Contest Consternation

I have been involved, in some facet or another, with design as a career for a little over 6 years now. This does not include my internships. I am speaking post-graduation with my degree. I do not consider myself an artist (in that I don’t think I have the hand skills for illustration or “general” art). I am not saying I can’t draw, just that it is not my branch of expertise. I should clarify that I also do not consider myself to have an expertise in anything... except perhaps Egyptian spiny mice farming.

Anyway, this latest brooha over at Airbag got me to thinking — What are the ethics of design? I mean, what set of rules are actually enforced in our industry? Are there any rules that warrant being set? I had a portfolio review to graduate from college, but I am not “certified” or “registered”. Does that make my work less valuable? If anyone can do it, why would a company come to me to have it done?

I have noticed two modes of thinking in the thread: 1) Spec work is bad. 2) This is just for fun. Now the (1) folks think that this is what is hurting our industry; that companies can get design work done for them for next to nothing (or less) and thereby, devalue the industry. The sentiment being, “Anyone can do it, so I see no reason to pay your company to do it. I will simply hold a “contest” and get the best design for a ridiculous fraction of the cost.” Supporters of (1) make reference to the GDC and their issues with the Vancouver Olympics Emblem Contest. There are other organizations in Canada arguing the same points on the same contest. Others simply chant the mantra that “not everyone can design”. I am on the fence as to whether speculative work is actually bad or not. In college, all my work was spec. However, if a company asks 10 design firms to give them speculative work and they will then pay a fee to the firm that created the best speculative work, I find that a little smarmy. The company is essentially getting 10x the work done for 10x times less the cost. At least in my view.

The (2) folks feel that this contest has no ill intentions, the client is not out to get a very cheap logo for his company and this is all just for fun. Greg Storey (Airbag Industries) put this contest together for a friend of his creating a start-up (LedgerPaper). Mr. Storey didn’t have time to do the logo himself and thought this would be a fun, community building activity that would result in a decent logo for his friend’s company (at least, that is my take on it). He put together a rather esteemed board of judges to vote on the winning design (Jason Santa Maria, Jim Coudal, Jon Hicks and Tom Dolan). Whomever’s design gets chosen is going to get a considerable slice of attention, even if for only 15 minutes. To the winner — an iPod Shuffle, among other nifty shtuff. I think Mr. Storey’s intention was one of getting the design community together as well as creating a rather nice logo for a start-up financial company. Though Storey isn’t judging the logo himself, one has to imagine that he might be devoting perhaps more time to this contest than had he just designed the logo himself. He is certainly devoting some time to monitoring the comments in the thread. So far – 154 comments.

Personally, I don’t think I will participate. Not that I don’t have time, so much that I am just not interested in the contest. The notoriety would be swell, but I am a man that gets a little touchy when it comes to losing to these sorts of things. I know I would think my logo was the best (all designers think this, I suppose) and it always seems to devastate me irrationally to lose the “small” contests. Example: The Millennium Youth Entertainment Center — a contest was promoted asking designers of the community to design the logo for the MYEC. While mine may not have been the best, the winning design is just horrible. This was the best the community could produce? I just can’t believe that.

Also, and this is the more important reason for not participating, I don’t feel like I have the access to the client, or the interaction, that is necessary to create a logo for that business. The few posts made by The Client or even the very brief brief on the project is not enough for me. My wife is an accountant and would know enough to fill me in on what this guy’s business is all about, but it wouldn’t be his business. It would be an interpretation by my wife of his business. I just don’t think I could contribute an effective design for his company.

I can’t say whether I think this contest is “wrong” or “right”. I can understand with both side’s views. In the end, I am likely to just step back and watch how it plays out.