DesignCrowd Blog RSS

20 Best Facebook Brand Pages from 2011

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:40:56 GMT

Social media is the best thing to happen to small business owners since the personal computer. Social apps like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare enable small businesses to compete with big brands by giving small and big brands alike the opportunity to connect directly with prospects and customers. There is minimal cost involved to set up a business brand page, the ongoing cost is just your time to update content, create and share offers and respond to your followers and fans. Deeper engagement with your customers means increased loyalty and sales over the long term. The latest social media platforms are free to use - and your customers visit these sites everyday! The benefits of setting up a Facebook page for your business are obvious. It gets your name out there, and you can easily get friends and family to “advertise” your business just by liking the page. You can always have a generic template to begin with, but how do you stand out from the crowd and make a great first impression?...
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Valentine's Day Logos - 20 Love-Themed Logos

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:59:52 GMT

St Valentine, love and the heart are great sources of inspiration, not only for lovers and poets but also designers, bloggers and business owners around the world. We've noticed love-themed (in particular heart-themed) logos are popping up all over the web - from dating websites to pet loving blogs to the I ? SLEEP Facebook fan page.In this post, we round up 20 Love-Themed Logos from a variety of industries. Whilst the Chocolatiers and florists prepare for one of their busiest days of the year, and people are wondering what gift they should buy for their loved one, this round up of logos showcases gorgeous logos to celebrate the official 'season of love'. Kitchen Love Love Module Love Acoustic Primate Love elove Love Idea Love Geek Tweethearts Spatulove Paperpassion Love Clicks Bitter Love Lacrosse Your Heart Splashspring NaturaLove Coffee Love Love Write Valenwine Love Ink Smiluv With love blossoming around us, industries of all stripes can benefit from showing a lit...
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10 Logo Design Trends from 2011

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:43:40 GMT

Logo design trends start with niche groups of visual designers creating a particular visual style. Often these concepts are inspired from adjacent creative practices (think music, literature, fashion, art etc) or the broader society and culture. The visual references/style/metaphor is used by an increased number of designers who incorporate these themes as core element in their designs. Others notice and follow, and a meme emerges. As more creatives notice the trend, it is adopted by mainstream brands and advertising agencies pick up on these trends for their clients. Trends are very interesting to decipher (and a lucrative niche for trend specialists!). Logo marks create an emotional connection between the brand and the customer. Over time they become memorable and influence the products and services bought and sold. We've identified 10 key logo design trends from 2011 that will influence logo design practice in 2012. Keep an eye out for these design memes reflected in your new fa...
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Happy Australia Day, Share A Virtual Gift With Your Mates!

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:43:38 GMT

To continue the Australia Day celebrations this weekend, we've created some shareable little Aussie icons you can send to your mates. To shout your mate a virtual beer or a lamb chop your item just click the icon and "like" or "send" the icon to a mate. Happy Australia Day, Beer-Lover! Baa Baa, it's Australia Day! Happy Australia Day, legionnaire! Show Some Cheek like Tony Abbott! Happy Australia Day, Star-Gazer!
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How To Use The Australia-Only Project Feature

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:39:39 GMT

A really cool new feature available to Australian customers is the ability to crowdsource logo, website, print and other graphic designs from their favourite local Aussie designers. There are lots of benefits for both businesses and designers, including working in the same time zone and bringing the benefits of crowdsourcing to the local design industry. So how does it work? When you are posting a project, you will be offered the choice of limiting your project to Australian designers only. Choose Your Project Country - Australian Designers Only or reach out to internationl designers. Australian-Only Projects are visible to designers, look out for the Australian flag. You view an Australian-only project in detail.
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DesignCrowd Launches Australian Crowdsourcing Site

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:31:03 GMT

We're excited to announce that we've launched Australia's first only country-specific crowdsourcing service. Our new site - www.designcrowd.com.au - allows Australian businesses to crowdsource designs exclusively from Aussie designers or reach out to the entire world. This means businesses can engage local design talent and support the local industry more easily than ever before. Plus we're offering local currency and customer service support.Built on top of our existing DesignCrowd crowdsourcing engine, the Australian crowdsourcing service will help Australian small businesses to "crowdsource" graphic, logo and website design projects to designers from Australia only or internationally. We built this feature in response to customer requesting the choice to limit their projects to their favourite Australian designers.Learn more about how this feature works.
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How to Sell Unused Logo Designs ... on BrandCrowd

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:07:58 GMT

DesignCrowd logo designers can now sell unused logo designs (i.e. logo designs that were not selected / purchased / used by clients) via BrandCrowd.com. This will help you make money from every logo uploaded to DesignCrowd (and potentially become a billionaire*).*term 'billionaire' used looselyAs background, BrandCrowd is DesignCrowd's new marketplace for selling logos. You can think of BrandCrowd like istockphoto for logos. Many of our top designers on DesignCrowd are already aware of this dirty/clean/amazing little secret - and they have already started selling on BrandCrowd (see: Konsepts Creative, Elisha Leo, Clement Nicolle and Goh Design).In this article, we'll show you the 5 Steps to Sell Unused Logos on BrandCrowd.Here's an example of a (delightful Clement Nicolle logo) that was initially submitted to DesignCrowd but is now for sale on BrandCrowd:Here is a quick start guide to selling logos on BrandCrowd ...5 Steps to Sell Unused Logos on BrandCrowdStep 1 - open an account ...
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50,000 designers on DesignCrowd ... and here are the Top 40 Designers from 2011!

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:07:53 GMT

Dear Designers and Customers,We're pleased to announce that our recent acquisition of Brandstack has grown our design community to more than 50,000 designers (you heard me).To celebrate this and the end of 2011, we've created a list of the 40 Best Logo Designers from 2011 on DesignCrowd.com.But before we did that we also wanted to acknowledge / point out / trumpet that DesignCrowd (and its design community) had a huge year in 2011. Here are some milestones we've reached (which we hope have been - and/or will be in 2012 - of benefit to you): We now have 50,000 designers in our community! We launched a new website BrandCrowd.com We launched a New Zealand website (DesignCrowd.co.nz) We welcomed Starfish Ventures as an investor We visited Google HQ We hired some awesome new staff (still hiring if you're interested!) Designers uploaded hundreds of thousands of creative logos to our site (and this is the focus of this blog post)*End of list*Out of all this growth and r...
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40 Best Brandstack Designers from 2011 ... and by 'Brandstack' we mean BrandCrowd

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:19:10 GMT

We'd like to introduce some of the top logo designers on BrandCrowd.com (which was previously known as Brandstack) to the DesignCrowd user base (and to simply show some love to some of our fav designers on BrandCrowd) - so we've pulled together a list of the Top 40 Brandstack Designers of 2011 for your viewing pleasure.Note: For those that don't know, BrandCrowd is DesignCrowd's new sister website that was recently launched. You (entrepreneurs / businesses / brand gurus) can buy beautiful ready-made logos on BrandCrowd (many of the logos below are for sale - just click on a logo to check how much it costs) while designers can sell unused logo designs for a killing.The Top 10#1 Voxsix#2 designabot Hire Designabot on DesignCrowd. #3 Logoguppy Hire LogoGuppy on DesignCrowd. #4 veep#5 logoholik#6 MDS#7 Konsepts Creative Hire Konsepts Creative on DesignCrowd. ...
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50 Startup Logos from 2011

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:34:57 GMT

The startup / tech-scene boomed in 2011, wavered somewhat and then soldiered on. Tech businesses weathered natural disasters, GFC "2" and, sadly, the passing of Steve Jobs. Despite this, Groupon and LinkedIn IPO'd, Quora got popular, Google launched Google+ and people developed "Group Buying Fatigue". In summary, while in 2011 we witnessed some sobering tech developments / news items (delayed IPO's, revenue reporting surprises and stock market jitters), a number of strong startups emerged; loads of startups got funded; the outlook for 2012 is strong; and - whether you're in China or the US - it's hip to be an Internet mogul like Pony Ma or Zuckerberg. In this blog post, we've rounded up 50 startups from 2011 (that either launched in 2011 or that became prominent in 2011). We've categorized them into 3 groups: "The Good", "The Average" and "The Ugly".Like this article? Check out last year's Top 50 2010 logos from the startup scene or the Top 20 Google Logos of 2011.Group 1 - 'The Go...
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BrandCrowd Discount Code - Save $20 on ANY logo!

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:49:00 GMT

To celebrate the launch of BrandCrowd.com, we are offering a $20 discount on any logo on BrandCrowd that you purchase! Browse the logos now and make sure you use the following discount code:Discount / Promo Code NY2012*Offer valid until 7 January 2012 31 January 2012!Can't find a logo on BrandCrowd? Need a website (not a logo)?If you can't find anything you like on BrandCrowd (no worries!) just post a custom logo design project on DesignCrowd using the same discount code NY2012 (or follow this link to start your discounted custom design project on DesignCrowd today)!p.s. Don't forget to enter the code NY2012 in the BrandCrowd promo code box (see below):
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DesignCrowd launches BrandCrowd.com!

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:00:44 GMT

We are pleased to announce the launch of BrandCrowd (www.brandcrowd.com).BrandCrowd is a marketplace for premium, ready-made logos and brands. You can use BrandCrowd to browse thousands of beautiful pre-made logos (from Dentist Logos to Dating Logos) and either either buy the logo for the price available (which lets you download the logo immediately) or make an offer for the designer to consider. BrandCrowd (previously known as 'Brandstack' - a business DesignCrowd recently acquired), sells pre-made logos (and brands) starting at $250 - as always, much cheaper than traditional agencies. Because the logos are pre-made, you can see them before you buy and get access to the files immediately. In doing so, BrandCrowd you will save money and time and help you find a beautiful logo.Here's how it works:If you’re designer, you more than likely have a hard drive full of unused top-notch designs that you poured your heart and soul into but ultimately didn’t survive the client cull, or perhap...
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DesignCrowd acquires Brandstack.com

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:41:21 GMT

DesignCrowd is pleased to announce to its beloved users the acquisition of Brandstack.com, a leading online marketplace of premium, ready-made logo and brand marketplace, where designers can upload their favourite unused designs and buyers can find a premium quality ready-made logo fast and affordably.Why is this good?We believe that are going to offer even more value for their existing customers with a combined service offering. Acquiring Brandstack gives DesignCrowd things: new, talented designers; a ready-made logo offering; and market leadership. We think creative ideas are rare assets - they should not go to waste - and BrandCrowd will ensure they don't. It will allow us to unlock the value of our 500,000 unused designs submitted on DesignCrowd. This means every creative idea or design uploaded to DesignCrowd can lead to cash in the bank for our designers. Brandstack (which is being re-launched as BrandCrowd) will be both the best and the biggest ready-made logo marketplace onl...
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Top 20 Google Logos of 2011

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:49:12 GMT

Anyone who has the Internet has used Google and anyone that's used the Google more than once has probably noticed that Google's logo changes from time to time. This is part of Google's Doodle4Google program which aims to make searching on the Internet more fun.In 2011, Google has already had 231 different Google logos on their various homepages around the world! Naturally, people will use their local Google (e.g. in Australia, we use Google.com.au) and Google will often create logos specific to countries (whether UK to the US, from Pakistan to Panama). Our favorite this year was a Google Doodle from Italy on Giò Pomodoro's 81st Birthday (see below). Google's unique approach to their corporate identity and logo design is a source of fun for its users but also a source of design and business inspiration.In this blog, DesignCrowd has scoured the Google archives to bring you the bestest Top 20 Google Doodle Logos in 2011 (Worldwide).#1 - Giò Pomodoro's 81st Birthday (Italy)Giò Pomodoro...
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30 Bright, Multicolor Logo Designs

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:22:03 GMT

Bright logos that use a number of colors are great. They're eye-catching in a sea of drab logos, which works well for businesses, and they have that playful, light-hearted feeling that makes viewers feel good. But design sensibility says limiting color choice is an important part of the process, and it can be tough to strike the right balance between a good multi-colored design and something that's too far over the top. Check out these thirty multicolor logo designs for inspiration on your next logo project.Print with GustoMoodsZeugmaCanvas AmoreBrand Australia LogoBanner InspirationMezcalMeteorIdealogyMediaFactoryInvento Media GroupNucleus CreationsSortfolioAction Now!FreedesignJhubaTropocolGiraffeoRK DesignsiCanVivityLimewheel CreativeBrand EventsOCNTLXVivid WaysTemplaticQwellLED T-ShirtTravelgroupConclusionIt's interesting to note that one technique used in almost all of these logos is that, while the hue varies, other aspects of the colors are kept the same; some logos use red, ye...
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We're Hiring - 22 Reasons to Work at DesignCrowd!

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:07:18 GMT

DesignCrowd is on a recruitment rampage! We're looking to hire some talented, motivated, brilliant, noble, hard working and creative people into the DesignCrowd team. We've got loads of positions available and we're accepting applications for people around the world. In this blog we're going to outline 22 reasons to work at DesignCrowd. If you like what you see you can apply now through our website!22 Reasons to works at DesignCrowdHere are 22 reasons to come work at DesignCrowd: We're a crowdsourcing company that loves the Internet and innovation We're growing super-fast! We've just received a $3M investment We're backed by Starfish Ventures We're expanding internationally (see our new DesignCrowd New Zealand site!) Our office has toys (including an XBOX and a soccer ball) We believe in happiness at work Every day at DesignCrowd is different We ? good ideas, coffee and no-politics-at-work Every time we make a sale, we ring a bell We are young! T...
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DesignCrowd receives $3M investment from Starfish Ventures

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:51:45 GMT

Dear designers / entrepreneurs / friends,We're very happy to announce that DesignCrowd has received a $3 million venture capital investment from Starfish Ventures.Starfish Ventures is an Australian (Melbourne-based) venture capital firm that invests in information technology, life sciences and cleantech companies, and we’re very pleased to welcome them at DesignCrowd. You may be familiar with some of Starfish’s other investments that include nitroPDF, 5th Finger and iselect.Starfish's investment is a testament to our next generation crowdsourcing product and our growth. Since we launched in 2008, we’ve grown quickly and consistently. We’re approaching 50,000 designers in our community and in the last 2 years we've grown 1350%. Tony Glenning of Starfish Ventures (who led the investment in DesignCrowd) said: “We really believe in the crowdsourcing model. In particular, we are really attracted to the idea of crowdsourcing the solution, rather than simply providing a marketplace for out...
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DesignCrowd launches New Zealand crowdsourcing site

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:19:58 GMT

Excellent news for New Zealanders - we have just launched DesignCrowd.co.nz. That's right, New Zealand now has a site dedicated to helping NZ businesses "crowdsource" creative projects to designers around the world.Built on top of our existing DesignCrowd crowdsourcing engine, the New Zealand crowdsourcing service that will help New Zealand small businesses"crowdsource" graphic, logo and website design projects to designers around the world and help New Zealand designers find work from businesses in Australia, the UK and the US.DesignCrowd has selected New Zealand as one of the first markets to expand into as we seek to increase our global reach and help bring our crowdsourcing platform to designers and customers around the world. In addition to this, with the recent increased economic activity in NZ due to the Rugby World Cup, we thought the timing was perfect.DesignCrowd.co.nz will allow all New Zealanders to supercharge their businesses – whether small or large – with crowdsourcing...
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20 Hot Startups from New Zealand

