I’ve decided to launch a new website for our annual conference. I need it done quickly, and relatively inexpensively. So I decided to “crowdsource” the design, kind of.
It wasn’t my idea — I just wanted a cool-looking and useful website fast, and my good friend Debbie Weil pointed me toward GeniusRocket when I told her what I was looking for. So I opened a project there today.
As I launched the project, I thought, well once this is done, it might be cool to blog a case study about how it goes. But then I thought, where’s the fun in that?
Instead … follow along with me, won’t you? I’ll report how it goes, as it goes.
To be honest, I’m not sure if “choosing the best design submitted” qualifies as crowdsourcing, although it is a much more flexible model than the usual hire-a-designer-and-hope-everything-works-out (and certainly a more flexible model than my usual let’s-see-what-I-can-hack-together-over-the-weekend). The open submission and discussion process is fascinating. (Want to see what Recovery.gov is going to look like? You can check out the project that closed a month or so ago. Although I think you’ll have to register and then electronically sign a non-disclosure agreement.)
I can’t wait to see what we get — though it’s also a little nervewracking.
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Yeah, uh, don’t be surprised when you get a piece of s***.
LOL, Fred … you think so? I suppose I can see where the process might perturb a company like yours — but I guess we’ll see how it goes! Based on the quality of what I’ve seen of projects that have come out of GeniusRocket (compared to some projects that have come out of, say, association-specific website vendors), I’m not too worried. Keeping my fingers crossed, anyway!
It’s funny because a former employee of ours works for CrowdSpring. I don’t have anything against these sites/services. It just seems like a wasteland of mediocrity – ripped off templates and stolen ideas. It’s almost like a forum for people (designers and clients) who don’t know what they’re doing (no offense! I know you know what you’re doing). And then there’s the whole NO!SPEC argument.
It’s true, there are some crummy association-specific website vendors doing crummy projects (not without the help of Larry “I-purchased-a-domain-once-so-I-know-website-stuff” Board Member insisting the site have a flash intro). But it’s totally easy to choose a new vendor. Choose us! We’re awesome! You only want to spend $300? We’ll see what we can hammer out in a couple hours. Sorry, It’s not free if you don’t like it;)
Hmm, sounds like associations aren’t the only ones tightly wedded to their current business model!
The way I figure … what’s life without a little uncertainty? No sense prejudging a process before it’s even started. Either way this turns out, I will have learned something new (and I suppose, so will the association execs who read this blog).
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