Tips for choosing the right prize while running a design contest

Just because most designers fancy themselves somewhere in the back of their minds as promising artists, doesn’t mean they should have to work the way struggling painters of past centuries used to. Unlike a musician or poet, who could turn their problems into great songs, a graphic artist seldom finds working for scraps as a good environment for creativity. Great innovative ideas come when you’re able to distance yourself from the mundane and focus solely on the task at hand.

It’s true that coding or other left brain activities can be automated to a certain extend, reducing development time and resulting in competitive prices. Yet, applying the same principle to graphic or web design activities, in order to achieve lower costs, would defy their very same purpose: achieve a distinctive solution used to best communicate an often commercial message to the target audience.

Like it or not, it’s just not possible to achieve a professional end result, while working at an amateur  level.  Unless you’re willing to offer at least the market’s average, then don’t be surprised if the submissions look more like working granny’s talent showcase or basement kid’s bid for a PlayStation. These are actually the lucky situations, when their submissions are actually subsidized by their current conditions and they’re driven by a need to gain experience or fill their time with something. However, you shouldn’t be surprised if a large amount of the submissions seem strangely familiar.

Your deja-vu feeling should be a clear indication about one of these two things: either the designs are deeply “inspired” by other existing examples or you’re paying for generic, no name and definitely no personality work. It might help you fit into the crowd, but usually that’s a case where you want to stand out as much as you can.  Also, try not to fool yourself into thinking that your clients won’t recognize an amateurish or cheap looking piece, just because they’re not professionals in this area. We’ve all been bombarded with quality design examples for the last few decades that we’re pretty competent at subconsciously recognizing good work when we see it.

Suppose it’s your first contest and you’re still unsure as to how much should your budget stretch. Here’s what will usually happen depending  on your choice:

• obscenely small prize, about half or two thirds than what you’d normally get. Don’t expect to see more  than a dozen designers joining in. If you do, then you should be convinced they are at the very best hobbyists going for a quick buck or poor East Asian “professionals” who don’t have much time or the interest to spend on your  project. This might work for a brochure with a limited distribution or some vector tracing work where there’s not that much creativity involved. However, would you run the risk of buying a copycat concept or execution if  you were redesigning your logo or the packaging of a product you’ve invested extensive time and effort to create? I bet not. Plus, most respectable designers would feel offended by having  their work underrated. Even those joining in would be reluctant to provide you with more than shallow, one  minute revisions.
• a  moderate prize or slightly higher than the market’s average. This is usually the most common scenario out there. The number of submissions you’d receive can range from a couple dozen up to even a hundred or more. In this case, the decision to enter the contest will usually be driven by some emotional aspects as well: how easy it is perceived, how fun/interesting  it looks, how knowledgeable of the subject the designer is. Do not expect any overzealous participants, nor more than a couple completely different concepts per designer.
• a generous prize.  That’s the ideal scenario of the three and it works on multiple levels: the actual financial gains, showing respect to the designers’ work and earning their respect in return, generating positive word of mouth etc. It’s not uncommon to receive hundreds of submissions of which there would  be plenty five star designs.

If you’re not happy with the way things are moving along, you can always increase the amount. However, it’s best to do it from the start.

You should always consider the amount of time needed to come up with a proper submission and then consider adding a little extra to compensate for the risk of actually losing the contest. It’s also better to increase this bonus based on the project as well. Designers will be more reluctant to waste two or three days on a  project, if they feel it’s not worth it, than they would  about spending a couple of hours.

Next time, we’ll delve deeper into what other elements contribute to the success of a design contest.

Running a design contest – tips for first timers

The outcome of every design contest, from the client’s point of view, is picking the most appropriate solution from a significant amount of submissions. It also doesn’t hurt if you can get it at a noticeably lower price than what an advertising agency or high priced design bureau would normally charge. There are two ways to approach this situation: either as a boss or as a businessman. In the first scenario, you would unload all of your everyday frustrations and nastiness on a bunch of designers, more or less willing to put up with it for a potential win. In the second one, you would actually regard them as the target audience for your contest and find ways in which you can motivate them to achieve the best results.