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:21:33 GMT

Silicon Valley is the place most people think of when talking about startups, while Israel, India, China and more recently Australia are receiving honorable mentions as foreign investors are developing an interest and making prominent investments in these geographies. New Zealand often gets short shrift and New Zealand's own financial institutions haven't put much of their own money into the area - often cited as being risk-averse and preferring markets that are less speculative, such as farming. But there is a buzzing startup scene in New Zealand (just check out their leading world class incubators CREATIVE HQ and The ICEHOUSE) and there are also naturally some brilliant startups in NZ! In this article we've rounded up 20 Top NZ Startups (please enjoy!).20 Top Tech Startups in NZ#1 TrademeTrademe operates NZ's equivalent of eBay - see Trademe.co.nz. The company itself also owns a network of popular NZ sites including a new website Stuff.co.nz and all up the network accounts for ar...
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20 Rugby World Cup Posters Over the Years

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:18:33 GMT

With the Rugby Union World Cup currently underway in New Zealand, we thought there is no better time to look back at some of the top Rugby World Cup poster designs from over the years. We take a look at some of the most famous posters, from the historic 1987 rugby world cup wallcharts to some of the modern day rugby posters featuring the Web Ellis cup. 2011 - The PresentRugby World Cup MasterCard Worldwide Partner (2011)Rugby World Cup Heads to New Zealand (2011)ITV Rugby World Cup Posters (2011)Web Ellis Cup Poster (2011)Rugby World Cup Graphic Poster (2011)Rugby World Cup Ceremony Volunteers Poster (2011)Rugby World Cup Wall Chart (2011)New Zealand All Blacks (2011)Rugby World Cup Caravelle Hotel (2011)Rugby World Cup Stadiums (2011)Rugby World Cup Infographic (2011)Rugby World Cup Ireland v USA Infographic (2011)Rugby World Cup Rotary (2011)The PastRugby World Cup Poster (2003)Rugby World Cup Tournament Schedule (1999)Rugby World Cup Draw (1991)Rugby World Cup Wallchart (1987)Radi...
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30 Logos from New Zealand Companies & Organizations

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:06:03 GMT

New Zealand is a place that puts a huge amount of value in national symbols. The silver fern is the most prominent among these - as you'll see in this roundup, Kiwis find many ways to work the fern into their logographs, from the straight-up implementation in the All Blacks logo to the clever integration of grapes and fern in the New Zealand Wine logo. Others play on symbols of the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand - otherwise known as Aotorea in the native tongue - as you'll see in logos such as that of the New Zealand Warriors. Check out these thirty Kiwi logos for some Down Under inspiration.New Zealand GolfAll BlacksNew Zealand 100% PureTourism New ZealandNew Zealand WarriorsNew Zealand Wildlife ServiceAir New ZealandUniversity of AucklandParalympics New ZealandTikidubTelecom New ZealandRadio New ZealandCreative NZNew Zealand Red CrossBuy New Zealand MadeBusinessNZHoliday Parks Association of New ZealandWools of New ZealandPhotograph Society of New ZealandBank of New Zea...
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5 Cool Tools for Freelance Designers

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:29:54 GMT

Universities, colleges and tutorial bloggers are brilliant at teaching designers how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and other design software. But they rarely introduce designers about other useful career or business-building tools. Below are 5 useful tools (some of which are free) that most freelance designers could benefit from.#1 Remember the MilkWithout a task manager, most freelancers get overwhelmed very quickly. There's just so much to do when you're running a business - and since you're the sole member of that business, barring any subcontractors who take on excess work, you can't afford to miss a thing. Remember the Milk is a great web-based task manager so you can access it from anywhere.#2 EchosignEchosign is hands-down the easiest way to get contracts signed over the Internet. No need to print a contract, sign it and scan it again every time you start a new gig - manage the whole process online on both ends.#3 SkypeSkype is a great VoIP app that allows you to claim a prof...
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10 of the Best Crowdsourced Logos from August

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:16:22 GMT

Our top logo designers are constantly churning out creative logos (via our crowdsourcing process). Here are some of the best from August 2011:Raw Studio by GohdezignShakr by HellorexIsland Power by Big Blue CurrantRecipes by Clément NicolleGlider Systems by BluejetANNIEE by HellorexHound Habit by Jace DesignCornville Mission by BluejetSmile Social by HnwokoCrocobee by GohdezignWhat do you think? Post some more in the comments below!
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'Manual Testing' - How to Validate Your Internet Business Idea

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:59:37 GMT

Every man, woman, friend and cousin has had a business idea. Seeking to pursue their dream (or perhaps inspired by Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Tony Robbins or The Social Network) we have countless friends who approach us with their own "million dollar" business idea. The thing is, we're often amazed by the ideas. The majority of business concepts we hear are sound and innovative but the vast majority of these ideas will never be acted upon.Here are the common reasons why people have business ideas but don't act: risk (people don't know whether their idea will work and the uncertainty of this means they won't do anything); skillset (only a small percentage of the population knows how to create a website and the technology for most is a scary blackbox); cost (most people don't want commit their hard-earned money to a project that might not work); and time (a lot of people are busy and assume it will take a long time to get started so they put it off and eventually give up). Well, we think t...
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7 Tips on Starting a Business (During a Recession)

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:39:28 GMT

If you're starting a business (or considering starting a business), there are a number of reasons a recession or downturn (e.g. the current economic downturn) is a good time to start. For example, during downturns, many talented people are looking for work; interest rates are lower; B2B service providers are giving discounts (making it easier to bootstrap); and people/businesses/organizations are experiencing problems (creating demand for innovation and products that provide 'solutions'). Some of the world's greatest businesses started during a downturn - for example, Steve Jobs built the first Apple computers between 1976 and 1984 (during which time there were two recessions) and after Steve Jobs returned to Apple (in 1997) they launched the iPod in 2001 (while the dot-com bubble was bursting) and the iPhone in June 2007 (when the Global Financial Crisis hit).Apple Products Launched During (or around) a RecessionSo, downturns can be bad for business, or they can be good for busines...
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10 Business Models that Thrive During a Downturn

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:35:25 GMT

They say that starting a business during a recession is, contrary to what many would say is common sense, the best time to do so. But some businesses do better during recessions than others — it’s hardly a great time to start an auto dealership or real estate company. Making your entry into the right kind of business is one of those important factors that will determine whether a recession is really the best time to start up for you.Here are 10 Startup Business Models that Thrive During a Downturn — there may be one with your name on it here!#1 - Group BuyingCompanies like Groupon, AppSumo and their myriad of clones have thrived during the last few years as the economy bore down on household budgets. Group buying or daily deals websites coordinate very deep discounts with businesses. The idea is that everyone wins: the business gets heavy promotion, the group buying company makes a cut of the sales, and the consumer can save, often, almost all of the purchase price.While there are som...
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5 Tips on Creating Happiness (via Business/Work) like Zappos.com

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:49:13 GMT

DesignCrowd visited Zappos offices in Las Vegas last month and, in addition to taking a few happy snaps, we took away some ideas and learnings about an important topic: happiness.Zappos.com is a crazily successful online retailer but what emerged after spending a few hours at their office is that Zappos don't see the focus of their business as being shoes or online retail - their focus appears to be simple (and noble): happiness. In particular, Zappos focus on creating happiness for two groups of people: their staff and their clients. The general theory is that 1) this is the most important thing and ultimate goal of life is happiness and 2) happy staff and happy clients will lead to a profitable business. In addition to this philosophy, what's great about Zappos is the way they go about realising this mission via their culture and approach to client service ("delivering WOW through service").Below are 5 things we observed at Zappos HQ that a...
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New Affiliate Marketing Tools (for DesignCrowd)

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:32:56 GMT

We've just launched some new affiliate tools (from banner ads to videos) to help you (affiliate marketers, customers, designers or secret admirers) promote DesignCrowd with their friends, families, blog readers and pets.Here are some of the tools we've launched (you can view all 6 tools here): Twitter / Facebook share links Banner ads (see screenshot) RSS feeds DesignCrowd embed video optionStart using the new tools or join our affiliate program today!
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How to Come Up with Creative Ideas (5 Step Creative Process)

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:41:35 GMT

This blog post was written by Angela Farrell (Sydney based graphic designer and art director). Angela was a member of Australia's 2008 Beijing Olympic Sailing team. You can hire Angela via Angela's portfolio on DesignCrowd.For creatives, our ideas are our business. A question we often need to address to ensure career success is: how do we make sure we continually and reliably come up with the goods? What if I told you that there is a proven method that greatly increases your chances of producing great new ideas?The challenge to continually and reliably come up with creative ideas might also be important for business people (such as entrepreneurs). However, in this blog post I'll explore a 5 Step Process to Producing Creative Ideas (with examples) that is intended for use by designers and other creatives (but I hope there are some insights for business people also!).Scenario: Request for Creativity Under Time PressureIt’s 10AM and a new brief has just come in from the client. They’r...
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Illustrator Metal Brush Vector - Free Download

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:45:03 GMT

Need a metallic graphic design? Check out the tutorial below, download the free Adobe Illustrator file below or hire James Turner (the designer) on DesignCrowd. See how James Turner made this in Illustrator via the button below:You can also download the above vector free in Illustrator below:Author James TurnerJames Turner (DathV2000) is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. You can contact and hire Michael via his Darthv2000 Design Portfolio.Browse Metallic Jobs by TagMetallic logo design, Metallic graphic design, Brush logo design, Vector design, Vector illustration, illustration maker
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Featured Web Designer - Aart Tanner (Interview)

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 18:07:10 GMT

In this article, we speak to one of our designers, Aart Tanner from Netbloom in California (USA). Check out Aart's Netbloom designer portfolio on DesignCrowd today.About Aart TannerAre you male or female?I am just a simple man.Describe the city that you live in.Goleta is a small university beach town, part of the Santa Barbara County, on the coast of California. It is a place of tremendous natural beauty, stunning scenery and is home to all sorts of wildlife (including college freshmen). From frogs to lizards, storks to eagles, in Santa Barbara your always close to nature. Sometimes even a little too close — one night not so long ago, there was what sounded like a huge bear-like creature playing with our garden furniture in the backyard.What is the best thing you have bought with the money from DesignCrowd?Erm, I haven’t bought anything fancy with the money I’ve made from DesignCrowd as of yet, I’ve been responsible, saving it and spending some on general living costs.If you could be...
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5 Ways to Pimp Your Office Like Google

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:17:58 GMT

Last week DesignCrowd visited Google's "Campus" headquarters in Mountain View California. In a nutshell, Google's Campus is Disneyland for the computer geek. Upon arrival we were immediately struck by how fun the campus was and after 4 hours we were ready to get a Google tattoo. Google's Campus is simply cool and visiting it is 'an experience'. In a way, it leaves a similar 'wow' impression to visiting an Apple store - leaving you with a very positive experience and imprint of the brand.So what is it that makes the Google Campus so cool? Is there anything that startups and small businesses can do to achieve a similar effect without the big bucks?In this blog post, we'll share some notes and photos from our visit to Google and try to distill these into a list of 5 ways startups can brand their office and /or create a Google Campus vibe:#1 - Branded Transport ('Brandport')As soon as you arrive at the Google campus the first thing you notice are the Google Bikes. These little oomp ...
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40 Niche Daily Deal / Group Buying Logos

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:24:48 GMT

"Deal of the day" or "Group Buying" websites are popping up all over the world. They're the new startup trend and the valuations and capital they're attracting are creating waves in the online world while the discounts they're providing are creating waves for bricks and mortar retailers. With so many of these sites available chances are that if you work as a designer, and work with startups frequently, you'll have a deal site looking for your services soon.The following 40 group buying website logos are from niche, vertical or lesser-known deal sites from all over the world. Check the design techniques they attempt to employ (along with their niche strategy) to try and distinguish themselves within a crowded (but hot) market. We've categorized them into "the good", "the average" and "the ugly". This is, of course, only our opinion and, as demonstrated by foursquare, you can still be successful with an "ugly" logo.Group 1 - The GoodHopscout (for kids stuff)Dealee.ma (Morocco deal ...
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Quoting 101 - How to Bid on (and Win) Freelance Design Work

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:24:32 GMT

While browsing projects in DesignCrowd's list of graphic design jobs, you'll see an avatar wearing a green shirt () and you might wonder what that is all about! This icon () indicates that the project is a traditional 'freelance job' and not a 'design contest'. For these jobs, you will need to send the client a 'quote' that includes a plan of action and how much (in dollar terms) you'll charge them - that is, a fixed price quote. The client will then choose which designer they want to award the job to.On DesignCrowd, we see dozens of these projects and hundreds of designer quotes every day and we've noticed 3 trends: 1) some clients don't award a job to anyone because there are too many poor quotes (which means designers are missing opportunities to earn money) 2) that many designers don't do themselves justice when they submit quotes and 3) the quality of a quote has a big influence on whether or not you win a job.In this article, we cover Quoting 101 and includes 8 Tips on How to P...
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Bid on My Design! How to Get the Best Designers Bidding on Your Project

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:09:49 GMT

Like the rest of the design industry, DesignCrowd has a range of designers with varying levels of experience. This is reflected in the diversity of the design bids that clients receive. Want to attract the very best designers to your project? It can be done. In this article, we outline three ways to get our top ranked designers bidding. They’ll be most effective together, but they can’t hurt when used individually.#1 Provide a Clear BriefThe more clearly you describe what you need in your brief, the more likely you are to inspire something in the designers reading your posting. While with the right set of circumstances a one-line brief can inspire a designer with the promise of a blank slate to play with, it’s a common but incorrect assumption that having free reign brings out the most creativity.Working within confines and dealing with limited choices is often what spurs on creativity. And, in that vein, the more information you provide, the greater the chance the designer will be ...
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Aussie Freelance Designer: Stuart Burns (Interview)

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 16:20:10 GMT

In this article, we speak to one of our DesignCrowd designers, Stuart Burns, who has become one of the top ranked logo and business card designers — check out Stuart’s designer portfolio here.Burns’ Design BackgroundTell us about yourself:I live in Adelaide (Australia) and started freelancing in 2004. I design logos mainly, and occasionally choose to put my talent into other areas if the project interests me, and whatever my clients need I can help them out.How did you get started in design?I was always good at drawing. My first award was a “Certificate of Merit” for a cartoon competition when I was 10, been winning awards ever since through school. I graduated my tertiary studies with a Diploma of Visual Communication and went from there.How did you learn about design, what training did you get?I studied at Croydon TAFE in Adelaide and leaned a great deal from great teachers.What is your preferred design software?Depends on the job, but vector is second to none, Illustrator!What is y...
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(New!) Affiliate Referral Program

Mon, 30 May 2011 14:48:54 GMT

DesignCrowd is pleased to announce the launch of our affiliate program. This program will allow anyone (designers, customers, affiliate marketers, web hosting companies or printing companies) to earn great affiliate commissions by referring clients to DesignCrowd. Simply sign-up for our affiliate program (it's free) and start sending people to DesignCrowd to earn money. Share links to DesignCrowd via email, Twitter or Facebook and you can start making money. Features Here are some of the features of our affiliate network: Generous Commissions - flat fee commissions (from $30 per contest) that increase the more you refer Accurate Tracking - so...
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Photoshop Character Illustration - Free Download

