# Some heads up for Gfx designers regarding entering contests.

I'm sure you've seen the logo/template making contests in this forum; and heck you might have even participated in one - you'd know what I'm talking about. This post is just to give the designers on this forum some heads up.

The main purpose of design contests are to provide the contest starter an inexpensive medium to gain otherwise expensive design services. i.e. typically, professional logo design services are charged at $125 an hour. So when you spend 2 hours or more doing an elaborate design for a $30 contest; whilst at the same time competing against countless other designers; you've got to ask yourself - is it really worth your time?

I suppose a lot of you at this point will argue something along the lines of: "I do graphics design for fun as a hobby" which is fine; but there are misguided individuals out there who see these contests as an good way to earn some money online.

The matter of fact is; if you see graphics as mostly a hobby; chances are you're not very good at it - and won't usually get picked as a winner.

If however, you DO have some artistic flair and are good at what you're making; chances are; there is someone better unless you're extremely talented but either way; its time that could be used elsewhere (i.e. higher paying projects). You see; it's really a lose-lose situation.

You have to really take a step back, look at your own work and ask yourself the question:

"Is the small amount of money really deserving for number of hours I put into a design; given the vast number of competitors and revisions that's necessary to pick a winner?"

I'm sure there are a few out there who will try to pick my brains - feel free; we're all entitled to our opinions.

Cheers.

 

Yeah but I didnt get the purpose of this thread mate.

 

I think the point of his thread is blatently obvious. He wants to incite a response to his arguement, and I think he has a few valid points.

I have entered a couple of comps in the past and even posted one for a mate, but only because I had little else to do and I also liked the subject matter of the comp, not in any way did I think "oooh that $75 will come in handy if I win" because where I work I earn that in less than 2 hours.

But at the end of the day, from my point of view, I think there are individuals here that are posting competitions expecting professional results from people who do this as a hobby or from people who are maybe from economically challenged countries who find that maybe $50 is a good day or twos pay.

I really hate it when people post the comps and then just slag off some of the entries as simply rubbish when they offer such small amounts as prizes, it just wastes peoples time.

There are many positives and negatives from these competitions and I hope that this thread will be allowed to display the arguements of other users on the subject.

 

I agree to all the contest runners out there raise your prices. haha

 

I agree with this thread as it speaks a great deal of sense. I used to enter a lot of competitions on here and indeed got a little bit addicted to it. I have been a designer on and off for a while now and have a lot of repeat and recurring clients on my books. The problem was I was spending too much time on stuff i knew i probably wouldn't win. I have won about 20 contests on here and it's always done to the fun factor, not the money. I earn a good living with my company and like the person above said it's never about needing the 50 bucks or whatever.

I also agree with the fact that too many people on this forum who start the contests are taking advantage of people in developing countries who will work their asses off for $30 prizes. It's unfair. If you offer such a low prize, you all going to be lucky if you get good quality entries and your attitude to the entries submitted should reflect this.

 

i am agree with you dave. at first i join contest cause of money (i come from poor country too) but in lately i decide not to join the comtest with 2 reasons : a. the prize is low, you can see lately price are average only 20-30 and the extremly prize for 5$. b. the contest with no winner or the contest holder suddently leave the contest without any info. so now i prefer looking money from design service besides go in contest which is dont know who is the winner before ended time. at last this thread is not the only one because there is another thread like this too. thx.

 

You have a point there ye zero.... For me personally, Joining contests is fun and addictive. It's not 'always' about the money. I'm sure most people here work full-time, I join some of the contests here coz i consider it as a challenge & also I'm practicing my skills in Adobe Illustrator. There was one time i spent around 3 hours creating and revising logos for a $5 win just for the fun of it. I apply what i learn here to my job as a designer, I observe people's taste in my design, and if they're not interested, I try to make it better; and also it feels great whenever i see my logos on websites knowing many people see and appreciate them. It's an achievement!

 

woops ditto on daveyboy's post

I participate on DP's contest thread for three reasons
- enhance my skills (some sort of a training ground)
- expand my network (friends/ clients etc)
- for fun & extra money (hmm that's four, hehe)

But since the Prices dropped lower than $30. I see it as a disrespect to
the designer's talent however bad or great their works are.
Im pretty sure the winning entry goes through a number of revisions as well,
which devaluates the effort over money and fun over exhaustion.

