Design competitions, where are they and are they worth it?

**Buda** · 09-30-2012, 09:30 PM

For a creative with some free time, why not work on some wildly creative promotional pieces for yourself?

99% of online competitions should be avoided and I can't think of a single one that is worth your time. Maybe someone else can think of one for you though.

PrintDriver · 10-01-2012, 01:09 AM

The only competitions worthwhile are those you can enter a project into after completion. It's even better if you are nominated by a third party in recognition of your work.

There is no free-time when running a freelance business. All effort should go toward forwarding that business.
(I'm assuming freelance cuz if my boss ever caught a designer doing crowdsource crap on company time, they wouldn't know what hit em.)

**Buda** · 10-01-2012, 02:00 AM

I'd consider submitting work to award type competitions that as PD suggested, you submit after you have done a job. Some of those awards amazing submissions and is a great way for a freelancer to get recognition among their peers.

aphextron · 10-02-2012, 02:48 AM

Take a look at *crowdsourcing site removed* and this will give you a general idea of what these sites are about. The average is around 200 submissions per contest, so it's more a less a way of getting thousands of dollars worth of work for 100 bucks. It's not worth your time if you're actually trying to make money but I guess its not bad for practicing in your free time.

**PanToshi** · 10-02-2012, 02:56 AM

Originally posted by aphextron View Post

Take a look at *crowdsourcing site removed* and this will give you a general idea of what these sites are about. The average is around 200 submissions per contest, so it's more a less a way of getting thousands of dollars worth of work for 100 bucks. It's not worth your time if you're actually trying to make money but I guess its not bad for practicing in your free time.

Sorry, we do not allow advertising links to crowdsource sites, so I removed the link you posted.

Thanks,
Your friendly mod
Pan

aphextron · 10-02-2012, 03:00 AM

Sorry I didn't know

**Buda** · 10-02-2012, 03:53 AM

I recently considered entering a competition. I started a piece but the deadline came and went before I finished it. The prize was a VIP ticket and goodies for a creative conference I want to go to. The competition was to design something to be printed on the goodie bags to be given away at the conference.

For some reason, this doesn't seem as evil to be as say a logo design competition. It's more like giving back to the local creative community and having your work in front of your peers.

So I guess that would be my 1% of design competitions that I don't consider terribly exploitative.

Design competitions, where are they and are they worth it?

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