Outsourcing Design and Spec Work

I’ve played around with the idea of outsourcing before. And I’m still up in the air about it. I mean it’s great for getting work done cheap. And if you have very repetitive tasks (like data entry), outsourcing is great. But can you really outsource creativity? Well, the 99Designs folks are betting on it.

I recently put together a contest on 99Designs to have my company logo designed (you can vote for your favorites below)

The entire process was actually really helpful in helping me articulate what I was looking for. Over the course of 1 week, I ended up getting 95 designs from over 24 designers. As a business owner, I loved seeing the variety of designs coming in for such a low price ($250). I also loved being able to interact with the designers directly. Most of them were very responsive, professional, and great to work with. However, only 1 of them will end up getting paid. While it’s great for me to get so many concepts and revisions, I don’t feel good about it. Spec Work (work done for free with the hope of getting paid, for the client’s speculation) is simply not a viable long term business practice, but it definitely has its advantages.

Below is a really interesting debate about Spec Work – watch it

Many people are under the belief that no self respecting designer would do spec work, or participate on sites like 99designs or Crowdspring. That’s bullshit – and it’s an arrogant perspective. Personally, I’ve participated in spec work. It’s called interning. But more to the point, I’m pretty happy with the concepts I’ve received so far. One of the designers I received concepts from had worked for Discovery Channel. People who say that you can’t find pros on these kinds of sites are mistaken. Could I have done better if I paid more money? Maybe. But I wouldn’t have gotten 95 designs in 1 week for $250. Then again, the American mantra of more is better does not always apply in the creative field.

There are alternatives. If you don’t want to participate in the industry of spec work, don’t participate in the machine of capitalism. For those looking for less drastic measures, check out Brandstack. You can read a bit more about Brandstack here : http://mashable.com/2010/04/02/brandstack/.

For more on Spec Work, check out these Links :

• AIGA’s Position on Spec Work
• Why I hate CrowdSpring
• Jeffrey Zeldman on why Spec Work is bad : http://www.zeldman.com/2007/08/14/dont-design-on-spec/
• NO!SPEC – to educate the public about spec work

Would you participate in Spec Work (either as a creative or as a client)? Is Spec Work Evil? Let us know what you think!

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