Apt Studio, a design and marketing consultancy, is running a contest for the cover of Jeff Howe’s (WIRED staff writer) new book, Crowdsourcing.
Throw your submissions on Flickr and send them over to the official site: Crowdsourcing.co.uk.
The winning entrant will be presented with a signed first edition of the title and framed artwork along with a cash prize of £500 (That’s just under a $1000, for us Yanks.)
Oh dear I just got the joke, slow on the uptake me. Crowdsourcing the cover design of a book about crowdsourcing. Of course. The pushpins are nice, not sure I understand the goldfish in the lightbulb…
Are they really asking for individual’s to submit book designs for free. I’m a little upset about how these competitions devalue designers (and seem to be popping up everywhere). It’s a good idea for the book, but maybe they could pay for their “Crowdsource”, but perhaps that approach is bad business.
Note: It’s a competition. A friendly way for a bunch of people to have a crack at a book about the very subject of sourcing work typically done by an employee.
This is NOT spec work, and there is a prize payment.
This competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over who is a resident of the UK or the Republic of Ireland except for employees of The Random House Group Limited (the promoter), its subsidiary companies, their families and any other company connected with the competition.
So wikipedia is pure spec work? Your entries into IMDB? What about the very useful Amazon Mechanical Turk? Obviously design takes some time, but I think for the sake of the project it makes sense to crowd-source the cover. Tempest in a teapot.
Like spec work (which it is), it’s mostly likely doomed to get a mediocre result. They can’t expect covers with a great deal of depth if there’s no way the designers can read the book. It’s just going to encourage “first idea” after “first idea”. I expect a lot of blocks, dots, static, simulated complexity, and blurry photos of people on streets.
I’m curious to see if the winner will actually stand out in the crowd (excuse the pun).
Geez. Take a crack at it and have some fun if you have the time. To trash this competition and the result of it is just stagnant and shows little enthusiasm and sportsmanship. This is a fun competition associated with a book on the very topic. The AIGA offers guidelines and general rules and ethical practices that are to the benefit of the industry as a whole. I do not see this fun little competition as a threat to that.
You have a chance to show your solution to a tough concept. That solution, if chosen, will stand as an example and testament to crowdsourcing. If it’s a really striking design, it will have added another beautiful and worthy book to the world. Is that really that bad?
Ian, I don’t know about you, but for me, design is not a hobby: it’s how I make a living. If all I want is to have fun (and not get paid) I can think of much better things to do than taking “a crack” at this brief—playing with my son, for instance. If that means that I’m “stagnant” and that I show “little enthusiasm and sportsmanship,” so be it. As long as my clients and peers think I’m okay, I can live with that.
“You have a chance to show your solution to a tough concept…if it’s a really striking design, it will have added another beautiful and worthy book to the world. Is that really that bad?”
It’s not bad—it’s great. That’s why you should get paid for it—and not just if the crowd chooses your work.
Frankly, I’m very disappointed in Angus Hyland and Patrick Burgoyne for taking part in this. They should know better.
True. Design for me is my work, my hobby (how can it not be) and how I make a living—oh, and I still have plenty of time to play with my son. Thanks for the advice.
If we have been at this for a while, certain things come to us naturally. The fact that there is some cash prize attached to this and that for some people, potentially having a Randomhouse book under their belt sounds pretty good—this is not that awful of a proposition Jose.
I think to judge designers on their contribution to a competition is not healthy. We are all colleagues. We make choices because we all approach this work in a different light. Some take it seriously to the grave, other started off doing design as a hobby and find a light-hearted pleasure in doing it as you would doodling or painting or going on a long bike ride. Point is that all this talk of spec is sort of silly. This design competition offers more than a creative brief. The author has a blog. The rules are in place, and the payment is there. Perhaps it is not a 50% downpayment (or whatever your standard is), but it is a payment. And just as any job can be pulled and terminated this design competition offers no more security than any other project, but it does not degrade the designer and his/her position in the industry either.
Anyway, we are all entitled to our opinions. And as long as I am happy and productive—I can’t care less what my peers think—and my clients would never judge me the way my peers do in reference to this competition.
1) I didn’t mean to give you advice about how you spend your free time. The statement about playing with my son was about my own re-evaluation of priorities (being a new dad and all)—it was not meant as a dig. And trust me, I give this profession a lot of my free time (google my name and AIGA, if you’re curious). Just because someone thinks that participating in this competition is a bad idea doesn’t mean that they’re lacking in enthusiasm and sportsmanship.