Tue, 24 May 2011 15:15:55 GMT

Need to a character design, character illustration or comic book illustrator? Check out the tutorial below, download the free Photoshop file below or hire Michael Patrick on DesignCrowd. See how Michael Patrick made this illustration on Photoshop via the button below:You can also download the above comic book character illustration free in Photoshop below:Author Michael PatrickMichael J. Patrick is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. You can contact and hire Michael via his Emjay Design Portfolio.Browse Illustration Jobs by TagCharacter logo design, Character design, Digital illustration, Flash illustration, Vector illustration, Online illustration design, Book illustration design, Mascot logo design, Colorful character logo design
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The 100 Year Evolution of Print Ads

Mon, 23 May 2011 11:25:29 GMT

Advertising in the digital age is more ubiquitous than ever. With increasingly interactive and unconventional advertising formats, it is sometimes easy to forgot about one of the fundamental classic mediums for delivering advertising: print. In one form or another, print ads have been around since the 15th century. However, it's the last 100 years that have contributed most to what we now think of as the modern print ad.Advertising both mirrors culture, and helps create it. Just as the needs and desires of the consumer changes, the style of the print ad evolves to accomodate these changes. Below is an exploration of the ever-evolving style of print ad design.1910sPrint advertisements in the 1910s still resembled the visually crowded and copy-heavy ads of the 19th century. However, we see the seeds of the modern print ad being planted here: though these ads rely on long body copy, the decade did manage to produce some iconic images such as the 'I Want You' ad for the US Army.Coca-Cola ...
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Business Color Palettes - How to Create a Color Palette that Reflects Your Business

Sat, 21 May 2011 15:18:21 GMT

When you’re creating a brief for a graphic designer, it’s tempting to stick to the bare minimum: “Auto shop with older customers driving mid-range cars” is a good start, and it may do you some good. But if you know the target market you’re aiming for, you can give your designer more to work with — such as suggestions for your company identity’s color scheme.According to psychologists, various colors tend to be attached to a consistent set of connotations that impact the way your customers will perceive you. By combining this chart and your understanding of your target market, you can provide your DesignCrowd designers with a good starting point — but always remember to leave it to them to find color combinations that are visually appealing. Your idea might hit the right emotions, but their cohesive palettes will draw the viewer in to begin with. Color Palette Meaning Examples Black ...
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Website Conversion Tips - 10 Ideas to Increase Conversion Rates

Tue, 17 May 2011 15:19:59 GMT

When it comes to increasing conversions in any web-based sales funnel, much of the focus is usually on the copy — and rightly so, as that’s where most of the heavy-lifting is done. But the design elements in your sales funnel play an important role as well, and small changes — such as the color of a call to action button — have been known to increase conversions by up to 20%.Here are 10 design tweaks and techniques you can implement to start increasing conversions right away.1. Three Pages in the FunnelIt’s often tempting to split a funnel into as many pages as we can get away with — it gives us better measurements when using goal tracking software to measure how far in the potential customer gets. But more pages than are necessary is a bad move for conversions. Since we track visitors in order to improve conversions, it doesn’t make much sense to split things up for tracking’s sake alone.Wherever possible, consolidate your sales funnel into just a few pages. Ideally, you’d have three...
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DesignCrowd saves small business $1M (and reaches 30,000 designers)

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:43:17 GMT

DesignCrowd recently reached a big milestone - as of April, we have now paid out $1 million to graphic designers from 72 countries around the world. This is fantastic for our designer community that has recently grown to 30,000 (another milestone reached in April).While businesses have now spent $1M through DesignCrowd - a key question is: how much money have they saved?Based customer testimonials you could put the average cost saving at least 50%. For example, Duncan Patmore's (HI-TEC's Global Marketing Director) says: By using DesignCrowd we have saved at least 50% compared to the costs of our normal creative agencies. Crowdsourcing is a brilliant way to pick the creative brains of a global design team and home in on a solution that is right for - Duncan Patmore, Global Marketing Director, HI-TECBut that is not the only data point to table.Based on market prices you could conclude that DesignCrowd saves over 90% of traditional agency costs. For example, you might compare the aver...
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10 Creative and Innovative 'Donate to Japan' Website Initiatives

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:23:21 GMT

Everyone in the world is aware of what happened in Japan in early 2011. The tsunami, the earthquake and the resulting catastrophe with the Fukushima Nuclear power plant has captured the world's attention and sympathy. It has also triggered a wave of fund raising initiatives from various communities (such as the business community) and organizations (such as charities).In this blog we showcase, and shamelessly promote, 10 donate-to-Japan websites (run by charities or businesses) that have used creativity, crowdsourcing and/or design to encourage the relief efforts in Japan.1. Lady GaGa"We Pray for Japan" wristbandsLady GaGa launched this initiative within days of the tsunami and has raised over $1.5 million which was donated through the Red Cross.Visit the site and buy a wristband.2. Daillly Group Buying GivingGroup buying site Daillly Using some great Japanese inspired design Daillly have teamed up with Save the Children's Tsunami relief fund to raise some money. A beautiful page t...
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41 Inspirational Responsive Web Designs Using CSS3 Media Queries

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 17:55:43 GMT

The adoption of the CSS3 media queries specification by most major browsers has been a great thing for the web. More designers are paying attention to mobile design than ever before, and not only that: they're figuring out how to make the most of large screens while still catering to smaller resolutions, freeing themselves from the constraints of 960 pixel design.Before you embark on your own media query experiments, check out these 41 inspirational responsive web designs.PersonalThe majority of the very first sites that cropped up using media queries were the personal sites of designers experimenting with the new technology. Check out these sites for unique, individual takes on responsive design.1. Stephen Caver2. Naomi Atkinson3. Azeem Azeez4. Brad Dielman5. Thomas Prior6. Andy Chung7. Bastian Allgeier8. Zachary Miller9. Jeremy Madrid10. Steff.me11. Marcelino Llano12. Ryan MerrillBusinesses & EventsSince individual designers got comfortable with media queries, we've seen sites f...
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Crowdsourcing Case Study - How a web designer from India made $10,000 in 1 month

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:43:12 GMT

Arun Bhattacharya (a Kolkata based Indian web designer) has earnt an amazing $10,000 his first 4 weeks on DesignCrowd in what can only be described as a design contest rampage. Arun who operates James Brown Design Studio and who joined DesignCrowd in January of this year (2011) earnt $10k in his first 4 weeks, has established himself (in 2 months) as our #1 Web Designer and our #1 Indian Designer. In this case study blog we interview Arun to find out how he did it. Gender: MaleLocation: Kolkata, IndiaEarnings: $10k in 1 monthBest purchase with earnings: Digital SLR CameraDesign Portfolio Samples:Tell us about yourself in 50 words or less – where do you live, what sort of designer are you?I am from Kolkata, a city on the eastern part of India. I always had a passion in designing starting from simple leaflet design to brochure and logo designs. I finally found my interest in website design. This is my career at the moment [but] I intend ...
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Logo Contests - 7 Tips on How to Win a Logo Contest

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:40:53 GMT

This blog post was written by Elisha Leo - the #1 logo designer on DesignCrowd and winner of '2010 Logo Designer' award on DesignCrowd. DesignCrowd is a design marketplace that offers designers both design contests (with participation payments) and one-on-one freelance jobs.Designers who bid on design contests tend to develop their own methods and strategies for winning clients (and beating the competition). When I was asked "What are your tips for winning a design contest?" nothing came to mind right away but, upon reflection, over time I have developed some strategies which I find work for me. In this article I will share my 7 tricks and tips for winning design contests (while my specialty is logo design, these tips should work for any contest whether its a logo contest or a web design contest).Here are my 7 tips:#1 Know your strengths:Some designers are good at creating logos some are better at web designs. Some are good in Photoshop, some in Illustrator. Some have a talent f...
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$8000 contest posted on DesignCrowd

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 12:58:52 GMT

Hi everyone!Velaro.com has just posted an $8000 SaaS website design contest on DesignCrowd (that's right $8,000 - well actually ... $7,960 ... but still, massive). It is for a fully coded website (so ideally you will have mad website coding skills but if not maybe you can just submit your front-end web design ideas and the client can split the budget).Budget wise, this is our largest web design contest to date - in fact, it's our largest design contest of any type so it sets a new record.So, calling all web designers and web developers, let's get behind the contest holder and get them a great result! And, calling all clients, if you post a contest over $5,000 (or if you set the next contest record), we will tweet your contest, do a press release!Here's what Velaro's current website looks like (can you do better?):
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Top 10 Inspirational Steve Jobs Quotes

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:58:41 GMT

Steve Jobs is the CEO (and a co-founder) of Apple. He's a co-founder of Pixar and Time magazine's person of the year 2010. Through his career and through Apple Steve Jobs has had a huge impact on the computer, music and design industries. Steve Jobs' achievements, speeches and views make him one of the most inspirational figures in business today.Below are the top 10 inspirational Steve Jobs quotes covering a range of topics - from design to making mistakes to life.#10 - On design ...Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.#9 - On innovation ...Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.#8 - On downsizing ...A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path.#7 - On differentiation ...Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation.#6 - On management ...My job is to not be easy on peo...
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Free Symbol Fonts - Wall Chart Guide

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:18:22 GMT

Need to use some symbol fonts? Not sure if you need webdings, windings, carta or dingbests? Check out this free font symbol wall chart provided by DesignCrowd's James Turner.Need a graphic design with symbols in it? Need a designer who knows symbol fonts backwards? Hire James Turner (Darthv2000), read his article below (COMING SOON) or download his free wall chart file (below).Free Resource provided by James Turner James Turner of Darthv2000 is a freelance graphic designer from Australia with 20 years experience. You can contact and hire James through his design portoflio.
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Interview with Kim Heras (founder of PushStart)

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 04:12:58 GMT

In this blog we interview Kim Heras (Aussie tech startup guru and former writer at Technation and TheNextWeb) about his latest venture: the Australian Startup Accelerator PushStart (see also PushStart Logo Design Contest and 10 startup accelerators). What is a startup accelerator?Generally speaking a startup accelerator is a structured program that provides seed capital and structured mentoring over a 3 month period to help startups get up and running and ultimately succeed.Who should consider using a startup accelerator?Anyone who has a startup they’d like to work on and could do with some money, some focused mentoring and some time to see if that startup has any legs before putting too much effort in. At their heart, Accelerators are really about removing excuses for startup entrepreneurs and the benefits flow on long after the program ends too, as alumni and mentors maintain relationships long into the future. If that sounds good, then a startup accelerator might be for you.Who are...
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10 Startup Accelerators (from the USA, Europe and Australia)

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:32:58 GMT

Brilliant business ideas are generated daily by budding entrepeneurs. Unfortunately bubbles can be burst and business sometimes fail (illustrated by low % of businesses that last more than a year). A great idea is not enough to ensure success, there are many more factors that contribute to a profitable startup - startups need to execute, they will need some capital and they will need resources! They might also benefit from some guidance from other successful business people. Today's entrepreneurs may be able to find the support, guidance and funds they seek from one of the many startup accelerators across the globe. These accelerator companies, often called incubators, can be the difference between 'success', 'a fizzer' or 'just a good idea that someone else did'.Incubators are mostly similar in their fundamentals, selecting high quality ideas and talented entrepeneurs and planting 'seed funds' to help their business grow. They water the business with strategic advice from establish...
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Design Blogs - Top 100 Design Blogs

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:38:41 GMT

In this article, DesignCrowd designer Crystal Bernia reveals the Top 100 Design Blogs ranked by traffic and categorized by topic.The world wide web is constantly sprouting new design blogs. Amazingly, some of the biggest websites in the world are now graphic design blogs. For example, the largest graphic design blog (Smashing Magazine) is on of the top 500 websites in the world (see Alexa.com ranking stats). Smashing Magazine gets more traffic than the super popular technology magazine Wired and may soon overtake social media news site Mashable on visitors. But one can also find blogs dedicated to design niches such as logo, website, packaging, typograhic, illustration, photography and print design.Below are the 100 top design blogs ranked based on Alexa.com traffic statistics and categorized by niche or focus. Naturally, we've excluded our own design blog from this list and filtered out some blogs that we considered poor quality (or ruined by pop-ups and advertising).Here are the ...
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DesignCrowd's Newest Customer Feature - The Voting Poll!

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:29:01 GMT

We are pleased to announce we have added a Voting/Polling tool to help customers get opinions and votes designs they receive on DesignCrowd. This allows project owners to create their own online voting poll of their favourite designs from their contest and get feedback and rankings from their peers and friends. To start a poll, a project owner must sign up to DesignCrowd and launch a project. The voting poll can be created in their project management tools and launched immediately. The voting poll can then be shared by 4 different means: 1. Email - This will email the poll to you so you can email it to your colleagues, friends and relatives. The reason the poll is emailed to your account is to prevent it being sent to spam, if the email comes from your own account your friends and relatives should get it no problem! 2. Twitter - Send your poll to your Twitter account and let your followers vote...
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6 Unusual Crowdsourcing Projects

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:16:32 GMT

5 Unusual Crowdsourcing Projects When you think of graphic design crowdsourcing (and projects suited to design crowdsourcing) you probably think of logo design and web design and online design contests. However, there is so much more you can do with design crowdsourcing that you may not have even thought of. Crowdsourcing allows you to be creative and inventive with your projects and not just the designs. When your project is on a new creative level you can expect to see unusual and unique designs. Here are 6 unusual projects that were crowdsourced successfully through DesignCrowd: 1. Your Very Own Beverage Label. Do you make the best brew out of anyone you know? Have you ever considered labelling it and selling it to your mates? If you want to get serious (or just give a great gift) consider labelling your very own beverage creations like this company did. The results were creative and appea...
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Free Web 2.0 Logo Text Vector

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:58:40 GMT

Need to design a web 2.0 logo? Want to get a slick wordmark logo? Hire Clément Nicolle, read his tutorial below or download the vector file Tutorial by Clément Nicolle Clément Nicolle is a freelance logo designer from France. Clément has been in DesignCrowd.com's Top 30 Freelance Logo Designers for all of 2010. You can contact and hire Clément through his Portoflio. Graphic Designer
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50 Web Design Trends of 2010

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:00:30 GMT

Web design is a fast evolving industry and as such the trends in the web industry are ever changing. In today's modern market it has become a rich, mature medium which balances aesthetics and functionality. We have so many powerful tools at our disposal, (such as CSS and advanced HTML coding) and are on the verge of being able to utilise the long awaited HTML5 and CSS3 which will bring about an evolution in trends and capabilities as well as design. Visual design is now essential to web design. In fact design has never had a better avenue for expanding in all directions to so many people. So now we ask what ideas, innovations and designs are becoming influential? This article has collected 50 webdesign trends showcasing trends in design, navigation, add ons & features and coding/programming. Large Typography Introduction Pages ...
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Interview with Chomp, Intrepid Designer and Runner Up Best Logo Designer 2010

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 15:55:15 GMT

Having so many amazing designers on DesignCrowd.com gives us a chance to really learn a thing or two about design, the design industry and what drives a good designer. The following interview with Chomp too place via email after being awarded runner up in our best logo designers of 2010. Chomp gives us some insight into how he works, what he works with and who he has enjoyed working with (as well as the standard questions on how amazing DesignCrowd is.) Chomp's Studio - View PortfolioDesign Background:Tell us about yourself in 50 words or less – where do you live, what sort of designer are you?I live in the United Kingdom in West London, a town called Twickenham, 5 minutes from the famous Rugby Ground.How did you get started in design?School, I was always into Art and my father was a Draughtsman for GilletteHow did you learn about design, what training did you get?I did “Art” to Advanced level at School, then a 2 year Diploma in Design and Advertising at collegeWhat is...
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50 Good, Bad and Ugly Australian Startup Company Logos!

