Need a logo? Go to Design Outpost

28
Apr5

I know I said I’ve cut down on reading blogs and forums to free up more time towards working on my software project. And I have. But today, I discovered a site where I spent the better part of an hour pouring through: Design Outpost. It is a forum based site, but the forums are for people looking for a graphic designer to custom design a company logo or a website template for them. And the whole design process takes place right in the forums.

A customer pays a fee to post their logo design wants and needs in the forum. And designers respond with designs right in the forum. A few cycles of feedback and re-design take place, again right in the forum for all to witness. And finally, the customer decides on a designer to work with and the designer gets the fee, and I’m sure the website owners get a cut or something, but I didn’t look into the details of that.

Instead, I just marveled at the talented designers bidding for the customer’s work. And I especially liked seeing how the designs evolved based on the customer’s feedback. I’m not only in awe of the graphic designs I saw there, but also how I get to see the entire process out in the open. When I need a professionally designed logo in the future, Design Outpost is one of the first places I will consider.

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5 Comments

James
12:33 am on April 29th, 2005
Wow, excellent website. Exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

How did you hear of it?
Eric
8:52 am on April 29th, 2005
I came across this during my once-or-twice-a-week blogs/forums reading time, at the Joel On Software forums.
:)
1:13 pm on April 30th, 2005
Dawg! Dude! Keep on writing. I will be reading. I work 6:00 – 2:30 myself. So I know exactly what you are talking about. I have started an ISV. I pray it gets traction. I hold in my hand my first paycheck from online sales. It is for a whopping $31. Well, it’s a start I guess.

Best of luck to you!
Dan
10:14 am on October 12th, 2005
I just came across your blog in a google search for ‘Design Outpost’– as a professional graphic designer, I am interested in what the popular response is to Design Outpost’s business model and came across your comments. I am glad you find the creative process interesting to watch, and that designoutpost.com gave you some insight into how this works– for this, I suppose the site is useful. Understand, however, that while this ‘bake off’ approach is great for clients (i.e., lots of people do work, only winning designer gets paid), it’s terrible for designers and unfortunate – misguided, really- that designers are willing to work in this format. One would never ask a group of architects to draft competing plans for one’s house and only pay the winning designer. Somehow, graphic design is held in low enough esteem (among both clients and designers), though, that this approach exists for web sites, logos, etc. I don’t blame businesses for taking advantage of this system as it exists, but self-respecting designers should never, ever agree to work under this sort of arrangement.
GrafxExtreme.com
9:25 pm on December 12th, 2006
As a graphic designer I can appreciate how the client may enjoy watching the evolement of their project. The business model reminds me of an HGTV show where three designers must compete on a project and give their ideas prior to getting the job.

Sounds good in theory, but having clients who were trying to play one graphic designer off the other I find that the real loser is the client. They forget they want the graphics and become too involved in getting the graphic designer to do more than what they’re willing to pay for.

Personally, I don’t compete at that level. Most of my clients are by word of mouth. I find that clients who want cheap usually take more time and effort than those who are willing to pay for quality. Just makes more sense to attract clients who appreciate quality and are willing to pay for it.

GrafxExtreme.com

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