Thursday, December 22, 2016
Once ‘contest holders’ have posted a ‘creative brief’ for their project, they can’t re-write it, even though they WILL completely change their mind by the time the contest closes. Because the ‘creative brief’ is static, changes to the direction take place in the comment section of any design contest.
Only idiots start designing after reading the brief rather than waiting until the ‘buyer’ figures out what they want. Not you. You’re going to wait and see what direction the contest is going, read the buyer’s comments carefully to see how their direction has morphed, and then poach ideas from the high-rated entries at the last minute.
Careful though – many designers STILL submit designs long after the contest has begun, without realizing that the direction of the project has changed profoundly in the comment section. Don’t be influenced by their ideas.
Pay particular attention to the criticism of other designers’ work. If you wait long enough, the ‘buyer’, in dismissing other competitor’s designs, will tell you what they like, what they don’t, the colors that they like and even their font preference.
A mid-contest name change isn’t out of the question either. Let others flesh this out through their unpaid efforts and time. You can spend that valuable time looking for a real job.
Exercise extreme caution if the ‘buyer’ isn’t very active, or not commenting on your competitors’ designs at all. Chances are they have no idea what they want or even what a good design is. They’re the “I’ll know it when I see it” types and winning their contest comes down to blind luck and performing an endless dog-and-pony show with their dozens of revision requests and tweaks. Not very profitable at all.
The other possibility is that they’re subbing your work to THEIR clients (usually at a hefty markup, explaining to THEIR clients that they “get what they pay for”). Trouble is, this type can be vague in their comments and are only interested in the designs THEIR client is interested in, NOT interested in helping designers improve their craft.
Bonus tip – look at the comment section real carefully to see if a contest holder is favoring a design early in the festivities. Even though they’ve already picked that design as a winner, they’ll let the contest run out, in the off-chance that they’ll get a better design – I’ve always referred to this as ‘purse shopping’.
Don’t waste your time entering designs after it’s become clear that a ‘buyer’ has selected a winner because you won’t change their mind, regardless of how hard you try. Let the other suckers run out the clock, as the ‘buyer’ wants to squeeze every last entry out of every designer participating, just so the ‘buyer’ feels he’s got his money’s worth. Best move on to another competition that you can win.
Be careful though. Apparently, ‘buyers’ sometimes pick winning designs very early in the contest and ‘private message’ instructions to the winning designer, as not to ‘tip off’ other ‘creatives’ who’d then stop supplying more designs that have absolutely no chance of winning. The ‘buyer’ wants to get the most ‘bang for their buck’ and aren’t opposed to wasting a lot of people’s time to do so. No way to defend against that I’m afraid (though you can use it to your advantage by talking to the ‘buyer’ off-the-grid).
Another trick ‘buyers’ like to do is submit their own designs at contest close (usually under a buddy’s e-mail and Paypal combo) so that they can scoop the ideas presented to them, without paying a dime (other than the percentage that the contest site charges them to run the contest in the first place).
Not much you can do about that, but keep it in mind when someone criticizes you for something called ‘ethics’.
Adapted from thelogofactory.com
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