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:43:31 GMT

50 Australian Startup Logos Despite the recent economic downturn, start-up companies are still proving to be at the forefront of economic growth. There have been some fantastic success stories in 2010 especially from the following list of 50 (whether their logos are good or not). Start up business 99Dresses (From Sydney Australia), for instance, allows people to exchange clothing using a purely online currency. This business experienced some fantastic growth over 2010, having recently been invested in at a six figure evaluation, despite the economic downturn. The following logos are gathered from the best Australian startups of 2010. As designers we can observe how these logos show the tone and trends represented by these companies. Initially, when writing this article we selected a panel of people who had little to no design experience and asked them to rate the logos as "Good", "Bad" and "Ugly". The results...
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Interview with Elisha Leo - Our No.1 Logo Designer for 2010

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:26:41 GMT

We have decided to inverview some of our intrepid designers on what they do, how they do it and what makes them tick in terms of design! (We also threw in a few questions about DesignCrowd so we could find out what drives the amazing designers on our site!) The following interview was answered by Elisha Leo, our number one logo designer for 2010 on DesignCrowd. (Also keep an eye out for Xpiderz and Chomp Interviews Coming Soon!)Elisha Leo - View PortfolioYour Design Background:Tell us about yourself in 50 words or less – where do you live, what sort of designer are you?Hello! I’m Elisha. I grew up in Indonesia and moved to Toronto, Canada early this year. Drawing portraits and cartoons are what I love best, besides designing logos. Some of the styles that inspire me are Swiss style design, vintage, gothic, and web 2.0.How did you get started in design?I didn’t know the job existed until thirteen years ago my friend told me about her brother being a graphic...
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DesignCrowd's Top 5 Logo Designers of 2010

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:11:11 GMT

2010 Logo Designer Award Winners!It's time for our annual logo design awards and this year we would like to congratulate Elisha Leo as the winner of "Best Logo Designer of 2010." Our "Best New Logo Designer Award" goes to Chomp from the UK. Logo design has such a high competition rate that these two designers more than deserve their awards. The following list of distinguished and wonderful logo designers represents our diversity which is part of what makes DesignCrowd Great. We would like to offer our congratulations to everyone who received a mention.The top 5 for 2010 in Order Are:1. Elisha Leo - Canada Powered by DesignCrowd 2. Ghodezign - Indonesia Powered by DesignCrowd 3. DesignRAJU - India Powered by DesignCrowd 4. bluejet - Australia Powered by DesignCrowd 5. Jace Design - Canada Powered by DesignCrowd Now the Honourable Mentions:Best New Logo Designer 2010Chomp Design - Logo Designer UKBest New Logo Designer 2010 - Runners Up - Australia/New Zealan...
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DesignCrowd's Top 5 Web Designers of 2010!

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 16:49:20 GMT

2010 Web Designer Awards 2010 Web Designer Award Winners! It's time for our annual web design awards and this year we would like to congratulate Xpiderz as the winner of "Best Web Designer of 2010"! DesignCrowd would also like to present Net Bloom as "Best New Web Designer for 2010." Our Top 5 this year has a wide demographic and shows the diversity of DesignCrowd. Well Done to all our winners and a big hand to our "Best New" and "Runners up" listed below. The Top 5 in Order Are: 1. Xpiderz - Pakistan Powered by DesignCrowd 2. weathered83 - Indonesia Powered by DesignCrowd 3. Gabriel Taudor - Romania Powered by DesignCrowd 4. Urban Ad - Australia Powered by DesignCrowd 5. Sky Ram - India Powered by DesignCrowd Now the Honourable Mentions: Best New Web Designer 2010 Net Bloom - USA Best New Web Designer 2010 - Runner Up - Australia/New Zealand Stephen Wilson - Australia Be...
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50 Startup Logos from 2010

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:43:49 GMT

Startups have flourished in 2010. The last 12 months have yielded some fantastic success stories. Groupon is a standout and is currently receiving a lot of attention, buzz and press. Some believe the latest wave of start-ups are driving a dot-com recovery. Either way, as designers, it is interesting to reflect and see what design trends and styles are used by some of the world's newest and most innovative companies. Below are 50 logos for tech start-ups that were launched in 2010 or that came to prominence in 2010. We've categorized them into 3 groups: "The Good", "The Average" and "The Ugly".Group 1 - 'The Good'Groupon LogoZenDesk LogoRockmelt LogoShopifyBoxee TV LogoAardvark LogoHeyo LogoGIST LogoPlancast Logo6Wunderkinder LogoTapulous LogoSoundCloud99dressesSimpleGeo LogoSpotify LogoLigit LogoOutbrain LogoSoluto LogoMySnyc Pad LogoDailyBooth LogoThe Cadmus LogoGroup 2 - 'The Average'Stocktwits LogoYinzcam LogoGraphic.ly LogoCrowdriseMeeSocial LogoCinchcast LogoKissmetrics LogoMy...
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Fruit Logo Tutorial - Make a Web 2.0 Fruit Logo

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:23:09 GMT

Need to design a fruit logo? Check out Clément Nicolle's tutorial below or hire Clément through his portfolio.You can also download the above free strawberry logo vector below!Tutorial by Clément Nicolle Clément Nicolle is a freelance logo designer from France. Clément has been in DesignCrowd.com's Top 30 Freelance Logo Designers for all of 2010. You can contact and hire Clément through his Portoflio. Graphic Designer
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Origami Logo Tutorial & Free Vector Download

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:30:50 GMT

Origami logos are in vogue. Learn how to make an origami logo design (like the one below) via this premium tutorial written by DesignCrowd's own Elisha Leo and published on BlueBlots! You can also download the origami logo vector for free below! Tutorial by Elisha Leo Elisha Leo is a freelance graphic, web and logo designer from Canada. Elisha has been in DesignCrowd.com's Top 5 Freelance Logo Designers for all of 2010. You can contact and hire Elisha through her DesignCrowd portoflio. Graphic Designer
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5 ways to promote yourself using Facebook, Twitter and DesignCrowd

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 18:52:32 GMT

Businesses and designers can now use Facebook and Twitter to promote themselves via DesignCrowd! We've integrated Facebook and Twitter features throughout DesignCrowd allowing project owners (businesses) and designers to share stuff on Facebook and Twitter with a click of a button! Project owners (businesses) will be able promote both their design projects and as a way to promote their actual business! Designers, great users of social media, can now promote their portfolio, their designs and projects their working on! Here are 5 ways people can use social media on DC: #1 - 'Like' Designs We have put a Facebook "Like" button on every design page. If you have some good designs on DesignCrowd, why not click "Like" (encourage your friends to click "Like") and use them to promote yourself to your friends and the world? Why this is good: For Designers: each time you or someone else likes your design, this pushes your design to Facebook making ...
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DesignCrowd TV: What is Witkey?

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:13:00 GMT

Witkey is the Chinese word for crowdsourcing and (thanks to sites like TaskCN.com, Zhubajie.com and Witkey.com) Witkey might be (already) bigger business in China than crowdsourcing is in the US, UK, Australia or anywhere else in the world. DesignCrowd CEO Alec Lynch recently gave a presentation at the 2010 Witkey and Crowdsourcing Conference in China on 'Witkey' and its effect on businesses worldwide. See what Alec had to say in full: A key point, related to Witkey (Chinese sites) vs Crowdsourcing (English speaking sites) was this: Crowdsourcing sites (like DesignCrowd.com) are extremely popular in the West. In China only one third of its population has access to the internet but we estimate 1.5% of those people are using witkey sites i.e. China displays a large appetite for using the crowdsourcing model. Its top crowdsourcing site (Zhubajie.com has 4M workers - double the size of what the leading English speaking site offers). A key find...
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5 Famous Logo Contests - Toyota, Google, Wikipedia & More!

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:52:10 GMT

Logo contests might be the best option for startup company looking for a new logo on a tight budget but a number of the world's most famous logos and big brands have benefited from the value and creativity that a good contest can generate. A logo contest or competition places an open call to designers to submit designs to suit a brief. Once the call has been placed any designer who can see it is free to make a submission. Part of a logo contest's appeal comes from the fact you get to see hundreds of designs from hundreds of designers in a very competitive market. Over the past century many big names have searched for their new logo via crowdsourcing and been remarkably successful. Below are some examples of famous brands who used a design contest to get their logo: 5 Famous / Big Brand Logo Contests Toyota Toyota started a competition in 1936 to get their current logo. They received 27 000 entries and chose the design that you now see on the front grill or the back of ...
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How to Run a Creative Web Design Contest (5 Tips and 5 Examples)

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:06:40 GMT

Web design contests involve posting a brief and getting 20, 30, 50 (or sometimes 100-plus!) web design concepts from designers around the world. Clients all request different things - but one thing we often see requested by clients is "Creativity required!" so in this blog we will highlight what to do to maximize the creativity you receive when running a web design contest. Below are 5 Successful Web Design Contests that received very creative designs and, in some cases, more than 50 or 100 different designs! Below we've also tried to distill the 5 Tips for Running a Creative Web Design Contest. Five Examples Five Tips 72 CodeBonbon Web Designs Other examples of the 72 designs submitted: ...
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The biggest employer in the world: a Chinese Crowdsourcing Site?

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:45:21 GMT

If you did a quick internet search to find the list of the largest employers in the world, you would get the following well-known organizations: Peoples Liberation Army, China, 2,300,000 employees Wal-Mart Stores, United States, 1,800,000 employees Indian State Railways, India, 1,400,000 employees National Health Service, UK, 1,300,000 employees Deutsche Post, Germany, 502,545 employees However, you would be suprised to hear that zhubajie.com (a Chinese crowdsourcing site) has trumped this list of employers by almost double - having over 4,284,400 employees. In fact, zhubajie is growing at such an astronomical rate that an average of 5300 Chinese are signing up everyday to work on the site. This continual rise to prominence of crowdsourcing sites in the Chinese market is nothing unusual. According to zhubajie, over 50 million employees are working on sites like this one across China. To put this number into context, this is more than the population of Australia, Greece an...
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Dirt.com: How I got 630 logos (design contest tips)

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:28:15 GMT

Dirt.com recently posted a logo contest on DesignCrowd ("Kick Ass Logo That Will Make You Famous") and in response received a whopping 630 playful logo designs. After recently selecting a winner (see below), Dirt.com founder Andrew Jacob agreed to share how he got 630 logo designs for $400! What will Dirt.com do (once it launches)? Dirt.com will be the World Exclusive Celebrity Gossip and Entertainment Site." How did your logo contest go? I have looked at the number of design submissions for DesignCrowd and [another crowdsourcing site like DesignCrowd*], and it looks like the [630] designs I have received may be a record on both sites (uncomfirmed)." *competitor name suppressed What did you do to make this contest successful? In order to make the contest successful, one must have a great headline to attract attention of the designers (Kick Ass Logo Will Make You Famous), and a really great brief! In addition, it is important to stay in contact with the designe...
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Crowdsourcing is not new - The History of Crowdsourcing (1714 to 2010)

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:44:11 GMT

Crowdsourcing (the process of using an open call contest or a 'crowd' of people to get something done) is a buzz word that was coined in Wired Magazine by author Jeff Howe in 2006, but the process of crowdsourcing was invented as early as 1714. Since then, crowdsourcing has helped create some of the world's greatest inventions and biggest brands. This blog outlines the history of crowdsourcing and highlights some 6 examples (historical and recent) that occurred before the term 'crowdsourcing' existed. 1714: The Longitude Prize In 1714, the British Government was stuck for a solution to what they called "The Longitude Problem" which made sailing difficult and perilous (killing 1,000s of seamen every year). Seeking innovation, the British Government offered £20,000 for people to invent a solution (£20,000 in 1714 is around $4.7 million dollars in 2010). This is possibly the first ever example of crowdsourcing. The contest, considered ...
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14 Beautiful Poster Design Examples

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:59:27 GMT

Poster design often provides great scope for creativity. Events, DJs and festivals all need posters and the nature of these clients allow for more creative graphic design. Below are 14 beautiful poster designs from our very talented community of poster designers. You might also wish to visit the following DesignCrowd blogs: Flyer Designs - 10 Beautiful Flyer Designs Wine Logos - 5 Famous Wine Logo Designs Logo Re-designs - Top 5 Logo Redesign Disasters What do you think of these posters?
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Widget designer contest winner (+ cool widget examples)

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:09:31 GMT

We're pleased to announce the winner of our designer widget contest as Harry Jay (of HarryJay.org)! Harry's widget received over 500 views in September and as the most viewed widget he'll receive "200 large" (i.e. $200)! 1st Place $200 Widget Contest: Harry Jay We'd love to see more designers using widget so please add them to your websites. Here's some great examples of other designers' widgets in action: Xpiderz Widget Example Ghodezign Widget Example MeliciousArt Widget Example STUDIOEL Widget Example So, for the love of Adobe, put a widget on your website, win more clients and earn the love of the DesignCrowd team!
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DesignCrowd grows 797% in 12 months

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:19:57 GMT

In addition to the stellar growth of our graphic designer community, we're very pleased to announce that the DesignCrowd business is going gangbusters too! In the last 12 months we've grown the number of projects on our website by a whoping 797%! Check out our excellent / exponential growth chart: Snap! *Does a Snoop Dogg dance* This growth is thanks to 1) our popular and extremely effective crowdsourced design (and the irrefutable fact that we are the best crowdsourcing site around) and 2) our fantastic community of creative graphic designers. But we want DesignCrowd to be bigger than the Superbowl, Ben Hur and the Winter Olympics - so please show your support, share DesignCrowd on Facebook and send us any suggestions you have for improvement!
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20,000 designers - woot woot!