2) I would not presume to judge anyone’s character because of their involvement with this competition. I can, however, be disappointed at their behavior, particularly when said designers are industry leaders. If people like Angus Hyland think it’s okay to work on spec, it weakens the case for the rest of us.
3) I will grant you that designing in “glamour” industries such as book publishing presents a tricky case when it comes to spec work. It’s a tough market to break into, even for established designers, and you can make a case for doing free work to get attention. (In fact, I got my break by volunteering to design the poster for a writer’s conference, which was noticed by an editor at Penguin). Nevertheless, it’s one thing to, say, redesign a classic for your portfolio; it’s a different thing give away your time, talent, and effort to create value for a multinational corporation like Random House.
4) You can’ t seriously compare the chance your are taking by entering this competition with the risk of getting your project terminated in a standard designer/client relationship.
I wouldn’t argue that this one competition will do irreparable harm to the design industry, and I would certainly not question the intentions of the organizers. It is, however, part of a general trend that is simply not sustainable in our field (as opposed to architecture or advertising).
Ian, feel free to email me if you want to keep this conversation going.
I see that some of the concepts have been ‘withdrawn by entrant’ – good for them. It seems the faulty idea of spec work is taking a long time dying, so I would like to take a whack against it too.
Speculative contests perpetuate the idea that this is the way design gets done. A sound design process is much more rigorous. Designers should not brand themselves as hobbyists who just throw ideas at the wall to see if it sticks.
Looking at my Graphic Artists Guild Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, 12th Edition, I see that the average going rate for a cover design is $1,500–2,500 for one concept with a kill fee of 50% for rejected concepts. Rights licensed first edition only. So the terms from the Random House requiring all commercial rights are quite stingy indeed.
Now about Mr. Nieto’s point number 3, I question why, if the book design field is difficult to break into, would someone start off on the wrong foot by submitting spec work. He or she would just position themselves as a weak novice pushover. Better to do your homework on the business end and negotiate a contract based on good industry practice which yields good value for both sides.
As Matthew Jordan says “Hate yourself? Then design for free!”
hmmm. Jose was replying to me. I have a different idea of this. while I do agree that there is a lot more to the process and that it’s more than a hobby, I also feel that times are a changing. What the ethics guide says and what we all do in our professional practice is a matter of necessity. In a day and age where anyone can buy a program and “take a crack” at a cover for a competition by a big publisher for an up coming hot-seller—I feel there is an opportunity for certain people to show the difference between good design and bad design. Between a professional doing the work, and a beginner.
My point is that there are people who are viewing this competition as a means to an end: If my cover gets chosen, I may have future opportunities to work with this publisher more often. That may, or may not be true, but it is a thought.
I know, that personally, and this may or may not be due to the quality of my work, that I could never get away with presenting one concept with limited right for $1500, let alone $2500. In fact, because I know that most people will not pay this much, I offer a minimum of 3 concepts for that rate and that usually works and I feel it is fair. If I lived 30 years ago, and was doing paste up mechanicals and had to really go out of my way to get a comp ready, I would perhaps think differently. See my point. Times are changing and it begs to be asked weather we are still going to be successful if we govern ourselves by the same ethics and rules as our grand masters did. It’s worthy to ask, instead of getting all up in arms about it.
Now, James, if you would be so kind as to give me a sample of what such a well researched business proposition may look like for trying to do work for Randomhouse? As far as I know, these folks negotiate the contracts, not us.
I would never design for free. I would design however, with the prospect of breaking into a working relationship with a great publisher when I see the opportunity is being offered. I’m just saying…
Apt Studio, a design and marketing consultancy, is running a contest for the cover of Jeff Howe’s (WIRED staff writer) new book, Crowdsourcing.
Throw your submissions on Flickr and send them over to the official site: Crowdsourcing.co.uk.
The winning entrant will be presented with a signed first edition of the title and framed artwork along with a cash prize of £500 (That’s just under a $1000, for us Yanks.)
Official rules & such can be found here.
(So far we like Ace Jet 170’s submission best.)
— Ben Pieratt, 2008-01-09 08:47:00
This is pretty weak for a business book.
At least Randomhouse is hanging a carrot over our heads.
— Ian Shimkoviak, 2008-01-09 11:07:00
If it weren’t for Ace Jet 170’s submission I would enter.
— Andrea Guinn, 2008-01-09 11:55:00
Oh dear I just got the joke, slow on the uptake me. Crowdsourcing the cover design of a book about crowdsourcing. Of course. The pushpins are nice, not sure I understand the goldfish in the lightbulb…
— Nick, 2008-01-09 16:41:00
I agree with Andrea. This is nice.
