Holding Off on the Design Firm Deathwatch

After carefully studying the business case for and value proposition of crowdsourcing for corporate design requirements, my initial reaction was this might be the end for creative services and graphics firms.

Six weeks later I'm now through an initial project with Chicago-based Crowdspring and pleased with the result.  The creative option we selected is professional, of the highest quality and right in step with the stated objectives of the project.

However, I am not quite ready to sign a death certificate for design shops.

That's because the crowdsourcing process has inherent flaws that limit its appropriateness for complex creative and design assignments, such as brand advertising campaigns and product packaging.

Here are a couple of observations:

1.  Make the creative brief as clear and concise as possible.  I've spent the better part of 15 years providing direction to creatives, so I felt confident in my ability to define our expectations for the assignment.

I missed the mark as nearly half of the submitted design options failed to follow the basic parameters of the project.  Was my brief unclear?  Or did a fair number of the creatives simply neglect to review it?

2.  Even with clarity in project direction, expect only a third of the proposed creative designs to be viable options.  For this reason, it's imperative that a high number of creatives sign on to participate in the project.  For our effort, we had 72 designs formally submitted for our review.


3.  Be prepared to provide feedback to submitted creative.  Sounds basic enough and it's important part of the crowdsourcing process as it leads to a more polished finished product.  It helps motivate the designers to deliver their best work. 

Yet, when there are more than 70 design options to review it can be overwhelming.  Plus, Crowdspring was quick to fire off a reminder note whenever a day passed without messaging provided to the creatives.

Ultimately, I do believe crowdsourcing will steal away a significant number of assignments that have historically been earmarked for creative shops.

When the stakes with a project are high because of budget invested and/or desired outcome, an ad agency, creative firm or graphic designer remains the way to go.  Crowdsourcing fails to deliver that all important face-to-face interaction and collaboration.

Creative Crowdsourcing with Crowdspring

The dynamic and near real-time requirements of today's socially-engaged world has shortened the shelf-life of the corporate Web site.

This presents quite a challenge for small businesses that are constrained by the reality of limited resources.  It's simply not economically feasible to retain a creative and graphics team on-site or on-call to ensure the corporate Web site remains fresh and relevant in its presentation.

Plus, its inappropriate for a Web 2.0/social media site -- such as an executive blog, Facebook fan page or LinkedIn profile -- to pull double duty as a company's online presentation. 

That's due to audience expectations.  For instance, when a visitor arrives at this blog or connects with me on Twitter there is an understanding that its content will have a thought leadership orientation -- best practices, lessons learned, trend evaluation, etc.

In comparison, visitors to Strategic Communications Group's (Strategic) corporate site recognize that its dedicated to our competencies, track record and executive staff.  The site's mission is to support the sales cycle by validating our credentials and leadership.

This past week I stepped into the world of crowdsourcing.  After evaluating a couple of options, I selected Crowdspring out of Chicago as the creative community to tackle a redesign of Strategic's corporate site.

Crowdspring offers an easy-to-follow process to engage its stable of freelance creative designers, as well as a guarantee of quality in the final delivered product.  In fact, I've already received notice from nearly two dozen designers who are taking on the assignment.

Yes...the price for creative design and layout is dramatically less than what a traditional design shop charges.  However, equally intriguing is the possibilities that come with tapping a collection of qualified and experienced minds for counsel and ideas.

You can view the public portion of our Crowdspring creative brief here.  I'll keep you posted on how this project comes together.