The Crowdsourcing Conundrum

I have always known that spec work was frowned upon by the design community, and I had a basic understanding of why that position made sense. I don't think, however, that I was completely sold on that position. And I'm a designer!

I realize that every designer working on spec sets the profession back a few steps in terms of achieving respect for our skills and the value of our contributions among other disciplines. I realize that clients requesting spec work are after that one precious deliverable and no more. And I realize that the fees paid for spec work are far lower than the value a "hired" designer could provide. Despite all of those realizations, I couldn't help but think that there might be that one spec project that could be my big break. Get my name out there. Send businesses running to my door asking for my help, thereby launching my own business profitably from the start. And it's this temptation that I imagine so many other young designers fall into and that keeps this issue a constant one. Five years out of school, money is not really an issue (meaning that I have a small roof over my head, I'm not in danger of starving, and even have a savings account), yet I still find myself tempted by spec work. I've never had a desire to be famous, in fact I'm fairly introverted. But I take great pride in my work and would like nothing more than to be respected for the work I do and the benefits I provide to my clients. (I know, I know...that statement is the antithesis of what spec work stands for.) But there's always that small voice saying, "What if...."

I also have to admit that I've been a bit naive about the fact that crowd sourcing is really just a new, superficial "look, we embrace participatory design" facade for spec work. Crowd sourcing just seemed like the newest trend of a generation that desires to be heard and to be involved in all the decision making. I remember voting with great fervor for the new blue m&m when I was in high school. I must have voted at least a dozen times to make sure that blue beat out the purple and the pink, and I felt justified when the new blue m&m was unveiled weeks later. Maybe that seems like a ridiculous example, but until reading Richard Grefe's What's The Harm in Crowdsourcing?, I hadn't consciously made the connection that companies (and federal agencies) have used our desire to participate to their advantage and have disguised their motives well behind this idea of crowd sourcing.

Perhaps this desire to participate stems from our culture's obsession with celebrity and all things "reality" (which, in reality, rarely even resembles reality). We're all waiting to be "discovered" for that thing we do well. Blogs, contests, reality shows - all ways that we put ourselves and our work out there for someone to notice, and I don't think that we'll see an end to those things anytime soon. So maybe there's no fix to this problem of spec work and crowd sourcing, but how can the design community continue to educate designers about the pitfalls of this type of work (the list is long aside from lack of respect... read this blog post for a more in-depth look)?

Perhaps it's because I've been reading an issue of Entrepreneur magazine that is dedicated to franchising, but as I pondered this issue of how to get newbie designers to resist the temptation of spec work, I had an idea for a business. (Keep in mind that this has less than a week of thought behind it, so don't judge too critically, just throwing an idea out for conversation) What if - like the thousands of small business incubators across the country - there were incubators dedicated solely to design. This incubator would provide a physical place to work (with utilities) and could function in so many different levels. First off, the incubator could "hire" young designers and function as it's own little company. Projects that larger design firms put out for freelancers could funnel through the incubator so that the design firm could be comfortable knowing that there would be plenty of legitimate designers eager to work, and that the structure of the incubator could provide security and an easy way to submit jobs, pay for freelance services, and even hire a full-time designer already familiar with their company if it came to that. On a second level, the incubator could work with organizations that are currently seeking designers for spec work to rethink their approach and use the incubator to get a higher quality product than they might from the masses, at a cost lower than what they would incur at an established agency with significant overhead. Lastly, the incubator could serve its more traditional purpose of helping budding entrepreneurs get their own design business off the ground. This opportunity to work on legitimate projects, earn at least a partial salary, network with fellow designers, and gain exposure to larger design firms may help reduce the need and/or temptation to work on crowd sourcing or speculative projects. Just an idea....