Don’t hold your hopes too high in finding similar information on any of the websites hosting this type of contests. Just like those dealing with stock photography, project bidding and other contributor based communities, they are more interested in keeping the customer happy. They might know the rules of the game such as a referee does but they don’t know it first hand as a sportsman. What they usually fail to realize is that if the content’s quality is lacking, then sales will too.

At the end of the day, unless you’re one of those intermediary agencies specialized in running design contests for their clients, rather than doing actual work, you won’t have to deal with this too often. That’s why rushing and constantly complaining about it being tiresome to manage, it’s not only a real waste of time but also very impolite. After all, when compared to the designers, you’ll be spending a lot less time reviewing, then they will spend working. That’s why if they perceive you don’t care about it, they probably won’t either.
Here are just several elements that would motivate designers to engage in  your project:

• the prize – a decent or generous amount will often mean the difference between amateur and professional submissions;
• the brief’s quality – a thorough brief will usually speed up the process and help designers create better quality work;
• the amount of feedback and ratings received for each submission – essential for improving the designs and getting plenty of revisions;
• the overall respect and tone of communication between the contest holder and the designer;

You should also maintain a fine balance between how you want your product to be perceived and the amount of resources you’re willing to invest in promoting it. If you’re bragging about how you’re aiming  for a premium or high end spot, then you should take care that you can reflect that into the way the contest is run as well. To avoid appearing shallow and  eventually creating negative word of  mouth, it’s best to award a motivating prize, create a  professional written brief, treat the designers with the respect you’re hoping to achieve for your brand and don’t change the rules (aka the requirements) halfway through the game. Normally, this would be considered common sense advice. However, a quick search would show just how often most of these guidelines are blatantly ignored and the end results fail to impress.

Also, try not to forget that this is not some philosophy class in Ancient Greece, so sharing ideas and inspiration between designers is a big turn off. Because in the end a participant is either a winner or a loser, nobody wants to see parts of their designs (and time) contributing to the financial welfare of the competition. Not only that, but unless you’re actively coming  up with concept ideas, suggesting other designers try a certain path you’ve seen in one submission it’s also more or less copyright infringement.

Supposed you’ve reached the point where you have to make a decision and pick a winner. Usually, there are three main types of individuals whose opinions will weigh in more or less:

• You should always have the last saying in this. It’s your choice because at the end of the day, it’s also your hard earned money on the line, your job and your credibility. Nobody else will take the blame if things fail miserably, yet they might take the credit if it works out fine.
• Your friends and family. It’s quite common to hear clients say how their spouse told them how they didn’t like the colors or their beer buddy didn’t think it was a manly enough concept. However, before taking their feedback into account, you should definitely see if they fit into the target audience. You might hold a lot of respect for them but unless they’d be willing to spend money on your product in real life, then their choice is not only useless but also harmful. Would you sell organic soy milk to junk food aficionados? I bet not.
• The designers can give you a lot of insight into why they picked certain design elements. It’s only risky if you can’t spot a very convincing smooth talker from a bunch of seasoned professionals. Otherwise, you’ll have a lot to gain if you lend an ear or even ask for additional information. Their experience will help anticipate any problems that might arise and take care of minor details which often go unnoticed, but can make or break a piece.

At the end of the day, holding design contests should be just a means to an end: finding a good designer for your brand while minimizing the risks associated with it. Of course, you could run one for each and every job there is. However, a brand is best promoted when it’s part of a coherent branding and marketing strategy. You won’t be able to achieve that if you constantly swap designers, no matter how thick or well constructed your identity guide is. There simply isn’t enough time for the newcomers to get to know the gist of your product and how it related to your target audience. In the end, the result will be choppy and the savings insignificant compared to the amount of time and money wasted during the process.

You might want to check back in the future as i would be covering certain aspects of successfully running a design contest, more in depth.