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:16:38 GMT

DesignCrowd is proud to announce that in early October we signed up graphic designer number 20,000 (as of today we have 20,311 graphic designers - see our graphic designer directory)! Even more amazing is that these 20,000 designers come from 140 different countries! Most of our designers (65%) come from 'The big 5' - the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and India - but we also boast design talent from the Philippines, Colombia, Mongolia and Antarctica (yes - apparently they have the Internet there!). This is positive development for customers, designers and DesignCrowd because 1) a year ago we had only ~3,000 designers (so that's fantastic growth which means we can continue to provide and improve our service going forward) and 2) our design contests are receiving more designs and better quality designs as a result of the increased diversity and competition in our community! So, to celebrate this milestone we have created a Collage of our 20,311 Designers. ...
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20,311 graphic designers (in collage format)

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:11:05 GMT

We wanted to celebrate reaching 20,000 graphic designers on DesignCrowd and we thought "what celebration is complete without a collage or montage?" The answer: none. So, here is a collage of 2,000 or so random designers from our 20,000 (yes we cheated - it is not exactly 20,000)! Click through on any profile pic to see that designer's portfolio: ...
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8 ways to promote a design contest like a Big Brand

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:03:03 GMT

Design contests can help you get creative designs and ideas from around the world but a design contest can also help you promote your product or service; generate positive PR; engage with consumers or other businesses (i.e. potential customers); generate buzz; and/or build a following on Facebook or Twitter. Big brands are fantastic at promoting design contests. I recently received an email from a large juice company in Australia (Nudie Juice - backed by Richard Branson) promoting their contest to design a TV ad - see screenshot above. The budget was $5,236 but the email they sent me was free and the publicity they are getting is priceless. Big brands have had great success getting PR through large crowdsourcing projects (for example Smiths Chips 'Name a new flavour' Contest, Kraft Vegemite Contest and Doritos Video Contest). Getting PR isn't everyone's goal with running a design contest but - whether you want to get the most design options for your b...
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Simple 'Hire me' designer widget for new designers

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:52:24 GMT

If you are a new designer (perhaps with no designs in your portfolio and no customer feedback) you can create a basic 'Hire me' widget. Here's what a basic 'Hire me' widget looks like: Powered by DesignCrowd - Graphic Design Services Powered by DesignCrowd - Logo Design These widgets do not require you to have any designs in your portfolio so far! Here's how you create a basic 'Hire me' widget: 1) Visit the create widget page 2) Select 'Performance stats' (even if you have no statistics) 2) Uncheck 'Show your submission stats' and 'Show your ranking' 3) Click the 'Preview Your Widget' button
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10 beautiful flyer designs on DesignCrowd

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:32:19 GMT

Print design encompasses flyer design, poster design and brochure design. The skills to produce all of these design types are similar but the techniques, software and skills used are quite different from those required for logo design or web page design. Check out the 10 beautiful examples of flyer and brochure designs below ...
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Top 10 iPad Apps for Business

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:29:22 GMT

The other week I attended a series of expert round tables for small businesses and technology companies hosted by The Insight Exchange (topics included search marketing, content curration, iPhone app development etc). Each round table had about 10 people allowing for small, up-close interactions. My favourite round table presentation was from a guy that used his iPad to present. He propped it up on a little stand and slid through his presentation with his fingers. It was slick and effective but it highlighted something to me: the iPad is not just for watching movies in your bed - it is a powerful (okay "magical") business tool and there are actually loads of iPad apps that can help you in business! Here are the ten of the best apps for iPad use ... Top 10 iPad Applications #1 - Keynote Create presentations using the slick Mac equivalent of PowerPoint. View app #2 - OmniGraffle Create flow charts and cool shapes on your iPad.&nbs...
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Designer My Profile Updated

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:18:14 GMT

Over the past few weeks we have been actively been asking designers what they would like to see in their my profile page. As such, we have been busy implementing as many of these feature requests as possible and we wanted to put a quick blog post detailing some of the changes (there are still more to come).Here's some of the changes we made: New look page with sidebar Move the watchlist to its own page Improve the performance of the page as a whole Add the ability to show/hide designs from a designer portfolio Improve the flexibility and customization of designer portfolios Ability to hide closed items from watchlist (adding ability to search and remove old projectsThanks,Adam "Making the World a Better Place" Arbolino
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Show us your widget

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:16:28 GMT

Have you ever submitted a bunch of designs to DesignCrowd and wished they automatically showed up on your personal website? Or maybe you are jumping up our designer rankings and would like to advertise this outside of DesignCrowd? Well we've heard you! Here at the DesignCrowd labs we have been coming up with unique ideas, tools and widgets to assist you in promoting yourself to the rest of the world. As a result, we have come up with a set of ‘widgets’ that not only allow you to display your work to the rest of the world, and also attract and win your own customers through DesignCrowd! Below are 5 examples of the widget at work. If you already have a DesginCrowd portfolio, then check out our Show Us Your Widget! Widget Contest and you could win $200. a) My Ranking Badge Looking to show off your ranking to visitors of your website? Then this is the widget for you. Not only can you customize the look and orientation of the widget, but you can also show a ranking for a spe...
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If You Don't Join Our Facebook Page Now, You'll Hate Yourself Later

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:08:14 GMT

DesignCrowd has (finally) launched a facebook group! http://facebook.com/DesignCrowd Our DesignCrowd fan page is intended for both designers and businesses and their friends. We do not want this to be another boring coporate page, our facebook page is going to be fun and extremely interactive. Here's why you should join our Facebook group: 1) Free design critiques - post a logo, website or other graphic design and designers, entrepreneurs and members of our community will give feedback. Alternatively, be one of the people that gives feedback! Drive people to your DesignCrowd portfolios and earn money! 2) Funny logos - view galleries of funny, hilarious and bad logos. We've already added a few designs ourselves...
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Designer of the Indian rupee joins DesignCrowd

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:43:23 GMT

Udaya Kumar (designer of the Indian rupee) has joined the DesignCrowd community as a designer (view Udaya's profile page here). Udaya (who we interviewed last week) specialises in graphic design, typography, type design and design research. Customers, businesses and design studios from around the world can now hire and invite Udaya to their freelance logo, typography and graphic design projects exclusively through DesignCrowd. In summary, DesignCrowd not only provides access to over 10,000 freelance graphic designers but also award winning designers like Udaya. Just another example of why DesignCrowd is the best design crowdsourcing site ... End transmission.
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Udaya Kumar (designer of the rupee) shares how he won India's crowdsourced rupee contest

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:22:20 GMT

Last week, the Indian Government completed one of the most successful, high-profile crowdsourcing projects ever when it revealed its new symbol for the Rupee () which was created through a public design contest (a fantastic example of crowdsourcing!). Udaya Kumar, the winner of the contest (and now "designer of the Rupee Symbol"), has given DesignCrowd the green light to publish his (absolute killer) final presentation of his rupee symbol to the Indian Finance Ministry. DesignCrowd understands this is the first time Udaya's pitch has been published publicly*. *dubious claim Udaya Kumar's winning presentation / pitch of his rupee symbol to the Indian Finance Ministry ... In addition to access to his presentation, Udaya has also given DesignCrowd an interview ... Interview with Udaya Kumar ... Udaya on his winning design ... Q: What does your winning design symbolize? A:The symbol represent lots of...
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Edward Norton & Crowdsourcing Philanthropy

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:25:22 GMT

Meet Crowdrise (www.crowdrise.com) an online fundraising service that is essentially a charitable crowdfunding site (based on the principles of crowdsourcing). Crowdrise is genius and, at some level, a very pure form of crowdsourcing. Here's how it works: If you need to fundraise for something (for say a Gulf Oil Spill clean up effort or a Maasai village that needs a truck) then you can post an initiative on Crowdrise.com and ask strangers from around the world to donate or volunteer. Perhaps more importantly, you can be one of the givers. See this excellent Crowdrise How it Works page for more info. What's fascinating about Crowdrise is that Edward Norton (yes that Edward Norton of Fight Club and Hollywood in general) is one of the founders (along with these clever people: Shauna Robertson, Robert Wolfe, Jeffrey Wolfe). If you don't believe me read on (and check out the Crowdrise home page) ... I asked Edward Norton if he would give me an exclusive...
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Wine logos - 5 famous wine logos and labels

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:51:49 GMT

Wine Logo Designs and Wine Labels - Here are 6 famous wine logos (shown on the actual wine labels) for some of the most expensive wines and champagnes in the world ... #1 - Grange Hermitage Label and Logo A classic by the Australian brand Penfolds (a great wordmark logo). #2 - Chateau Mouton Rothschild Label and Logo Changes the design on their label with every year. Here are two examples (from 2006 and 2002) #3 - Veuve Label and Logo Yellow wine label for a popular champagne. #4 - Dom Perignon Label and Logo Named after Dom Pérignon, a Benedictine monk who was a pioneer for Champagne. #5 - Moët et Chandon Elegant label for the popular champagne Moët et Chandon. (Bonus) #6 - the label for the most expensive wine in the world ... Shipwrecked 1907 Heidsieck The world's most expensive Champagne at $275,000 a bottle. (This last one feels old but was designed in 1907!)
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Creative billboard design example: iGod

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:25:01 GMT

About 4 years ago I was in New Zealand and I walked past a church with a clever, funny and striking billboard:I didn't take a photo at the time but, thank iGod, after 4 years of inaction someone did the hard work for me! Parking any comment of the copyright issues of this billboard, the point of this post is to highlight a creative way a non-profit organization can modernize its image through marketing, branding and creative design.Getting a modern logo design is probably the most practical way a church / temple / youth group / charity / non-profit / deity can freshen up its image. Check out these logo projects on DesignCrowd: 108 community church logos 65 human rights logos 28 non-profit logos 65 charity logosThoughts / comments / ideas?Need a billboard design? Post a billboard design contest or signage design contest on DesignCrowd today!
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Negative space logos - 16 example negative space logo designs

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:36:51 GMT

Negative space logos are a particular type of logo that makes use of background colour (often white) to create something (such as a shape, icon or character). Negative space logo designs make for some of the most creative and striking logos you will find! Check out these 16 great examples of negative space logos below.
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Crowdfunding sites - how to raise funds from friends and strangers

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:29:22 GMT

Crowdfunding websites are a new way to get money from the community / other people for your project, charity or business and they are an exciting new application of crowdsourcing! Here's a definition of crowdfunding from Wikipedia: Crowd funding (sometimes called crowd financing or crowd sourced capital) describes the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money together, usually via the Internet, in order to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Crowdfunding occurs for any variety of purposes, from disaster relief to citizen journalism to artists seeking support from fans, to political campaigns. Last week we met the founders of Fundbreak (Rick Chen and Alan Crabbe) a crowdfunding website for Australian creatives (designers, artists, musicians etc). As DesignCrowd is a 'crowdsourcing platform' (a close cousin of sites like Fundbreak) and our community is full of creatives and entrepreneurs we thought we'd s...
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Crowdsourcing Video - 5 Tips for Small Business Crowdsourcing

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:06:29 GMT

Crowdsourcing can take many forms - for example, you can crowdsource feedback, you can crowdsource t-shirts, you can crowdsource funding and (of course) you can crowdsource design (DesignCrowd is a crowdsourcing design website). Each crowdsourcing application uses a different process some use voting, some use collaboration and some use competition (DesignCrowd uses the competition model via design contest and logo contest projects). Focusing on the contest approach to crowdsourcing (perhaps the most common and purest form of crowdsourcing), Alec Lynch (founder of DesignCrowd and King of Letting His Shirt Collar Pop-out) gives 5 tips at The Insight Exchange in Sydney. Please note these tips are for small business (not big brands)! (If you don't want to watch the video, here are Alec's crowdsourcing tips in text / boring / traditional / ASCII code form...) 5 Crowdsourcing Tips (for small business) 1. Choose the right task Contest crowdsourci...
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Top 7 Graphic Designer Portfolios Worth Keeping An Eye On

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:44:33 GMT

To celebrate the release of the invite system (in addition to the new and improved designer portfolios), I thought I would spend some time looking through the designer directories and pick out some designers who may not be at the top of the designer lists (yet) but have some eye-catching designs worth looking at.In my choices I decided to stay away from the best of the best on DesignCrowd and try to find designers you probably have not seen much of yet but have the quality to eventually break into our top designer lists.entz creative - SingaporeDesigner Portfolio: http://designers.designcrowd.com/designer/336/entz-creative Studio Cosmo - UK Designer Portfolio: http://designers.designcrowd.com/designer/14738/studio-cosmo Lauren - IndonesiaDesigner Portfolio: http://designers.designcrowd.com/designer/2239/laurenJo Elle - AustraliaDesigner Portfolio: http://designers.designcrowd.com/designer/12596/jo-elle2Media - CanadaDesigner Portfolio: http://designers.designcrowd.com/design...
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Design Plagiarism - How to Prevent: A Review of TinEye.com

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:11:13 GMT

Recently, we came across TinEye (www.tineye.com) which is a brilliant, and currently free, resource for checking the originality of images online in seconds. This is an incredibly useful tool for customers buying designs to help ensure the designs they purchase aren't infringing copyright and are original. It is also a very useful for our freelance graphic designers to ensure any of their designs aren't inadvertantly infringing copyright! Review of TinEye.com Here's how it works: 1> Get an image you want to check For example, we wanted to check the originality of the 'dog' design below. The URL for this image is: http://www.designcrowd.com/image.aspx?type=design350px&imageLocation=14231_57346_3590_image.jpg 2> Provide your image URL to TinEye Submit your image URL on the TinEye home page and click the Search button: 3> TinEye finds similar in seconds! Click search and voila! Seconds later you can see th...
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Participation payment changes ...

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:41:37 GMT

Dear designers, As of yesterday (with the introduction of new paid invite system and new designer portfolios) participation payments now work differently. While each design contest is open to everyone, participation payments are essentially invite only. They will be funelled to designers that customers like and select through designer profiles. You will notice you can no longer 'reserve' participation payments. We are considering allowing payment reservations if, after posting a project, a customer does not invite any designers. For now, we will be paying out any surplus participation payments to designers with good designs / designs with lots of votes. We'd love to hear your feedback on these changes so - what you think? :)
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Graphic Designer Directory and Designer Portfolios - Now Live!

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:32:14 GMT

*Drum roll* ... the DC team is extremely proud to unveil brand new graphic designer directory! We have launched directories for each of our product categories. Here are some examples: Graphic designers Logo designers Web page designers etc etc etc ... We also have directories for countries. Here's a few examples: Graphic design Australia Graphic design Romania Graphic design Phillipines etc etc etc ... Logo design UK Web design India Icon design Canada ... In summary, these new directories are extensive and awesome - but wait, there's more (read below) ... 'Top Designer' Rankings Another important note - all designers are ranked in each directory and these rankings will now be updated every few days! So what you say? Well, if you combine this ranking system with our brand new designer paid invite system it means the higher your ranking, the more you will earn!&nb...
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Hybrid Crowdsourcing

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:00:36 GMT

Yesterday, DesignCrowd launched a new form of crowdsourcing - hybrid crowdsourcing. Its key feature is this: customers can invite specific designers to work on their design projects via paid invites and AT THE SAME TIME open their design contest up to any designer around the world who wants to submit a design. Here's how it works: Customer browses our graphic designer directory and selects designers they like Customer posts a design contest (DesignCrowd opens this up to our 10,000+ designers - as before) Customer sends personal invitations to designers and may attach guaranteed 'participation payments' of $15, $20 or $40 to the invite Designers accept / rejects the invitation (Assuming designer accepts) Designer submits design and receives participation payment or winning payment We call this 'hybrid crowdsourcing' because it blends: Guaranteed payment and at-risk payment Open crowdsourcing and regular o...
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Contest winner announcement! And the blog contest winner is ...

