Many of you are probably familiar with crowdsourcing which is defined by Merriam-Webster as the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers; a portmanteau of "crowd" and "outsourcing,". In some circumstances, it is actually a very useful approach to solving certain problems, however that is certainly not the case in design (especially logo design).
This letter written by AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) to the Tokyo Olympic Committee explains what is wrong with crowdsourcing logo design:
"Competitions that ask designers to contribute their creativity and hours of work without remuneration in the hopes of their work being selected are against the global standards of professional practice for communication designers. In essence, a compromise of the ethics of the profession that protect the interests of designers, clients, and the potential for extraordinary outcomes. The reason for this is that any remarkable design is the result of a designer working with the client to create an outcome that captures all of the interests and needs of the client and the messages to be illuminated. This cannot be done without a collaborative engagement with the client in advance of designing the results.
Secondly, if the competition is open to the broader public rather than trained and experienced professionals, it demonstrates both disrespect for a universally respected Japanese profession and also suggests that the interests of the committee are served as easily by those with little experience as those with judgment and skill."
Click here to read the complete letter.