— Dave, 2008-01-10 08:46:00
Are they really asking for individual’s to submit book designs for free. I’m a little upset about how these competitions devalue designers (and seem to be popping up everywhere). It’s a good idea for the book, but maybe they could pay for their “Crowdsource”, but perhaps that approach is bad business.
— JRG, 2008-01-10 08:55:00
Note: It’s a competition. A friendly way for a bunch of people to have a crack at a book about the very subject of sourcing work typically done by an employee.
This is NOT spec work, and there is a prize payment.
— Ian Shimkoviak, 2008-01-10 09:54:00
How is this not spec work?
— JRG, 2008-01-10 09:58:00
this is totally spec work, and I find it insulting as a jacket designer. wasnt there recently another post for one of these “competitions”?
— paul, 2008-01-10 10:47:00
Payment if they pick it. Which is spec work.
— gk, 2008-01-10 12:03:00
Exactly. It’s spec work.
— chris, 2008-01-10 15:03:00
And UK / Ireland spec work at that …
This competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over who is a resident of the UK or the Republic of Ireland except for employees of The Random House Group Limited (the promoter), its subsidiary companies, their families and any other company connected with the competition.
— Auguste, 2008-01-11 05:15:00
So wikipedia is pure spec work? Your entries into IMDB? What about the very useful Amazon Mechanical Turk? Obviously design takes some time, but I think for the sake of the project it makes sense to crowd-source the cover. Tempest in a teapot.
— Chris Papasadero / Fwis, 2008-01-11 20:03:00
A Million Little Pieces light.
— C Wys, 2008-01-12 18:26:00
It’s spec work.
— rek, 2008-01-12 19:03:00
Like spec work (which it is), it’s mostly likely doomed to get a mediocre result. They can’t expect covers with a great deal of depth if there’s no way the designers can read the book. It’s just going to encourage “first idea” after “first idea”. I expect a lot of blocks, dots, static, simulated complexity, and blurry photos of people on streets.
I’m curious to see if the winner will actually stand out in the crowd (excuse the pun).
— JT Helms, 2008-01-13 21:03:00
…but forgot to mention, Ace Jet does take the cake so far for visual appeal. Looks good.
— JT Helms, 2008-01-13 21:05:00
conceptually interesting.
using helvetica to represent “the future of business” is rather tongue in cheek.
...too bad it’s SPEC.
— scott, 2008-01-16 10:38:00
Spec work. The AIGA and the GDC (Canada) do not allow their professional designers to partake in contests because they are spec work.
— Don E., 2008-01-16 15:39:00
Geez. Take a crack at it and have some fun if you have the time. To trash this competition and the result of it is just stagnant and shows little enthusiasm and sportsmanship. This is a fun competition associated with a book on the very topic. The AIGA offers guidelines and general rules and ethical practices that are to the benefit of the industry as a whole. I do not see this fun little competition as a threat to that.
You have a chance to show your solution to a tough concept. That solution, if chosen, will stand as an example and testament to crowdsourcing. If it’s a really striking design, it will have added another beautiful and worthy book to the world. Is that really that bad?
— Ian Shimkoviak, 2008-01-16 17:45:00
Ian, I don’t know about you, but for me, design is not a hobby: it’s how I make a living. If all I want is to have fun (and not get paid) I can think of much better things to do than taking “a crack” at this brief—playing with my son, for instance. If that means that I’m “stagnant” and that I show “little enthusiasm and sportsmanship,” so be it. As long as my clients and peers think I’m okay, I can live with that.
“You have a chance to show your solution to a tough concept…if it’s a really striking design, it will have added another beautiful and worthy book to the world. Is that really that bad?”
It’s not bad—it’s great. That’s why you should get paid for it—and not just if the crowd chooses your work.
Frankly, I’m very disappointed in Angus Hyland and Patrick Burgoyne for taking part in this. They should know better.
— Jose Nieto, 2008-01-16 22:08:00
True. Design for me is my work, my hobby (how can it not be) and how I make a living—oh, and I still have plenty of time to play with my son. Thanks for the advice.
If we have been at this for a while, certain things come to us naturally. The fact that there is some cash prize attached to this and that for some people, potentially having a Randomhouse book under their belt sounds pretty good—this is not that awful of a proposition Jose.
I think to judge designers on their contribution to a competition is not healthy. We are all colleagues. We make choices because we all approach this work in a different light. Some take it seriously to the grave, other started off doing design as a hobby and find a light-hearted pleasure in doing it as you would doodling or painting or going on a long bike ride. Point is that all this talk of spec is sort of silly. This design competition offers more than a creative brief. The author has a blog. The rules are in place, and the payment is there. Perhaps it is not a 50% downpayment (or whatever your standard is), but it is a payment. And just as any job can be pulled and terminated this design competition offers no more security than any other project, but it does not degrade the designer and his/her position in the industry either.