Pros and cons of participating in design contests

The very few times when i think about the meaning and purpose of contests in general, i picture them as one-off events where you give your all  for a chance to achieve something you truly desire. They help mobilize your strength and creativity to defeat all other competitors. It’s more or less a battle, which in a perfect world would be entertained with fair-play, but in reality it’s either as cut throat as you can imagine or just plain rigged.

Now, have you ever wondered how it would be like to apply this very simple concept to mundane tasks or jobs? For example what about holding a contest to select the best defense for your case in court or one  to get the best diagnosis from a bunch of doctors. Why not go further and pay only if you’re satisfied with the end result. Wouldn’t that be a dream world? Thanks to the Internet, you can now do just about that if you’re in need for a design or copywriting project. That’s what you get when you mix the age old custom of pitching an advertising or marketing project and combine it with the modern eastern philosophy that any price is good as long as it’s above zero.  From a designer’s point of view is the worst of both worlds: you risk to work for free and if you do get paid its below what you’d normally get from a regular client.

Much like any other professional working in the services industry, a designer’s job is to provide you with a (creative) solution tailored for your own specific needs, based on years of experience and learning. Even though apparently there are no tangible resources used in the process, this doesn’t mean it should be free. Similar to a lawyer or a doctor, you’re paying for the time spent conducting due diligence on your projects’ behalf. Unlike them, you also have to deal with technology related costs which add up and can turn pretty steep at times. On the other hand, even institutionalized advertising is still much younger in comparison with the other two professions previously mentioned. It’s no wonder why most potential clients have little or no understanding of how it can improve their overall sales. Plus, graphic designers are often associated with hippie, irresponsible, wing it characters based on decades old stereotypes.

The benefits of participating in design contests

• Probably by far the best thing you’ll get out of participating  in design contests is having the chance to gain experience and build an extensive portfolio in a relatively short amount of time. If you’re serious about being a designer, you cannot live on contests alone, but attracting clients can be hard when you’re just starting up. Just like stock  photography sites, while they do provide a decent income once you go beyond a certain level, the whole experience is not as rewarding as the real deal. Plus, there’s always the feeling of amateurism and playing in the Little League. That’s why you should use it more as a means to an end rather than the end itself.
• Get lots of inspiration and be motivated to step up your game and learn new tricks. Seeing how others approach the same design brief will literally help you step out of the box and acknowledge that there’s always more solutions to the same problem.
• Make (sometimes) a significant amount of extra cash. It’s true that you can make the same amount of money in half or even less time, but luck plays a huge role in all of this. You can draw the winning logo design in half an hour and make 500 bucks. Or you can struggle for a week.
• Gain some regular clients based on previous wins. In time, it can even lead to more work through word of mouth. While its true that the “more work ahead” line is overused as a dubious motivating technique, it does ring true every now and then.
• Have to deal with an incredibly varied array of human personalities, which is a good way of becoming a great communicator. That’s probably why it’s one of the most challenging things about the whole experience. While it does take plenty of time explaining everything, it also pays off. Those who matter, will understand you’re looking in the best interest of their brand and will be more open to discussing various options, thus improving your chances to win. Plus, you’ll learn how different people react in different situations. For example, i’ve learned that usually SEO and IT professionals are greatly challenged when it comes to visuals and more prone to picking up a winner based on stereotypes or the coolness  factor. They have a hard time understanding branding and often confuse their own preferences with those of their target (Web 2.0 style, stripes, glossy look and things which were a fad almost half a decade ago).

