests, but I am unsure whether or not this is a good thing for our market, as logo designers.
What do you think?
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Hi Brian,
When logo contests are used in this way i.e. to generate the corporate identity of the company running the competition, I think they’re very bad news.
Would you expect a dentist or plumber to work for free? Of course not. So why expect over 120 graphic designers to do just that?
If a graphic designer wants to work on live projects, they’d be much better approaching local non-profits for some pro-bono work. At least that way you’re getting experience of working with a client, and generating some local business contacts at the same time.
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While I agree with David in principle, sometimes it can be difficult to find pro-bono work, and the design contests can be a good way to get one’s feet wet and practice developing concepts. I’ve never participated in them though, and certainly wouldn’t rely on them for income.
Congrats on winning the contest! -
Hi David,
I agree that it is not a great way for a company to obtain a corporate identity. Contests like this do remove 99% of the client/designer interaction. Thanks for the link to your post, interesting to read your take on it.
Randa,
I think a young, new designer without much experience would benefit from these contests. I wrote this post after I took part in one after seeing the Freelancer Focus segment on graphicdesignblog.co.uk , where he states that he obtains most of his clients (and income!) from this contest site.
So, I had to investigate. I’m not sure if I will enter another contest like this in the future, but it was interesting to take part, and win.
I guess if the client asks me to design and code a website for them because they like the logo so much, I am sure my opinion will change to a much more positive note on these contests!Thanks for the comments
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Hi Brian, Congratulations on your new blog, it looks great. And congratulations on winning the logo competition! I can see David’s point but will this company actually use this logo? If they do they’ll have to get back to you to get the source files or vector artwork which you could charge them for. And if clients really try to get everything for free then they’ll pay for it in the long run with a substandard end product which would cost more to rectify. Brian, what’s the font you’re using there?
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Hi Brian,
I like your site!
I’m a bit torn on this issue too. From a professional point of view, I don’t like it because there is a hint of slave labour about it. However as a design instructor, several of my trainees enter these competitions and even if they don’t win, they get some good ideas and can also develop some real world work for their portfolio.
Jennifer Farley’s last blog post..Design Inspiration : Startdrawing.org
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Hi Rob,
Thanks! Although, I only really entered this competition to see what the experience is like, I was a little surprised to see that I won.
I think they do intend on using the logo I created, and today I received a request from them for the final logo files. I presume I have to receive payment thru Paypal first.
The site states that I don’t have to accept the win, but if I do I have to provide the proper logo files, vector etc…
The font is “Hobo Std”. I thought it was a perfect match for the mark of the orange.
Hi Jennifer,
Nice to receive a comment from you! I agree that it does have a hint of slave labour, but then again, it is real world experience for younger designers. Seems like the easiest way for them to work on concepts, ideas, skills etc.
And $100 would be nice change if you were a college kid and won a contest regularly!
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Hi Brian, I have just come across your blog from the comments on JCD, it is great, really! Some very valid articles you have here…
When you say ‘I think a young, new designer without much experience would benefit from these contests.’ I think that is correct however can be quite frustrating when you keep losing.
As a young designer myself I have only ever contributed to design contests that I feel will benefit others in a good way….These were local design competitions that were focused on raising awareness of drug problems and drink driving and as I put a lot of effort into these areas I won these competitons.
I have also entered youth tattoo design comps and won both times I have entered. The prizes were more around the $2000 and $500 mark however which was much more an incentive to enter.
I don’t believe I would work for an un guaranteed $100. Have you heard of NO-SPEC? http://no-spec.com/ – check it out.
Anyway keep up the good posts, I have subscribed.
Jacob Cass’s last blog post..Entry Deadline: 4th March for the $5000 Graphic Design Group Writing Project
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Hi Jacob,
Thanks for the comments, and I have been visiting your blog regularly and am impressed with what you have achieved in just a few months!
The design comps you talk about sound like a much better idea than the standard “company needs a brand” online contest.
I agree with you also about the $100, it really isn’t worth it to work on a logo for a contest and then not win.
I’ll check out the no spec site also, thanks
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Hi Brian,
What do I think about contests of this sort? Like others above, I believe they are no more than a cheap bid for spec work. Only, instead of asking one designer for spec (which is bad enough), they broaden their reach.
You know, there are thousands of deserving non-profits out there looking for help. So really, the excuse of needing to get your name out there via contests is weak.
By donating all or part of your skills to a non-profit, you have a good chance of meeting the very people you need to know. Business owners.
How? Because business owners also donate their skills to non-profits by sitting on boards, etc. So you’ll have the perfect opportunity to show them what you can do, as well as how you do it.
Contests take away the communication between client and designer. And that’s a big part of what we do, communicate.
Without communication designers are just throwing something against the wall in the hopes it’ll stick.
So you put a contest driven logo in your portfolio and a client contacts you for a meeting. In the meeting, what do you say? Do you describe how you met the needs of the contest driven client by problem solving? Cannot, lah … not with contest driven designs.
Pro bono (done right) is a win win situation for all.
If you want to know more about donating your time pro bono, check out Tom’s series on businessofdesignonline.com
Note: I am a part of both no-spec.com and businessofdesignonline.com. And you just happened to ask the right questions
Catherine Morley’s last blog post..Notice: Designers who Blog on Alltop.com
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Hi Catherine!
Thank you for your comment. I agree with the points you made.
It was an interesting experience to take part and win that small contest.
How about this?! A week after I won the contest the client emailed me and said that they needed stationary designed…and that they “could pay $15″!!
You can imagine the responses I wanted to write back!
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“You can imagine the responses I wanted to write back!
”Oh, I imagine I could come up with a few choice words myself
Btw – when reading over my comment, my reference to ‘you’ and ‘your’ wasn’t ‘you’. If you know what I mean. It was only after rereading it that I realised the snafu.
Catherine Morley’s last blog post..Notice: Designers who Blog on Alltop.com
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I’m also torn in this subject. I’m actually a member of 99designs.
Basically, this is a learning experience for designers and newbies in the industry. It won’t only help them (or should I say us?) practice and improve their skills but also buff-up their portfolio. I joined a couple design contests, and the good thing about it is that you get yourself motivated to win.Anyway, you got a great logo!
Keane’s last blog post..So You Wanna Be A Web Design Superstar?
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My company actually launched a Logo Design Contest site (eLogoContest) in the early spring of this year, it’s been very well received thus far and to date we’ve had over 1000 designers and 250 clients sign on.
My personal take on design contests is as follows: design contests can be very effective for a company that is floundering around looking for the direction they want their brand to go design wise, but the end of the contest is not always the end of the brand creation process (although it sometimes is) and sometimes the company needs to spend some time and money working with the winning designer to fine tune the design (or with some other designer, as the case may be.).
And as far as the designers are concerned: contests can be a very good source of income (we have designers earning $1000+/month, but it is not GUARANTEED income so should only be used as a supplemental source of work, a successful approach to freelancing can include design contests as one aspect of it, in my opinion.
So that’s my 2 cents, for what it’s worth!
George – eLogoContest.com’s last blog post..Prize payments for 9/14 – 10/01 have been sent out
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Ran across this in a search, the designer in me cringes a bit over these contests and what it could do (has done) to the freelance side of the industry, the marketing director in me wants to try something similar on our PGprint website. Two sides torn right down the middle!