Anyway, we are all entitled to our opinions. And as long as I am happy and productive—I can’t care less what my peers think—and my clients would never judge me the way my peers do in reference to this competition.
— Ian Shimkoviak, 2008-01-17 11:17:00
A few points, Ian:
1) I didn’t mean to give you advice about how you spend your free time. The statement about playing with my son was about my own re-evaluation of priorities (being a new dad and all)—it was not meant as a dig. And trust me, I give this profession a lot of my free time (google my name and AIGA, if you’re curious). Just because someone thinks that participating in this competition is a bad idea doesn’t mean that they’re lacking in enthusiasm and sportsmanship.
2) I would not presume to judge anyone’s character because of their involvement with this competition. I can, however, be disappointed at their behavior, particularly when said designers are industry leaders. If people like Angus Hyland think it’s okay to work on spec, it weakens the case for the rest of us.
3) I will grant you that designing in “glamour” industries such as book publishing presents a tricky case when it comes to spec work. It’s a tough market to break into, even for established designers, and you can make a case for doing free work to get attention. (In fact, I got my break by volunteering to design the poster for a writer’s conference, which was noticed by an editor at Penguin). Nevertheless, it’s one thing to, say, redesign a classic for your portfolio; it’s a different thing give away your time, talent, and effort to create value for a multinational corporation like Random House.
4) You can’ t seriously compare the chance your are taking by entering this competition with the risk of getting your project terminated in a standard designer/client relationship.
I wouldn’t argue that this one competition will do irreparable harm to the design industry, and I would certainly not question the intentions of the organizers. It is, however, part of a general trend that is simply not sustainable in our field (as opposed to architecture or advertising).
Ian, feel free to email me if you want to keep this conversation going.
— Jose Nieto, 2008-01-17 15:00:00
I see that some of the concepts have been ‘withdrawn by entrant’ – good for them. It seems the faulty idea of spec work is taking a long time dying, so I would like to take a whack against it too.
Speculative contests perpetuate the idea that this is the way design gets done. A sound design process is much more rigorous. Designers should not brand themselves as hobbyists who just throw ideas at the wall to see if it sticks.
Looking at my Graphic Artists Guild Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, 12th Edition, I see that the average going rate for a cover design is $1,500–2,500 for one concept with a kill fee of 50% for rejected concepts. Rights licensed first edition only. So the terms from the Random House requiring all commercial rights are quite stingy indeed.
Now about Mr. Nieto’s point number 3, I question why, if the book design field is difficult to break into, would someone start off on the wrong foot by submitting spec work. He or she would just position themselves as a weak novice pushover. Better to do your homework on the business end and negotiate a contract based on good industry practice which yields good value for both sides.
As Matthew Jordan says “Hate yourself? Then design for free!”
— James Leonardson, 2008-01-18 19:19:00
hmmm. Jose was replying to me. I have a different idea of this. while I do agree that there is a lot more to the process and that it’s more than a hobby, I also feel that times are a changing. What the ethics guide says and what we all do in our professional practice is a matter of necessity. In a day and age where anyone can buy a program and “take a crack” at a cover for a competition by a big publisher for an up coming hot-seller—I feel there is an opportunity for certain people to show the difference between good design and bad design. Between a professional doing the work, and a beginner.
My point is that there are people who are viewing this competition as a means to an end: If my cover gets chosen, I may have future opportunities to work with this publisher more often. That may, or may not be true, but it is a thought.
I know, that personally, and this may or may not be due to the quality of my work, that I could never get away with presenting one concept with limited right for $1500, let alone $2500. In fact, because I know that most people will not pay this much, I offer a minimum of 3 concepts for that rate and that usually works and I feel it is fair. If I lived 30 years ago, and was doing paste up mechanicals and had to really go out of my way to get a comp ready, I would perhaps think differently. See my point. Times are changing and it begs to be asked weather we are still going to be successful if we govern ourselves by the same ethics and rules as our grand masters did. It’s worthy to ask, instead of getting all up in arms about it.
Now, James, if you would be so kind as to give me a sample of what such a well researched business proposition may look like for trying to do work for Randomhouse? As far as I know, these folks negotiate the contracts, not us.
I would never design for free. I would design however, with the prospect of breaking into a working relationship with a great publisher when I see the opportunity is being offered. I’m just saying…
— Ian Shimkoviak, 2008-01-19 14:48:00