The downsides of design contests

• The biggest drawback of doing design contests it’s the risk and uncertainty of ever getting paid for the time spent. There are basically two cases here: your submission might not be the winner or the client might abandon the contest altogether. It’s also not as uncommon for a client to simply use the designers’ work as a free source of inspiration and then replicate it by their in-house team.
• The risk of joining a rigged contest (a slim chance but a chance nonetheless a practice with an unfortunately high occurrence rate). You should look for several signs such as: some last minute entries that sum up a lot of elements from other designs by a ghost or first time designer, the copycat receives better overall ratings than the original designs, the winning design is indisputably lower in quality than most of the other submissions etc. This is usually done either by a cheap contest holder willing to rip off the work of designers/get a free ride or by an insider close to them.
• Having to deal with the insecurities and hidden agendas of clients. More often than not, the contest holder will have their mind set on a specific submission (even early on in the game) and work with the designer to improve on it. However, it will continue asking for designs from others just to validate his decision. While that’s clearly unethical, you’ll learn to spot it after a while.
• Being beaten by a competitor who has copied parts of your submissions is clearly annoying. What’s even more so, it’s when the client is endorsing such behavior. It’s not Shareville, so borrowing design elements between contestants should be a clear no-no.  Yet, some will request a specific designer to include either the layout or the icons from another submission which is a soft case of copyright infringement.
• Often poor, incomplete and ever changing specifications in the brief as well as sparse or no feedback from the client. While it’s always frustrating not having enough information in the first place, it’s even more so when rules change during the game. Don’t be surprised if you see stationery requests added to a logo design project just a few days after the start. Also, unlike during a contract, it’s up to the client to decide if they’ll increase the prize along with the requirements.
• You have absolutely no control over the outcome of the contest and it’s often down to luck, no matter how many five star submissions you might have or the amount of positive feedback received.
• Because communication is done entirely through emails and small messages, the final choice is largely based on emotions (or family/friends’ advice). Unlike when dealing with a client face to face or over the phone, you  have less chances to explain why your design choices work best for their product. I often got responses like “my friends thought it looked cool” or “i asked a friend and said why not try this color”.
• Not dealing with the client directly robs you of all the non verbal cues that might signal either a tasteless goon or a stubborn/control freak you’d be better off without.
• The websites holding the contests are money making machines. That’s why when it comes to picking sides and arbitrating disputes, they’ll often go with the client since that’s where the paycheck comes from.
• Supporting design contest websites will lower overall prices in the design industry so even those in for a quick buck will have to deal with it later on in their careers.

Normally, i don’t have an issue with those small business owners who struggle when having to spend a lot of money on design services. I even find it refreshing helping them, since they are often nice people, willing to listen and learn more. They deal with you directly without employing a stuck up, pretentious “professional” to manage the contests with lines straight from the textbooks.  Yet, it does get pretty old, when just a few submissions into the contest, some client turns from this humble, nice person into a control freak, setting loose a revision and visual experimenting extravaganza.

Still, there’s another thing which I’m struggling to understand and i can only justify it through chronic greed. It’s when big corporations or privately owned businesses selling  luxury products are willing to award obscenely low prizes. How would you comment on someone requesting a logo or packaging for a soon to be released premium product targeted at a rich demographic, but who’s reluctant to offer more than a couple hundred bucks for it? How’s that supposed to attract talented and serious designers instead of young hobbyists or shady individuals willing to copy existing brand identities for a quick win. Also, if they cheapen on the marketing front, how will i know they don’t do the same while building their products?

I hope this will help put things in perspective and maybe save you of some unpleasant experiences while participating in design contests. If, on the other hand you’re thinking of holding one in the future, you might want to check this blog from time to time. Later on, I’ll be posting some tips for managing a contest so that you get the most out of the designers’ potential.

The clueless mistress and her older boyfriend

Despite what some might think upon reading the title of this post, it’s not about a troubled  love story gone wrong.  It’s actually about a type of people you should  stay away from, if they ever approach you for any design work. Their  inability to understand the requirements of a professional project or to emphasize with the needs of a designer makes them an unnecessary stress generator and a very unlikely source of profit.

These two were one of  my first clients and to date one of the most annoying people I’ve met. Needless to say,  at that time i was lacking  any experience whatsoever in dealing with problematic people, while also craving for any contract i could get my hands on to start building my portfolio. It turned out that both of these things would come back to bite me,  as  i was struggling to bring the project to fruition.  It was late in the summer when i first met them. The guy was a middle aged foreigner in search of greener pastures. Along with two older associates of his, came to my hometown to expand his existing business. In circumstances which escaped me nor interest me for that matter, he met this rather classless (to avoid the term skanky) young woman who would become his mistress. If i were to take a wild guess i would definitely go with the bar/club hypothesis as the stage of their first meeting.