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:13:49 GMT

Congratulations to Zubin Kutar a pro blogger from WebTrafficROI in Canada for taking out DesignCrowd's $1,000 award for the blog with the most tweets (Zubin's blog received a wopping 205 tweets!). Yoiu Our viral blog contest received 23 awesome entries from bloggers, designers and customers around the world! Honorable mentions to bloggers who receive 50+ tweets: Jacob Share at JobMob, Technshare, MyBlog2Day and About Blog Contest (ABC)! Also a thank you to the designers from DesignCrowd who entered the contest and helped spread the news about DC: top 10 logo designer Elisha Leo, Stella Darmoko at Logoclinic, Amanda at Struck by Design, Andy at amp design, graphic designer photographer and artist Rachel Graham, Designer Serene Destiny Design, freelance designer Ghodezign, one of our top logo designers PixelCloud and everyone else who participated! Remember, for success in life and design: Follow us on Twitter* Run a design contest if...
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Top 7 Free Online Small Business Forums

Mon, 24 May 2010 17:12:05 GMT

Online forums are useful resources for small businesses. They can help you solve a problem; provide a means of business networking; and/or help you advertise your goods / services (particularly if you are offering a B2B product / service). Here are 7 of the top online, free small business / entrepreneur / start-up forums: 1) OnStartups Question and answer style forum (the Yahoo Answers for startups). Very intuitive, easy to use, strong community. Most questions receive a response within 2 hours. http://answers.onstartups.com 2) Business.com Very similar to OnStartups with an equally high volume of activity. Flip a coin and choose your favourite. http://answers.business.com 3. YoungEntrepreneur Fourms Strong forum (over 250,000 forum posts) with traditional message board. http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/forum . 4. Econnect by Entrepreneur.com Includes a mixture of good questions and some self-promotional po...
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Introducing Non-Guaranteed Projects and our 100% Money Back Guarantee

Thu, 20 May 2010 16:39:10 GMT

Customers are always asking "What happens if I don't like any of the designs?" Well, now we have a good answer: We offer a 100% money back guarantee. ... but there's a catch to protect designers! :) Here's how it works ... Customers can now choose between Guaranteed and Non-Guaranteed payments on their design contests. Customers must continue to prepay all projects but where their project has Non-Guaranteed status they will be allowed to request a refund of their project budget. Here's why we're offering this type of project: Customers are sometimes new to graphic design and see the process as risky so they are hesitant to buy. Customers sometimes do not get what they want on a design project. If customers are not satisified we should offer their moneyback so they walk away happy. More customers will use DesignCrowd as a result which, ultimately, will mean more money for DesignCrowd designers! Guar...
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Designing features like a true crowd-pleaser

Tue, 18 May 2010 18:41:16 GMT

We like to think that you (the users of DesignCrowd) drive the car; we just make sure the motor runs. On a regular basis, we receive hundreds of requests and updates to DesignCrowd. In fact, I can almost guarantee that whilst in the process of writing this blog, my inbox has already been filled with new ideas and improvements to our site. For the most part, we implement these on a daily basis and just save some of the big juicy ones for our ongoing development schedule. This blog talks about some of those new big juicy ones - and how our website community helped design them.Improved Design SubmissionOur designers will be happy to note that we have a brand-spanking-new file upload system for designs which should make your lives much easier. As promised, source file are now optional for the initial design submission - this means that you can simply design and upload a preview file (JPG or PNG... oh yeah, now we support PNG too) and hold off on uploading the large source files until your...
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Blogging Contest - Questions / Answers / Comments

Wed, 05 May 2010 16:20:16 GMT

If you didn't already know, we've just launched a DesignCrowd blog contest for $1,000! This page is to help you with any questions you have about the contest or DesignCrowd itself ... (If you want to enter the contest go to: http://www.designcrowd.com/blog-contest) Questions or Comments? Not sure about something? Want to ask about how DesignCrowd works? Got a question about the contest? Post your question in the comments below and we'll post our answers below too! FAQ Can I submit more than one blog? Yes. Can I Tweet or Digg my blog multiple times? Yes, you can tweet or Digg it up to 5 times yourself. Can I blog about the contest itself? Yes you can but you also need to include an explanation of what DesignCrowd does (as per the conditions of entry). Tips and Tricks Writing a long blog will help you get more diggs. Sharing your blog with your friends and colleagues via Facebook / Email / LinkedIn will he...
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Blog Contest - Win $1,000!

Wed, 05 May 2010 16:20:03 GMT

Yo! We've just launched a DesignCrowd blog contest. Check it out here: http://www.designcrowd.com/blog-contest! Got questions? Visit this page to have all your questions answered!
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Logo bidding - the two types of logo bids

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:01:32 GMT

Logo bids, in general, come in two forms: 1) Logos - actual, custom (sometimes finished) logo design concepts 2) Proposals - quotes or pitches to engage in future logo design work The term "logo bids" is often used by businesses who use services like DesignCrowd's (but not really designers). Business might often say "hey I went to this cool 'logo bidding' site called DesignCrowd". This is not really a term that designers use much (or a term that we use when describing DesignCrowd) but businesses like it, it makes sense to them, so we're going to blog about it and explain the different types of 'logo bids'. This post outlines the differences between two types of logo bids from the perspective of buyers (i.e. businesses that need a logo design). Logo Bid - Type 1 - Logo Concepts The first type of logo bidding involves getting multiple designers to show you their logo design ideas or 'concepts'. Example 1 - logo bids from a design contest &...
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Web design contest BOOM!

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:28:21 GMT

Almost every business needs a website and, more and more, businesses need websites with strong design (to stand-out from their competitors) and websites that convert (to ensure their advertising leads to sales). This year, DesignCrowd has seen an unprecedented demand for web design - in particular web design contests. Web design projects on DesignCrowd from Jan to Feb to March have grown by 106% and 170% month on month! The chart below shows the boom in web design work we've been seeing: Web Design Job Volume on DesignCrowd.com 2010 Jan - Mar This doesn't show there is a general boom in web design demand but what it does show is 3 things: Design contests work well for web design* An increasing acceptance of crowdsourcing for non-logo design projects Web designers (on DesignCrowd) are about to cash in on this boom Notes: * works well if used properly - read these tips on design contests we blogged about in February So...
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Logo designers - 20 new designers to watch

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:03:47 GMT

DesignCrowd is fortunate to have a constant influx of new design talent. As at Monday 26 April 2010 9:53PM Sydney time we had 14,605 graphic designers on DesignCrowd.com. While we welcome all new talent to DesigngCrowd, here's 20 logo designers that have caught the eye of customers and the DesignCrowd team in early 2010. Check out the portfolios of these 20 up and coming logo designers: Tokay Design Logonatic™ Source Grafik Bang the Drum Anton@Lehnz ...
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Design jobs and design blogs FAST - Subscribe to our RSS Feeds

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:14:15 GMT

DesignCrowd has now launched RSS feeds! These feeds are perfect for keeping up-to-date with our latest blogs (useful for business owners AND designers) as well as the latest design jobs as they're posted. These feeds will give you updates faster than our email notifications (as there can be a delay) and mean fewer emails! Major Feeds The two most important feeds that you'll be interested in are: Our blog feed Design Jobs Feed + 6 Other Feeds! We have 8 feeds in total (which we're planning to expand). See all our feeds and subscribe today. Want more feeds? Let us know what feeds would suit you. Submit your ideas below!
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Free logo design - 5 common free logos to avoid

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:54:26 GMT

Free logo design is tempting for businesses on a shoestring budget - but they can be a big mistake. Free logos are often cliche, cheap and impossible to trademark. Here are 5 free logos that are popular with businesses (and that use concepts most designers have toyed with at some point) but should be avoided if possible: (Note: all of the logos were taken generated for this article by one of the top free logo design websites on the Internet.) Free Logo Design Mistake #1 - The 'Globe' Free Logo Design Mistake #2 - The Palm Tree Free Logo Design Mistake #3 - Legal Scales Free Logo Design Mistake #4 - Mountains Free Logo Design Mistake #5 - The Silhouette Most of these logos feel like they've come from Microsoft Word's clip-art library. The concepts are hackneyed and the execution varies from mediocre to poor - they are cheap and amateur. These 5 examples of free logos are 5 reasons free logos should be avoided and 5...
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Famous Logos - Top 100 Brands Keep it Simple

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:21:43 GMT

Simple logos are the best kind of logos - if you want proof of this, all you need do is look through the top 100 brands of the world. In the universe of logos there are 5 main types: wordmark, lettermark, pictorial, abstract and emblem. By far and away, wordmark and lettermark logos are the simplest - these are pure text or character based logos. This article analyses the top 100 most famous logos and brands of the world and proves simple logos (wordmark or lettermark logos) are also the best logos. Fact #1: 8 of the top 10 brands - from Interbrand's Top 100 brands of the world 2009 - use a simple wordmark or lettermark logo. The Top 10 Global Brands - Logos by Type Wordmark or lettermark logos: Emblem, pictorial or abstract logos: ...
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Designer-to-Designer (D2D) Outsourcing

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:56:49 GMT

Designer-to-designer outsourcing (or D2D outsourcing) occurs when one designer or design related business (a company, studio or freelancer) uses another designer (such as another studio or freelance designer) to complete part or all of a client design project. Designer-to-designer outsourcing is extremely prevalent in the graphic design, marketing and web design industries. Designers typically outsource graphic design work to other designers when: The designer or studio is very busy and needs help with their workload The designer or studio is looking for growth without hiring more full-time staff The designer or studio needs help with a specific skillet or style of design The following diagram shows the basic D2D outsourcing process: Designers seeking to outsource graphic design work should: Ensure the cost of the outsourcing is less than their sale price to ensure margin Ensure that the 3rd party designer will be discre...
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March Madness - 50% OFF!

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:47:48 GMT

Post any project on DesignCrowd in March and receive 50% off posting fees and any project upgrades! Remember to enter the code march-madness on step 5 of the order process to receive your discount!
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Logo Redesign Disasters - See the Top 5 (2000 to 2010)

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:40:08 GMT

Logo redesigns are unavoidable as businesses naturally change and design/marketing techniques improve over time. High profile logo redesigns (good or bad) always garner publicity. However, bad redesigns can get a lot more publicity than successful redesigns as A) designers will jump on poor design and B) shareholders and the public hate to see money wasted. Below are the worst (and probably most expensive) logo redesigns in recent memory ... #1 Mastercard Thankfully, MasterCard arent planning to put this abomination on their actual cards. #2 AOL No - this is not a joke. AOL change the logo on their website everyday. #3 Kraft Kraft have changed their logo twice in recent times. Their old one is still a classic. #4 France France's new logo appears to include a starfish (something you might expect to see in Finding Nemo or Australia but not in France or their logo). #5 Pepsi Cost $1M an...
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Changes to DC (minimum budgets, improved briefs and fixed price jobs)

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:01:35 GMT

DesignCrowd is pleased to announce a number of changes to our site and our design brief / order system. These changes affect both customers buying designs as well as our designers. Changes to DesignCrowd include minimum budgets on Design Contests as well as the introduction of fixed price Single Designer Freelance Jobs. Single Designer, Fixed Price, Freelance Jobs ... We've added a new type of job to DesignCrowd single designer, fixed price jobs. This project type will be known as a 'Freelance Job' and will replace the old 'Multi Quote' jobs (the main difference being that the new job type requires the customer to set their specific budget up-front). These jobs are perfect for projects that don't suit a design contests. The new process should be faster for customers and eliminate the guess work and crazy low-balling for designers. Minimum and Recommended Budgets ... Some big news for designers: we've introduced mini...
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Finding graphic design jobs - Faster, Better, More Handsome

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:53:41 GMT

DesignCrowd has added some super cool features to our graphic design jobs page to make finding projects on DesignCrowd easier! New Filtering You can now: Sort by the size of the job - to find graphic design jobs that are paying better! Sort by when the job is closing - to submit to jobs that are about to close (so you don't miss out!) Find contests that 'need designs' - to target clients who haven't received a great response New Icons We've also added some icons to make the jobs more intuitive: - a project that's been opened in the last 24 hours - private project that's only visible when you are logged in - featured project where the client has paid extra to attract talented designers Let us know what you think / how it's working for you! We're planning to make further improvements to the graphic design jobs page so send us your ideas on what you think of else you'd like to see. Thanks, Adam CTN (Chief Technology Ninja) ...
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We are hiring! Apply for a job at DesignCrowd ...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:58:33 GMT

Dear designers and readers of this blog, DesignCrowd is growing fast (think Yao Ming as a teenager) and, as a result, we're looking to hire talented and smart designers, programmers and tech-savvy recruits. We're looking for: ASP.NET C# programmers and web developers ('Coding ninjas') Graphic and web designers interested in non-graphic design work / sales / marketing / customer service work ('Design Gurus') Sales and marketing people ('Sales Champions') If this is the first time you've come across our site, we're a great place to work! In a nutshell, we're an innovative graphic design 'crowdsourcing' company with a fun, exciting, creative start-up with a small, dynamic and entrepreneurial team based in Sydney Australia. We're based in Western Sydney (Australia) so keep that in mind before applying. Apply by contacting us here and we'll email you back to you to get your C...
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A new world order (system)

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:20:11 GMT

To date on DesignCrowd, we've allowed customers to set any budget on projects with "no minimum". We wanted to let the size of the budget dictate the response and we wanted to keep the site as open as possible ('free market radical' style). Unfortunately, the open / market forces approach is not working perfectly (Freddie Mac / Lehman Brothers style) as lately we have seen a few contest for well below $200. Very small project budgets might be okay for simple design tasks (or tasks where you're using 1 designer) but they will not derive an optimal result from a design contest - a process that requires energy from multiple people. We've also heard vocal complaints from designers about these budgets. The good news is 1) we've been working on the solution and 2) we are in no way linked with Lehman Brothers. The solution - DesignCrowd is about to launch a new system for writing briefs and setting budgets. This post is a brief preview of our solution ...
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Design Contest Tips - The 5 Keys to Running a Successful Design Contest

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:09:54 GMT

Design contests put an army of designers (sometimes tens of thousands) at your disposal - harnessing this many people, naturally, requires thought and effort. Whether you're a small business with a small budget and a big idea (think 'the new drive-through coffee shop on the highway') or a big brand with a big budget and your own 'campus' (think Google), when you decide to run a design contest, getting the most creativity for your cash deserves your attention. We've seen hundreds of design contests go through DesignCrowd.com. Most design contests go very well but we see many that, in our opinion, could have gone better and a handful that struggle to get the right outcome. To help our customers extract the most out of our design community and their design contests, we thought we'd share the attributes of successful design contests via our blog. This post outlines the five core ingredients to a successful design conte...
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Graphic design outsourcing on steroids - design outsourcing for your clients

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:58:15 GMT

Today we officially launched our new graphic design outsourcing platform to help design related businesses outsource their client design projects! The platform allows you to discretely outsource a client design project (such as logo design) and then re-brand the DesignCrowd response as your own. This platform is setup specifically to help design studios, ad agencies, web designers/developers and printing companies outsource design projects through DesignCrowd. Essentially, this is a new spin on the crowdsourcing model that allows a client facing, design-related business (possibly operating in the offline world) to deal with the client while using crowdsourcing as its engine / virtual team. This is a powerful addition to the crowdsourcing model that is positive for on-sellers; the designers on DesignCrowd; and the end customer. For designers within our community: Designers on DesignCrowd will: Get more opportunity ...
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Oops.. We're Upgrading

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:49:03 GMT

Most regular DesignCrowd users would agree, we have come a long way. It's taken time but we are now in a position where we can confidently say: not only do we have a brilliant product but we also have a brilliant platform to support it. We rarely focus on the technology side of the site but in today's blog we wanted to touch on some of the technical developments and issues we are currently facing and how we are looking to address them going forward. As some of you may be noticing, the site has recently gone through a number of changes as we begin to lay the foundations for new and exciting product areas on DesignCrowd. As a result, we have experienced a number of unplanned outages due to installation of important fixes to the server and addressing issues in regards to server capacity and performance. What does this mean from a users point of view? Well it just means that in the short-term you may be noticing further website updates (and the occasional "oops page") as we continue to ro...
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2009 Web Designer Award Winners