- Contest aged more than 3 days (1 more day it better be off on a long neck bottle and placed on a cellar)
- Rude CH's (Remember you havent paid anyone yet, and better yet the participants are not your employees to begin with, so please play fair, be nice and post a feedback)
- Stolen Ideas/ Works - unfair participants who copy other's idea and CH's use of UNPAID Works. Whatever the participant's reasons of joining (fun/ money/ past time) you dont have the right to steal their work.
- I know it's someone's choice to join $5,$10,$15 contest but dont expect award winning ideas and works, being rude to the artists (beginner or just need the iTrader) is not worth the try. This goes again to the contest holders.
- Abandoned threads/ iTraders, spam thread and too good to be true contests, think, if this should happen to your site/ business/ you as an individual, would you be happy?

With all that being said, I still visit this thread to support, help in some way and participate at times when I feel like it.

This thread is like a gold mine.
Pirates corrupt it for rhum.
Explorers claim it for fun.

Ayt, back to work!

sideline

 

Yeah I agree with Jahid...all of us have a point and all of us have a different view when it comes to what's worth it or not. For me "worth it" is something that you earn because you want it and not because just for the prize of it...It's something that makes you an individual who is capable of doing extraordinary things and not just merely making an extraordinary amount of money.

Having the whole world to see your skill is one of those things, which is one that we have to be thankful for those people who held competitions/ contests even for a small amount of money. Another thing is that if you feel that the price for the contest is not enough then don't join...that should be an obvious choice especially if you will have to spend 3-4 hours for $20 but sometimes some designers here in DP just do their entry in less than an hour (which is sometimes very obvious that they're using some templates) and will win. For these kind of dishonest designers then I think $20 will be worth their time. That's why most of us think that the contest price is not worth it because there are some smart (not in a good way) designers who know how to maximize their resources (not in a good way too). If everyone will only work fair and square then even a single dollar will be worth it for a fun, creative contest...We are all artists guys...live on to your profession...make everyone feel that these contests are worth our time!!!

For the contest holders, Please read our views and consider making the contests a more fun way for us to enjoy and share our creative thoughts...THAT's WHY THIS IS CALLED DIGITAL POINT AND NOT MONETARY POINT!!! ... TO ALL DESIGNERS, KEEP IMPROVING OURSELVES AND LET'S HAVE A CREATIVE HONEST CONTESTS SO THAT WE CAN FEEL THE WORTH OF OUR EFFORTS...LIVE WITH THE NAME OF THE SITE...

 

Guys, i completely agree with all of the above. Each side of the story has its own truths. The way i see it is that this place is great for people who have some design skills and wanna spend some time, have fun, contest with others and make some money of course.

As far as the professional members are concerned i agree that such low prices is by no means an incentive for you not even to bother starting up photoshop (if you ever shut it down ). But these contests are not only for professionals. Some of them are suitable for people who are doing it for the fun of it or for any other fun-related reasons (pocket money included).

Today i started a contest for a 1 page web site with less than 100 words on it and a logo. The total prize was 40$. Nobody cared. Some of you in here have already commented on that price being too low. I would have been happy with a decent, simple effort. Am i an idiot? Well i could have spent 15-25$ to buy a ready made template for what i needed. But instead i preferred to pour the money into here. Maybe a bad decision? Who knows?

Being the internet i would imagine that there would be at least some (not necessary professionals) people interested.

For those of you who feel sick about the majority of budget ranges keeping below 50$-100$ i am sure there exist similar forums of such a prestige and level (if you dont know ask me and i will tell you where).

I do share your concerns however i feel that moaning about it completely defeats the purpose of a contest being a contest. If the price is too low, dont compete. If you feel that you would like to compete but for more money then kindly suggest that the budget be raised. i am sure when you do so, the person who runs the contest will be tempted to do so if he seems a single posting from some of the quality designers in here.

But plz, by no means dont negatively comment the budgets of the contests. It completely spoils the fun of it.

Keep up the good work everyone !

 

It's not so much the contest prizes that annoy me, it's the fact that the same people who compete in the contests will then go and start up a thread in design services forum, offering logos, banners etc. for $5. A lot of people do know that you get what you pay for and everything and oftentimes won't even entertain these people's threads. The problem is that it is dragging prices down in the industry as a whole, at least in online communities etc. The money I make from my business hasn't been affected by this but i'm sure a lot of people who make all of their money from clients on DP etc. will feel it heavily.