She was the kind of person who would wear bright, poorly done make-up, shamelessly smoke one cigarette after the other without refraining from blowing smoke in your face while ostentatiously chewing gum. He would often have a pretty poorly maintained look, with the more than occasional unshaven beard and sweaty T-shirt complete with the same smoking habits. Just writing this down makes me wonder what in the world was i thinking going forward along such clients. However, i take it as a valuable lesson about things you should avoid in a business context.

Essentially, we were supposed to build them an online catalog for the several ranges of products they were distributing. Besides the occasional sweaty/smoky setup of our meetings or the half an hour to two hours wait, things went rather smoothly the first few times we’ve met before actually starting to work on the website. We weren’t even concerned about the somewhat low profit we were going to make from it, because we felt the project had potential and it would help us in the long run. However, things started to go sour just a week or two after that. Upon presenting them with the graphic templates, they started requesting all sorts of changes, some of which were not making any sense and I’m sure eventually worked against them. On top of that, they would keep requesting us to try and execute their suggestions just to have an idea  about how those looked like. After all, if your line of work is even touching on marketing services, then you should first take care that you can market yourself the best possible way. Otherwise, clients might think you’re just a smooth talker lacking substance or the ability to follow through.

As a designer you should avoid that at all costs. It is a complete lack of respect to your work and a clear proof that your client has no idea what they’re talking about or what they want. If ever in such a situation, then you’re at the mercy of random luck or some good old NLP. Because you’re working with virtual raw materials, people usually believe that rebuilding a concept or making unlimited revisions should be free. In other words, your time is worth in their minds less than that of a house painter or a carpenter. That’s not really motivating anyone to do more than they’re normally required.

A similar situation is when your clients insists on having more than one template to choose from. While that’s a somewhat decent request, it should also act as a signal that they’re clueless about what they believe to be representative for their product. It might also mean they’re unwilling to spend even the least amount of time to think about it or take the responsibility if their ideas turn out to look below standards. In other words, it’s so much easier to blame it on the designer as being lazy or not getting in touch with their muse.

While aesthetic elements are always subjective, you can’t say the same thing about programmed features. Just a week short from our planned deadline, we received a call that they wanted several changes to the website. If that had happened days after starting the project, this would have been fine, but having spent a lot of time implementing features (designing the database, building the admin, developing the interface etc) it came as a nasty surprise. Suddenly, we would have to rewrite consistent parts of the website. In such cases, again, we have to deal with different perceptions on the amount of work involved. More often than not, i hear people using the words “few quick changes” for what turns out to be a week’s worth of programming. It’s about the same as when they count the catalog section on a business website as just one page (heard it so many times).

Initially, we had made an unwritten promise to upload their products into the database, provided the number was reasonable. We felt it was a good way to test the website while using actual content. However, words have different meanings to different people. That’s how they ended up suggesting we could manage transferring several hundred items.  Needless to say, we grew tired of doing community service at around the 100th mark.

To finish on a high note, after all the extra work we had done for them, when it was time to get paid, they bargained till the last minute. I would normally understand that from a business savvy, calculated individual. However, these were the kind of people who would drop 100 dollars at a coffee shop or rent an office in a high priced residential part of the town. There’s no other way to read this than a complete lack of professionalism and respect. If i were to face the same scenario again i would probably say “pass” from the get go. A clearer brief than the one i had in place, a bigger check  and a firmer approach in dealing with their requests would help a lot. Also, i wouldn’t stray away from trying to explain the aspects they were unfamiliar with. While it doesn’t always work, there are  a lot of people capable and willing to know or learn more.

Yet, the point of all this is not to complain about this particular experience. After all it happened years ago and now i actually get a laugh just thinking about it. What’s important is to treat yourself with the amount of respect you expect from others. This means anything from following your gut instinct to having the patience and confidence to take on the projects which feel right for you. Above all else, you should treasure your time the most because it’s your best resource.

