Crowdsourcing is a common buzzword thrown about in the 2.0 universe these days. Essentially it means to take a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call.¹ Social Media "sharing" generally operates on this principle...as most SM news aggregators are populated by unpaid editors working to create content for consumption by the masses.
Digg is currently the most successful of these social media aggregators...although it has a very niche audience of mostly technophiles and males aged 15-34 (although so does the web).
However, one company has taken the idea of crowdsourcing one step further: crowdSPRING. Launched to the public in May of this year, crowdSPRING operates on this same philosophy. Take a group of seemingly unconnected individuals and driving them towards the common goal of creating a "custom logo, website, marketing materials, illustration, or other design work". Now this sounds great doesn't it? But how is the quality of work maintained? Does crowdsourcing actually work effectively?
The ingenius part? It actually does. crowdSPRING creates one-shot products and leverages its community to freelance work for up and coming and established artists and designers. The more interest in a project the lower the price. The trade off for the lower commission being that more interest tends to revolve around more high-profile projects and thus the more exposure that such winning the competition would bring for the individual designer or design team.
I actually first learned about crowdSPRING while on Twitter... I am no graphic designer...I'm a marketer/social media enthusiast who enjoys long walks on the beach...and has a penchant for the ridiculous. I also am terrible at Paddle sports...take that for what you will. What do I know about actually designing a logo?
While on Twitter I was immediately found and approached by crowdSPRING's own Angeline Vuong (crowdSPRING Community Manager) who recommended I check out the site and service. I was amazed. This service seemed geared towards my demographic perfectly: cost effective design, high quality and a fun and friendly community/atmosphere.
crowdSPRING can only look forward to better days with their "race to the bottom" pricing and competitive and vibrant community. This is a start up to watch out for and pay attention to in the coming months and years.
¹Crowdsourcing. (2008, November 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crowdsourcing&oldid=252214205
² Picture Credits: crowdSPRING Logo and photos based on Angeline Vuong (Obviously...)
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, showing us some social love or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.
tagged as aggregators, Angeline Vuong, Community Manager, crowdsourcing, crowdSPRING, Digg, Social Media, start-ups, startups, twitter