Some people wanted a limit on the minimum prize amount for contests, but this isn't something I agree with. I have made two contests on this forum for cartoon characters since I cannot draw these myself - one for 40 bucks and one for 50. This is because it was for a client and that was their own budget for it, there was no way I was going to lose money just to offer more on DP.

I think the most sensible thing that's been said on this thread is by Kybernetes above, he said if the price is too low, dont compete which is a rule i've stuck to for a few months now, some of you may have noticed my absence apart from on a few template design contests, where the prize is worth it to me.

 

I started entering contests here in July, and since then the talent has diminished extensively, to the point where i'm now viewing contests, and actually laughing aloud at how many logo's are now being made on downloaded logo-creating tools, that make them automatically when you tell it what to write, or the images that are downloaded straight off google and pasted onto some crappy text.

I've won quite a lot of contests on here, and i'll never spend more than 20 minutes on a design, if i exceed 20 mins then i'll 'x' the design without saving and find another contest to enter. People have got to set boundaries for themselves, i can't see how people can spend HOURS on a design for sometimes as little as a $5 reward. $5 wouldn't even buy my dinner at school every day. These contests and their holders should be LAUGHED AT in my opinion. Fair enough, people may not have a lot of cash, but if you can't spare more than £2.50 for a logo, then you should leave the logo space blank on your site, or just ask people to do it in return for a favor rather than insulting them by giving them such a small amount.

That is my opinion, Don't get addicted, don't enter for $5, don't do drugs, etc etc

 

I never 'x' any of my work Never know when you might wanna come back to it or re-use it!

 

I tend to just re-use anything that hasn't won a contest already that i have saved... My view is, that if i haven't got an idea at least half perfected within about 20 mins, then i'm never gonna get it done. So to save myself the stress of wasted time, i'll just leave it haha

 

I usually enter contest since i'm at school and I don't have hundreds of hours to spare.

The contests I usually enter take me only about 30mins ish to complete any longer and I don't bother. I usually don't enter contest where they want million of things to be done. I don't have the time. I usually enter contests that are short since there is more of a chance for me to win.

 

spENO: "i can't see how people can spend HOURS on a design for sometimes as little as a $5 reward."

I can even do it for free if i want to, I know some people already did it. Like i said, it's not about the money.

 

If you feel the prize is too little, don't enter. There are quite a few talented designers on Digital Point who do quality logos at $5.00 or $10.00 each; for them, the chance to win $15 is probably worth it; for you it may not be so. So, once again: If you feel the prize is too little, don't enter. Don't see the problem here at all

 

yeah, I totally agree with Jahid...most of the time doing free works will lead you to somebody who can be a big part of your future...

FELLOW DESIGNERS and To SPENO: IN ARTS, NO TIME IS WASTED IF YOU LOVE WHAT YOU ARE DOING and IF YOU ADMIRE YOUR WORKS...even those artworks that was rejected by customers are worth keeping for...if you're only "an artist for the money" then the works that you're doing are not worthy to be called as an ART or as a GRAPHIC at all...learn how to appreciate the beauty of your creations not by merely seeing it's monetary value but by keeping it as a part of you and your personality.

 

Amen to that!

 

I play football (soccer) all day everyday, thats my living, thats my art... Graphic design to me, is for the money, i know im good at it, and i know i'll win contests, so i'm just using my skill to gain some extra Christmas money. Im only proud of a design if it wins, if it doesn't then to me it was a waste of time, because no money came out the end of it.

Don't get me wrong, i love working on photoshop, but no-one can tell me, that when they've worked for hours on one designed, then numerous revisions for the contest holder, then the contest holder chooses another design, that you're happy as a designer that you at least tried? i'd be pissed off big time.

to Designfxpro, i am a designer for the money, and still my designs that ive sold (25 of them/another 20 via msn) are called Art/Graphics, as the buyer likes what im doing. The buyers business is the buy what he likes, my business is to design something he likes, in return for cash. I'm short of cash every month due to being at school still, trying to run a car, paying the car insurance, phone bills, food etc etc, so don't be offended when i tell people not to enter the $5 contests. I'd rather enter one $50 contest and win it hands down, than have to pull 10 shoddy $5 designs out of the bag to make the same amount of cash. The bigger contests attract the bigger designers. I didn't start at the bottom in here, i came straight in and entered the big contests, if you've got it, you've got it, no point in shying away from the fact you've got talent so others won't feel insecure around you is there?

You might feel im stubborn/stuck up my own arse/not a real designer, but that ^^^^ is just how i feel about this.