Lessons learned from working with my clients

As a designer working either on web or in print, dealing with clients can be truly frustrating at times. Without enough experience under your belt you won’t be able to spot those hopelessly troubled individuals you’re better off without, maintain the lines of communication open with the ones that don’t share your views or keep close those you’ve enjoyed working with. Just as everything in life, this type of jobs come and go, faster or slower, better or worse. Even more important than the money you’ve made or the stress you’ve incurred from them, are the lessons you’ve managed to learn in the process. Why? Simply because without firmly analyzing what went wrong or how you managed to make it happen so effortless, you’re either bound to repeat those often costly mistakes or scratch your (unfortunately) balding head wondering why things aren’t working as they used to.

During the last three years, I’ve managed to meet quite a lot of people, some of whom became my clients. At this point, i can honestly say that I’ve left most, if not all of the grief behind and i am truly grateful for the incredible amount of knowledge this social interactions provided me with. I had to deal with almost anything and anyone ranging from the proverbial Scrooges, the know it all narcissist to the adorable positive behavior of a knowledgeable and confident client.

Because all of these experiences can take their toll on you, it’s best to have an objective view of the whole process. This way, chances are you’ll be able to pinpoint the exact cause of the problems that inevitably arise  and come up with (better) solutions. As much as we like to think that design is all about the creative process, every newcomer will be surprise to realize just how much time it’s spent doing anything but actual work: writing emails, talking on the phone, meeting with your client face to face, doing paperwork etc. Depending on the project, you’ll find yourself communicating with your client about the same amount of time or more, than you’ll be  designing or coding. Even so, there are moments when it is tough to identify who’s fault it is when things start to go haywire. For this type of situations, try to see if things didn’t get lost in translation. You might be speaking the same language as your client but in reality, unless you’re working for a competitor, misunderstandings are more common than you think.

To avoid such cases, you should take it upon yourself to clear out any doubts. Unsure about what the client wants – why not ask again, maybe make them use an alternative means of explaining and have them agree at least in a written electronic document if not in an actual contractual document? For example, i was unpleasantly surprised to face similar issues when working with people who had a more than basic understanding of the whole process. That’s why i no longer build false hopes or assume anything.

As a rookie freelancer in graphic or web design, you might not have the luxury to impose working conditions and request a lot of things from your client. Often, they are either too busy or they simply don’t understand why they need your work, which can easily turn into lack of respect. Unless they’re willing to learn how design services can improve their business and eventually their bottom line, they’ll be just as happy to see you as they are seeing their dentist. Let alone they’ll feel better about spending 300 EUR on a fancy dinner than on a logo update. Not to mention the number of times when companies shamelessly and proudly (almost teary eyed) mentioned how they ditched their previous designers without paying because they didn’t like their efforts.

Still, you should always insist on writing a thorough brief as part of the contract.  Go into as much detail as you can without sounding foolish, but never think in terms of “it’s obvious” or “that’s the only way it can be done”. You’ll be stunned just how big the differences can be between your point of view and your client’s. Miss discussing those things beforehand and you risk having to rewrite consistent parts of your application or redesign over and over again at your own cost. When you lack a clear description of your project, reaching a successful outcome before deadline becomes somewhat of a random event.

Because design is very much a subjective endeavor, it doesn’t hurt if you are able to identify from the get go those elements which are easily assessable as opposed to those which are dependent on the whims and taste of the client. Think about working on a website worth several thousand euros with much of the effort going into programming. If for some reason you can’t agree on the graphics and failed to mention an actual value for this part of the project, the situation can get a bit complicated.

Of course, these are all things which will seem strange and time consuming the first couple of times you do them. However, as they become habitual, you’ll realize just how much of a time saver they really are. In the long run it means better profits and more piece of mind.

Because just one blog post can hardly be enough, I’ll go into more detail complete with actual examples in the near future. Instead of making your own mistakes, I’ll tell you about mine, what went wrong, why and how i feel about handling the situation if i were to do it all over again. Although i might sound harsh at times concerning my clients, I can understand they’re only human and have their own problems. If this proves to be a useful tool for them too, than that’s even better.