Submitting design via PM, what is your opinion about this?

I agree that all contests should be free and fair.. So, posting a website URL which is showing your contest entry(of course, watermarked) is always a good practice.. I don't see any reason for not posting the same in thread.. PMing the entry leads to suspicious behavior of both the submitting designer and the PM entry accepting CH.

Private messaging an entry should not be done unless it is mentioned by CH to submit entries via PM.. and if I am not wrong this is not a hidden bid/auction type website.. so it's totally wrong to submit via PM.. Most of you have came across some contests where winner is the same person who is CH itself and after getting lots of quality entries he just used to say I chose some XYZ which is his own second DP username.. And this thing really annoys us all..

 

This is a good thread. Glad to see that most here agree that all entries should be posted in the contest.

 

If the designer didn't win the contest, he could use the design in another one, keeping it unique and unseen.

 

Wrong...

A designer Owns ALL rights to their design & by LAW can enter it as much as they want until sold & rights are transferred to the buyer. You don't need to hide it to own it. Once rights are transferred the designer no longer owns it & can NOT use it anymore.

The problem is the designers that didn't create the logo from scratch & used stock images (Which MOST have non-commercial use terms stipulated - a logo is commercial). This type of work results in lawsuits & other complications down the road for the CH & the designer.

The best policy is to do it right & don't use any elements of others designs unless the CH specifically requests it. Even then one may not want to depending on the requests legality.

Everyone has an excuse as to why they want to be secretive. At the end of the day, hiding what should already be your copyright, is just mischievous. I'll point out these simple rules of thumb once again:

 

What's WRONG about what I wrote? you don't ever refer to what I've written!
I do know the designer owns full rights.
about creating the logo from scratch - THAT ALL WHAT DESIGN IS ABOUT.

Sometimes I prefer to pm the CH, if I won't win I'm keeping my design unique and unseen.
that way when I enter another contest I can participate with my pre made design.
my point is I don't want the contest holder think that I didn't work "Hard enough" and made the design earlier

That's my point of view no need to argue with that.

 

If you already own all the rights to it & know you can reuse it till sold, why Hide it at all? Why not conduct business out in the open as professionally as possible to eliminate discussions like this one?

If I own something, I'm not afraid to show it. matter of fact, I've sold designs right here off DP that were NOT selected as a winner in one contest to other members that saw the designs in the contests & contacted me making an offer since they saw it already lost. This is but one of many benefits of posting publicly (In a PUBLIC forum).

 

I agree but that is not my point.
most of the times I do post the logo on the forums.
BUT
If you're coming up with a superb logo/Header,Web template
Imagine not winning several times,
and then all the designers and CH see you keep posting on and on that logo in another contests.
Your creation losses it's value because everyone is so familiar with that.

BTW - saw this happening to some fellow designers here who came up with brilliant ideas.

 

It only loses value to those that don't understand you own all the rights to it. All the designers that have been around a while can respect your ownership & won't knock you for it. it's infringements that are knocked & frowned upon.

The way I see it is that if a newbie designer has an issue with me posting what I own a few times till it's sold, then they are one more step closer to learning some of the techniques used by designers to generate income. Archiving unsold designs is something professional designers have been doing since artistic talent was first recognized. Heck, I have a 250 GB external HD with over 195+ GB of design concepts archived on it that didn't sell for the past 3 years.

Occasionally, I re-submit one. Once it sells, I remove it from my archive & put it on a client CD to be filed (In case that client returns for more work in the future or loses their master files)

We all have a different way of doing things & I can see what you are trying to accomplish, it's just something that's become frowned upon after years of bad experiences with trying to conduct private business while 20 others are doing it publicly.

 

Good point also sir
thanks for sharing your point of view, made me think.
nice talking to you!
all the best

 

It is the prime necessity to keep the good stuff secured.

 

Sadly too many pm entries tend to be stolen / copyright protected designs others own already which puts the contest holder at risk of being sued. I'm sure you can understand how upset legitimate designers get when they spend countless hours designing just for someone else to win that spent 5 minutes stealing someone elses work and trying to pass it off as their own. Granted not all pm entries are copyright violations, but a large majority are, which is sad.

At the end of the day, the simple answer is that keeping all design entries visible to all participants helps protect the contest holder from being scammed and or sued. As other designers WILL point out copyright infringements

Eric Lyon