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:35:41 GMT

09 Lab has won the "Best Web Designer of 2009" award on DesignCrowd while Urban Ad from Australia has taken out the "Best New Web Designer of 2009" award. Australians dominated DesignCrowd's 2009 Web Design Awards with three of the top five designers (Urban Ad, Riki of Sydney and Logoclinic of Newcastle) all hailing from Australia. DesignCrowd congratulates all winners and runners up in this year's Web Design Awards. Top 5 Web Designers 2009 1. 09 Lab - USA 2. Urban Ad - Australia 3. MagnaCrest - Philippines 4. Logoclinic - Australia 5. Riki - Australia Best New Web Designer 2009 Urban Ad - Australia Best New Web Designer 2009 - Runner Up - Australia / New Zealand Riki - Australia Best New Web Designer 2009 - Runner Up - USA / Canada Elisha Leo - Canada Best New Web Designer 2009 - Runner Up - Asia jhingrhed - Philippines Best New Web Designer 2009 - Runner Up - South America Dayiskuan - Colombia Best New...
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2009 Logo Designer Award Winners

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:34:08 GMT

Jason Shaw from Jace Design Canada has won DesignCrowd's inaugural "Best Logo Designer of 2009" award while DustinC (also from Canada) took out best newcomer. Canadian designers dominated DesignCrowd's first ever Annual Logo Design Awards - three of the top five logo designers were from Canada while Intrepid Guppy Designs of Canada was a Runner Up for Best New Logo Designer in North America. Australian designers were also 'punching above there weight' in 2009 with three of the top ten designers coming from down under. DesignCrowd wishes to congratulate all designers who received an award or were listed as a Runner Up for the Best New Logo Designer award. Top 10 Logo Designers 2009 1. Jace Design - Canada 2. DustinC - Canada 3. Pixelcloud - UK 4. Clément Nicolle - France 5. Elisha Leo - Canada 6. Synco Creative Direction - USA 7. S.R. Graphic Design - Australia 8. sD - Australia 9. PixelJuice - Australia 10. TheNetMenCorp - Argentina Best ...
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Brand Australia Contest Winners & Shortlist

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:00:04 GMT

We received a fantastic response to the Brand Australia logo contest. 362 logos designs, 110 designers, 19 countries. A great example of the power of crowdsourcing. The winners (who are announced below) received an ice cold $2500 in cash. B&T magazine's cover story today announced the winners and shortlisted designers. As background, B&T is Australia's highest circulating advertising and marketing magazine, so this contest (in addition to the cash) is excellent exposure for the winners and designers who made the shortlist - well done. The selection of the shortlist and winners was made by a mixture of public voting and a panel of judges that included prominent Australian creative agencies (including Cam Blackley at Droga5, Jonathan Pease from Tongue, Mark Braddock at Block) as well Kevin Johns from B&T and one vote from the team at DesignCrowd. You can read B&T's Brand Australia article (including comments from the judges) here. T...
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DesignCrowd has launched!

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:36:58 GMT

What is DesignCrowd? DesignCrowd is a marketplace for any type of graphic design from logo design, stationery design and web design to illustration, poster and t-shirt design. Who is it for? Designers: talented freelancers, studios and professionals Businesses: start-ups, big brands, entrepreneurs, printers, ad agencies, design studios and brand consultants How is it different from other marketplaces? More Creative. Run a design contest and get hundreds of design concepts from designers around the world. Cost Control. You name the price. We accept any budget so how much you pay is up to you. Faster. Design contests let you skip the quoting step of the value chain. Post a project tonight and get first designs by the morning. Less risk. Don’t tie yourself to one designer, hire a team of 12,000 with just a few clicks. How is it different from other contest sites? Freedom to choose. Work closely with 1 designer (outsource) or harness mul...
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DesignBay has acquired and merged with DesignCrowd

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:25:18 GMT

Dear DesignBay User, DesignBay has been growing rapidly and to build on this I'm please to announce that we recently acquired and have now merged with another large freelance graphic design community. While we have kept everything that was great about DesignBay, our new name is "DesignCrowd" and our website address will now be www.designcrowd.com - so write it down, update your bookmarks and tell your friends! Our merger with DesignCrowd is exciting - it has added 8,795 earnest and talented designers to our existing user base (taking our total community size to 12,435). It will also brings new customers to our site and means existing customers will have 12,435 more good reasons to use our service! Please join me in welcoming these designers and customers the new DesignCrowd website! As part of the change, you will notice our website has adopted a new logo, a new layout, a new homepage www.designcrowd.com (along with new web addresses) and an updated User Agreement...
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Opening Up "Brand Australia"

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:57:57 GMT

G'day, DesignBay with the help of our friends at B&T (yes, you heard me, B&T magazine the leading ad mag down-under) have launched a contest to get logo and tagline ideas for the Australian Government's new Brand Australia campaign! This campaign has been big news in Australia as the Government is going out to tender and planning to spend $20M! While we're not working with the Government on this, we thought we'd contribute to the conversation by opening up this project to find the best ideas the world has to offer. Our contest asks designers to come up with ideas for some small but very important components of this brand - the logo and tagline. Throw a shrimp on the barbie and get your thinking caps on - there is $2500 at stake and shortlisted designers will have their work profiled in the November edition of B&T magazine. - The DesignBay Team
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The greatest Waratah Ever Designed* + 20 Hot Alternatives

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:09:36 GMT

We are proud to unveil the greatest waratah logo ever made* and announce Dustin Crawford (of DustinC Canada) as the winner of our NSW Logo Contest. Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, the government has yet responded to our offers to donate any of the excellent (and improved) designs submitted by designers to our renegade contest. While Dustin has earnt himself a tidy $1000, it appears there is a <0.02% chance the logo will actually be used. Regardless, this contest has been a success - it has received 306 designs from around the world, been covered on major radio stations in Australia (including the ABC and 2UE) 3 times, applied pressure to the Government and (hopefully) shown a lot of businesses and organisations that they should consider using crowdsroucing (and of course DesignBay)! *Denotes our (possibly) biased opinion 1st Place Logo (by DustinC) It is clear to us that this design, as well as a number of the other designs would...
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$1000 Government Logo Contest + DesignBay on Twitter

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:08:36 GMT

Designers! The NSW Government has botched their new logo so we're going out on a limb and running a contest to give them a better one! We've just launched an in-house $1,000 contest to improve the New South Wales (NSW) government's new logo. Twitter about it, blog about it and (most importantly) enter it! This is a guerrilla redesign and the government hasn't sanctioned this (yet) so we need as many logo design concepts and as much public support as possible! If we can improve on the current logo design (top right above) there's a chance we can convince the NSW Government to use it! DesignBay on Twitter DesignBay is now on Twitter @DesignBay_com! That's right, you can sign up to the DesignBay Twitter feed and keep up to date with the latest news in the DesignBay marketplace. We promise that a) we will try to keep our Twitter feed interesting and not at all about what we had for lunch or whether we are picking our noses today a...
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Building a better community + New design talent

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:21:53 GMT

Dear designers / anonymous blog-readers, We've done a bunch of updates to DesignBay including improving your profile, improving how everyone views designs as well as more information on job brief pages. Get this - you can now post public reviews of other designs as well as report designs that you think might infringe copyright. Screenshot: New design page The purpose of these changes (and this post) is to build and encourage a stronger community! We'd like designers to help each other improve, provide each other with constructive feedback and, most importantly, give props to each other when they do something well! On the flip side, we'd also like our community to help monitor the behaviour of designers (see the new "Report an issue" link on the page of each design). This lets you report copyright infringement; designs that breach our User Agreement or designs that you find offensive. These reports are currently sent to DesignBay bu...
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Announcement - DesignBay launches prepaid design contests

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:12:23 GMT

Dear Customers and Designers, DesignBay now requires that customers prepay design contests. This means, for all new design contests, customers must now deposit their full budget with DesignBay at the beginning of the project. This will help protect designer rights, attract higher quality designers and mean customers get more designs for each project as designers can be confident full payment (and not just the base payments) will be made. Benefits for Designers Guaranteed payment - A winner will always be chosen More participation payments - You will get more base payments on larger projects More feedback - Customers will be committed to the process and more likely to provide feedback Benefits for Customers 45% more designs - you'll get more designs (prepaid contests receive 45% more submissions than non-prepaid) Better designs - prepaid contests attract higher calibre of designer Simpler process - yo...
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Photos (and shout outs) from CeBIT Webciety Australia 2009

Tue, 26 May 2009 14:40:26 GMT

Firstly, thanks to everybody who came down to CeBIT Webciety to visit us at the DesignBay stall. We met so many great people, including other web start-ups, entrepreneurs, programmers, designers and businesses of every size imaginable. It was an awesome experience and it was great to hear everybody's ideas and encouragement in person! It was also excellent to be able to talk to the wider community about the benefits of crowdsourcing for both businesses and designers and how we believe that this is the way of the future! In particular, shout-outs to Technation.com for helping nominating us to exhibit at CeBIT Webciety, SportsPassion for running the World Cup tagline competition with us and some of the other cool exhibitors with excellent websites and products including Travellr (great website for travel advice), Tjoos (discount coupon website), siteflex and BuzzNumbers (an excellent social media intelligence tool). Photos of t...
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How to find freelance flyer, brochure, website, poster and t-shirt design work and contests!

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:39:25 GMT

Hi all! Non-Logo Contests (Website, Flyer, T-shirt, Brochure etc... Contests) Check them out! Some astute designers may have noticed that recently we have been getting more non-logo contests like website design jobs and contests, poster design jobs and t-shirt design jobs. These projects are not only an interesting break from the standard logo design contest, but also typically have a higher budget and have more base/paricipation payments which can be reserved! We've also noticed that there are fewer people who enter these contests! Some stats! A typically logo design contest averages 12.4 participants whereas a typical brochure/flyer design contest is averaging 2.3 paricipants! The last three logo design open brief contests have had an average $400 with a total of 6 base payments on offer. The last three web design jobs have averaged $833 and had a total of 17 base payments on offer. What this means for designers is that these non-logo cont...
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The $1 Crowdsourcing Experiment - Tagline for Australia's 2018 Soccer World Cup Bid

Sun, 10 May 2009 20:41:47 GMT

DesignBay is proud to announce we will be running a crowdsourcing experiment as part of Webciety 2009 Sydney and we want you (designers, our customers and the public) to participate! The Experiment Task: Invent a tagline (with fewer than 100 characters) for Australia's 2018 Soccer World Cup Bid. Tagline should summarise why Australia should be selected to host the World Cup. View the taglines submitted so far here. Prize: $100 and 1 year of good karma How to submit: send your 100 character tagline to Twitter by writing a Twitter message that starts with @DesignBay_com #webciety #aust-2018-cup. Deadline: Midnight 31st May 2009 Objectives The objectives of this experiment are: 1) To demonstrate the power of the crowd; ...
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CeBIT Webciety 2009 and Arnold Schwarzenegger

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:54:36 GMT

Yo, we have news! DesignBay is exhibiting at CeBIT Webciety Australia 2009 (which is a part of the broader CeBIT 2009 ICT tradeshow - a down-under, spin-off of CeBIT's massive European tradeshow). CeBIT is a brilliant IT, e-commerce and general geek/gadget tradeshow. There will be mobile technology experts, programming whiz-kids and, I expect, many people that enjoy Star Trek and Atari. If that wasn't enough, Arnie 'The Governator' Schwarzenegger is somehow involved: DesignBay will be exhibiting in a special section called Webciety. Webciety is for online businesses (web2.0 start-ups, social network sites etc). Basically it is for cool kids (and we're flattered to have been invited). We're working real hard to launch a top-secret, new product by 12 May and will be looking to unveil it at CeBIT Webciety (perhaps with the help of Conan the Barbarian) - so attend if you can! For those based outside of Australia, check out CeBIT...
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Private Design Contests Now Available!

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:32:28 GMT

DesignBay users needing design work done can now run private contests through DesignBay! Private contests are only visible to logged in designers and keeps project brief hidden from the prying eyes of google and other search engines as well as your competitors. This is perfect for people who want to use DesignBay as their 'creative engine' or 'virtual design team' and don't want their clients to know. Wholesale users (such as branding strategists, web design firms, printing companies and marketing firms) are very welcome to use DesignBay and should consider using this feature whenever they run a project. Running a private contest is easy! Just then select the option (see the screenshot above) during the order process. Designers - embrace t...
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HI-TEC Icon Design Contest Winners

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:30:19 GMT

Well done to the winners of the HI-TEC shoes icon design contests! HI-TEC is a major international brand. This is great for your portfolio and should help you win over future clients! Keep your eye out for their work on the HI-TEC website and HI-TEC shoes in shoe stores around the world! Phase 1 Winning Icon Designs - £500 1st - Jace Design 2nd - Synco Design 3rd - TheNetMenCorp Phase 2 Winning Footwear Icon Designs - £600 1st - Jace Design 2nd - Synco Creative Direction Phase 3 Winning Gender Icon Designs - £400 1st - Synco Creative Direction 2nd - Jace Design
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New designer rankings and portfolio pages

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:10:49 GMT

Yo! You have been regular in submitting great designs, so you deserve this regular, metamucil-like blog! You might be interested in the new designer rankings just out for March 09 (published on our design jobs home page) and some improvements we've made recently to DesignBay marketplace! Latest designer rankings Congratulations to new entrants Top 10 designers Paul Curran from PC Design, Naranbat Jargalsaikhan (possibly the greatest designer in Mongolia!) and Synco Creative Direction who have rocketed to #2 on the rankings! Well done to Jace Design, NiteOwl Designs and TheNetMenCorp for maintaining their Top 5 rankings. A few designers have asked about how the rankings are determined. The following things are factors: earnings; recent earnings; recent number of submissions; positive vs negative ratings; and quality of designs (a subjective overlay). The rankings are not determined by a mathematical formula - much like DMOZ or th...
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HI-TEC posts 3rd project on DesignBay

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:08:08 GMT

HI-TEC have just posted their 3rd contest for icon design on DesignBay after getting an amazing number and quality of icon designs on their 1st contest submitted to their first project from a truly international design pool including designers from Mongolia, Texas, the UK, Canada and Australia. HI-TEC are a major international brand and one of the first to use crowdsourcing for a major design project. If you haven't already submitted to their 2nd contest (Phase 2) - we've extended it by 24 hours and increased the budget. Duncan Patmore, Global Head of Marketing and Product for HI-TEC has said: "Hi-Tec is known in the Footwear business for a succession of technology based industry firsts and we are delighted that through Design Bay we have achieved another by being the first to use a crowdsourcing design model." Mr Patmore has also said: " Crowdsourcing is a brilliant way to pick the creative brains of a global design team and home in on a s...
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Congratulations to HI-TEC Phase 1 Winners

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:34:38 GMT

Hola! It has been a long time since I last blogged and it has been a long time since Michael Jackson toured. Fortunately (and unlike MJ) this will not be 'our last time' - I promise to make blogs more regular! The focus of this blog is 1) HI-TEC congratulations 2) welcome to some new design talent. Congratulations to HI-TEC Phase 1 Winners Congratulations to (1st place) Jason Shaw from Jace Design, (2nd Place) Synco Creative Direction and (3rd place) Fernanda, Ignacio and TheNetMenCorp Team - well done! HI-TEC gave us some big wraps for phase 1 so let's keep it up for phase 2 and phase 3 (coming soon). On Saturday I played a game of squash (which is a sport for people that are not good at tennis) and at the squash centre they stocked 100s of HI-TEC squash shoes. On the bottom of the shoe soles was HI-TEC's old Abrazone icon/logo (which we are redesigning as part of phase 2). If you design a technology logo your for HI-TEC through thi...
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And we're back!

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:47:54 GMT

Dear Designers, You may have noticed DesignBay has had some technical problems in the last 5 days. On Sunday 18th January our server experienced a problem and our system was dramatically affected. Customer logins stopped working and many of the brief pages were temporarily damaged and, unfortunately, some data has been permanently damaged. , We're sorry for this downtime and any frustration and confusion this has caused. The good news is .... The DesignBay website is fully functional again. , We've been working hard to correct the issues and have fixed most of the problems. Only one customer has cancelled their project (so don't submit for this car care logo design contest). , We've offered most other customers some cash back to encourage them to continue with their projects and buy some of your great designs! Note that some problems remain and you may find the following: Your profile pic is no longer there Your 'About me' descr...
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Interview with NiteOwl Designs: Work-from-home Freelance Graphic Designer

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:30:43 GMT

DesignBay, 20/12/2008 Hi everyone, Jenny Witte or 'NiteOwl Designs' is a work-from-home mother and a great graphic designer who has sold a number of designs on DesignBay (she was #2 in our November graphic designer rankings)! Jenny has been kind enough to do an interview with us and share with us why she uses DesignBay! Interview with NiteOwl Designs Q: Tell us about yourself?! A: Graphic design is my passion, hobby and my career. My designs are customized to the clients needs and style preferences. I will work with the client to make sure that their designs uniquely theirs and satisfy their wants. I live in Des Moines, Iowa with my husband and twin daughters. I stay at home with my twins during the day and in the evening I work on my designs, hence NiteOwl Designs. However, I will work on the designs as needed to meet t...
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Grow your own virtual agency: bring new designers to DesignBay!

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:49:53 GMT

DesignBay, 15/12/2008 You might have seen our new offer to refer designers and get 1% of their earnings. This post is an explanation of what it's all about and why you should try it out! Help DesignBay, Help Yourself We need more designers! The more designers we have, the more jobs we will get and the more money you (/our designers) will earn. You might think "hey this will increase competition for me!" and in some cases yes it will, but there are enough benefits to make this something you should support: More jobs - as we get more designers, customers become more likely to buy. When they see "hey 1000 designers!" they will think "that is pretty damn good". If they see "Wow! 5000 designers!" how will they say no? More designers = more customers and jobs for you to pitch for. And don't forget, designers will spread their time across jobs - not everyone can ...
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Hot new features and November designer rankings!

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:44:30 GMT

Designers & DesignBay aficionado, We have added 6 hot new features to DesignBay and you guys have added over 1000 designs in the last month. Our customers love it! We have set the table and some of you are cooking up Michelin star designs. Here is a recent testimonial from Aquatica (a recent client): I don't know why more people do not flock to this service. You literally have the world working on your project. You are able to pull so many ideas from so many people. The logo I picked is great and really pulls all the themes I wanted into it's ultimate design. Thank you again, M.R. Aquatica, Inc. Well done to Serkan Yener (a freelance graphic designer from Australia) for his Aquatica logo and helping to...
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Customer feedback on designs

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:44:38 GMT

DesignBay, 20/11/2008 Designers, friends & anonymous blog observers You can now communicate better with customers and get expect more detailed feedback from customers! We've just added some hot new features to the DesignBay website: 1. A new rating system Customers can now rate each and every design that you submit. Your designs will be rated out of 5 on the following dimensions: creativity, quality, fonts and colors. Customers will also be encouraged to provide general comments for each design you submit. We will soon be publishing your average ratings on your profile for other designers and customers to see (so do your best on each and every design!). ...
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My Profile updates to help designers

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:20:59 GMT

Attn Designers. You can now review quotes and designs you have submitted through the Submissions section of your My Profile. You can also add an 'About' section to your public profile explaining about yourself or your business. We are working on some other improvements for designers that we'll launch in the next month or so.Do you have any ideas for further improvements you would like to see?
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Are web design contests good for designers?

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:36:37 GMT

DesignBay, 13/10/2008 Designers now have the opportunity to enter open brief design contests for web design - but some designers seem unsure whether or not to enter them. The question is: should you participate? And the answer is: Yes! Web design contests are easier than you think, winners have a very high likelihood of establishing a client relationship and getting further work and, regardless of the outcome, you will build a design asset! This blog explains how web design contests work and highlights the benefits of web design contests for designers. There are two types of web design contests: Layout only design contests - for these projects all you need to submit is the 'look' of the website (i.e. just the front page). You will typically have to design the menu, some graphics, so...
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September Update!

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:21:51 GMT

DesignBay, 29/09/2008 Creative peoples and DesignBay contributors! During September we've had over $4000 of projects on DesignBay and we currently have around $2500 of open briefs still running! Well done to Fire Bubble Design and Jace Design for some great submissions this month and entering our top 10 designer rankings! A special welcome to Entz Creative, a new member from Singapore, and congratulations to 'manual' (our first graphic designer from Japan) for winning the Real Images Logo Design Contest. Our first Brochure Design contest (Goo Roo brochure design with abudget of $1000) closes at the end of the month and is still wide open! The client has ruled out the first 15 entries so make sure you have a go if you have time! ...
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Small jobs, big jobs and fun jobs

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:00:44 GMT

DesignBay, 8/09/2008 Hey all! We've had lots of new projects lately! We're keen to hear what you think. There's currently over US$3000 of design contests up for grabs of DesignBay. We have small jobs, big jobs and fun jobs (like the Super Internet Disco Party Logo Contest)! We have brochure designs, text-only logo design and symbol only logo design contests. Our customers want more designs and these projects haven't been awarded yet! There is a jobs up for grabs and lots of opportunities for you to show these businesses what you've got. Check out this brochure design contest (it still has bass payments left!). A special welcome to Jomapi (a designer from Sydney Australia) and Jace Design (from New Westminster, Canada) who have submitted some of the more creative designs in the last few weeks! Check it out! We really want to hear what...
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DesignBay website updates August

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:12:49 GMT

DesignBay, 19/08/2008 We have been churning out improvements on DesignBay (and finding new projects) during August. Recent DesignBay.com improvements: You have a new login page (as of today!) which includes a 'remember me' checkbox. I hope this makes life a little easier! You have improved designer profile pages (which now include portfolios), a shiny new sitemap, nicer view winner pages, and improved general good-looking-ness (well we updated this a couple of months ago) Customers can now request Business Card Design, Stationery Design, Brochure Design, Flyer Design,Graphic Design, Illustration and Poster Design. Have a go at our first brochure design contest! We have more improvements cooking (RSS feeds, 'about you' sections in the design) but we would listen intently to any of your ideas! ...
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7 Logo Design Trends

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:33:27 GMT

Authorities on design publish articles on logo design trends every year but a closer look shows a common vein of 7 logo design styles that have been with us for at least 5 years. , These 'trends' appear to be withstanding the test of time, the question is: should we use them or should we avoid them? If you compare Graphic Design USA's logo trends from 2003 ,with trends from 2008 (see LogoLounge's 2008 Design Trends and LogoOrange.com's Trends from 2008) you'll find that some of the popular styles have persisted over the last half a decade. , Occassionally the trends change names but often they simply pop up again. , So, are they still trends or just commonplace techniques? These 7 logo design styles have been popular since 2003: , ,1. Transparency 2003: Ranked #9 by Graphic Design USA 2006: 'Overlays' #6 by LogoBlog.org 2007: Ranked #9 by LogoOrange.com 2008: Ranked #...
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Quote what it's worth!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:23:07 GMT

Our customers are clamoring for more quotes and (incredibly) some projects are going without any quotes. , If customers are not offering enough money for a logo design or a web design - let's tell them! A few designers have said "they're not offering enough money". , Well you are the experts, so let the customer know!!! , The market dictates what a piece of work is worth and you (the designers) are 50% of the market. , Customers requesting quotes are yelling out "I have money and I want to spend it". , They are red hot leads knocking down your door. , Pick up that mouse and throw your hat in the ring! What works well when quoting: Quote what it's worth - if a job says <,250 but you think it's worth 400, then quote 400. , For quote projects, the budget is just a guide. , Customers often don't really know what a project is worth. , They don't know how long it takes to create a vector logo or cr...
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Quoting - getting a customer the old school way

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:05:03 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 We've got some new customers who are requesting quotes on DesignBay. To clear up confusion there are two types of briefs on DesignBay Request for Quotes and Open briefs. Request for quotes is a project where designers submit the amount of money they are willing to do the project for. The lowest quote does not necessarily win. So far only the High School Reunion Invitation design project has selected a winner so you're all in with a shot with the other ones. Our updated Frequently asked questions gives a more detailed explanation on how the different briefs work and here is an earlier blog that gives tips on submitting quotes. Thanks, Alec
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Split decision

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:42:22 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 We have a number of customers taking a very long time in deciding which design they want and sometimes not replying to emails. We think we've got the solution but we'd like to know what you think about it. Situation In the last 3 months we've had a 6 open briefs (Xiss, HCG, VoxSciences, NMS, EnergySaverClub and Aristiques) where the clients have gone missing in action and have not responded to DesignBay emails or decided on which design they want to run with. Some have eventually got back to us (EnergySaverClub and Artistiques) but the others continue to mull over their decision or not respond. As a result designers don't get paid for their work and the money just sits with DesignBay. Choosing a logo can be hard decision but it seems unfair to have money sitting unpaid indefinitely. Some designers have begun to leave DesignBay because of these delays...
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Lincoln Hotels logo brief closed early

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:22:14 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 Lincoln Hotels & Suites have decided to close their brief 1 week early as they have already selected the logo they want to use. This is good news and bad news. It means the customer liked a design so much they didn't care about any others that might be submitted! But if you were still working on a design you might be disappointed and, regrettably, some of your effort may have been wasted. However, I think you would be less disappointed if you'd completed the design and then not won. Closing the brief early has hopefully saved you time you would have spent completing the logo (with no chance of winning) and maybe you can re-use the concept and artwork elsewhere! If a customer is adamant they have chosen a logo (and no further logo submissions will change their mind) then I think it's best to close the brief and let you all know so you are not wasting your time. ...
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DesignBay General Update April

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:20:10 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 April has been a good month for DesignBay - we've had some fantastic submissions, new briefs and have added some new technology (like the automatic watermark). We have 4 briefs still open. The Team24 logo design job in particular needs more submissions. Only 1 or 2 logos submitted so far come close to what they're looking for so there's a good opportunity for someone to win it with a top logo design. Note that they really want logos with a Web2.0 theme (see these Web2.0 example logos and design techniques) - that is where most of the submission so far have stumbled. Well done to Offbeat design and Red Zest Creative for their winning logo designs in the AJR Parking Services brief. We've also had some great submissions from new members and I'd like to acknowledge and welcome some of this new talent to DesignBay: ...
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How to make a Web 2.0 logo

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:20:10 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 Web2.0 logos have a distinctive look and feel and often use techniques that break with accepted logo design conventions. Web2.0 logos often use orange, grey and lime green. They use reflection, gradient and 3D effects. But it is important not to get carried away like Gwen Stefani - pick just one of these techniques, don't use them all together. Web2.0 businesses don't do much printing and the effectiveness of their logo in print is rarely connected with the success of their business. These logos are built for use on a website and not for traditional marketing. Thus they are optimised for computer screen monitors and not print. Web2.0 logos happily ignore the conventions of traditional logo design that can cause problems with offse...
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The Open Brief vs Quoting + Tips

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:18:29 GMT

DesignBay logo brief results

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:17:54 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 The winners of the DesignBay logo brief have been released! We've selected joint winners (and the results did not go with voting). Congratulations to: Illumin8 Design (Equal 1st) for their excellent concept - a paint splat that also communicates that we are a community of designers Jeff from Offbeat Design (Equal 1st) for submitting 2 great logos (we will use the Corisande font you used) Our other place getters - Giselle for excellent use of font, Color-Crew for a very effective light bulb icon and Olivemind for what was definitely the peoples choice and perhaps the best concept submitted. We chose two winners because we liked the icon from one design and the font from another. The 1st place prize of $1000 and the second place payment of $200 was combined and split between our joint winners. I thin...
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Collectively we decide

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:17:26 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 56 logo submissions, 25 designers, 5 place payments and 1 winner to choose. We have a tough decision to make in selecting the best logo for DesignBay and we'd really like your help in picking a good one. The reason we're doing this (for the DesignBay brief and for every Open Brief posted on DesignBay) is it will help: Guide the client Identify which designs should not receive a base payment Stimulate creativity It is just as important to vote for the designs that you think are unprofessional as for the designs you like. Imagine a young designer who has just finished a digital design course. Fresh out of college he visits DesignBay, and decides to create and submit his first logo. This is the first time he's ever done a logo (he majored in animation and web design). Would you expect his design to be good? ...
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What would you like next?

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:17:04 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 The DesignBay website is not finished yet - it is ... yes, beta. However, rather than being a 'beta release' I like to think of it as a 'Subway cookie' release - half cooked, but still really good. We really want to know 1) What do you want DesignBay to be? 2) What feature should we add next? We'd love you to submit your ideas on how DesignBay can improve. -Alec
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Better than a Push-pop

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:16:38 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 A (completed) connect-the-dots flyer Today we marketed DesignBay to creative talent at leading Australian design schools with our Connect-the-dots ad campaign. We canvassed ~300 design students with an old school advertising gimmick that aims to be more entertaining than the Push-pop and less expensive than the Good Year blimp ... a connect-the-dots game (executed with high quality graphic design and well groomed promo men). DesignBay promo man & confidant Darren Kwan Respect/props/thanks to all the COFA and UTS design students who took our flyers and stopped to chat. You all gave good eye contact and were particularly fashionable. We've got a lot more promoting to do. Sydney represents ~0.07% of the world's population - so this is just the first step in launching DesignBay. We will be visiting ...
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Our first winner

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:16:08 GMT

DesignBay, 25/06/2008 Congratulations to Fiona Johnston for being our first designer to win a brief! Fiona earned US$300 for her winning design in the DesignBay Connect-the-dots Promo Ad Brief and then US$100 for making some small modifications. Fiona did a great job - she enhanced the concept described in the brief by adding hyphens between the letters, a start arrow and a separate 'dot-com' clause. Fiona chose some great colours and used fonts effectively. Fiona is a graphic designer based in Australia who studied at the Computer Graphics College (CGC) in Sydney. You can view Fiona's profile online. Thanks, Alec
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Fire Up and Disrupt the Market

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:15:25 GMT

In 2007, the London Olympic Games Committee paid the Wolff Olins brand agency £400,000 for a logo that sparked a public backlash and was famously condemned as "a puerile mess, an artistic flop and a commercial scandal". I looked at that logo and thought "I know 10 people that could do better than that" - but they were never given the opportuntity.Today we launched DesignBay - a graphic design marketplace that gives creative people opportunities and helps businesses get the best design possible.DesignBay aspires to shake up the graphic design, marketing and advertising industries. We believe creativity exists everywhere and reputation counts for nothing. We think great creativity can come from an agency or the person sitting next to you. Carl Jung believed in the Collective Unconcious, DesignBay believes in Collective Creativity. We are not exclusive, we are an open meritocracy. Everyone gets a chance and your success is dictated by your actions.DesignBay aspires to innovate. We...
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