‘Crowdsource’ a cover, rip off designers?
Sun, Mar 9th, 2008
Update: As he commented here, Jonathan Fields has dropped the contest mentioned below so as to avoid the appearance of exploitation. I applaud him for that move, and apologize if my post implied that his intentions were less than honest. He’s clearly a stand-up guy who intends to do the right thing by creative-types.
Today, I saw this status update over on Twitter, and was intrigued — not because I’m a designer, but because it concerns an area that I’ve worked with people on, book cover design. The long and short of what’s going on is this: help this guy design the cover of his book and win stuff, including, possibly US$1k.
Something about this bothers me, and it took me a while to put my finger on it. Then, it came to me: the contest cheapens the talents of people in a way that I find troubling. I’ve worked with designers on a bunch of projects, including my own book covers, the book covers of others, and several websites (including the one you’re reading now). In each case, I (or my publisher) was happy to pay for the vision of the designer, and to work with them to achieve our goals. This collaborative process seems to better value the talents of people, and to recognize the skills that designers bring to the table. Turning this collaborative process into a design contest where lots of people end up laboring for free seems like a short-sighted publicity stunt to me. (I guess the stunt is working, because here I am blogging about it.;) )
I suppose I’m old fashioned in at least one way: I believe in contracting out work to people and paying them appropriately for their creativity and talent, without the bullshit. This publicity stunt has the whiff of a cheap scheme for the publisher to come up with a bunch of covers and pretend like there’s some kind of community input (the author calls it “crowdsourcing,” which in this case seems to be a euphemism for “work for me without pay”). Overall, it strikes me as a bit exploitative and a bit crass, and it severely undervalues the transformative talents, skill, and insight that designers can bring to a project. Though the author probably has completely honest intentions, I still think the idea is fraught with trouble. If the author wants a cover worthy of his book, his publisher should just pay a designer fairly, and quit the stunts.
(Via Scribbles and Words)
# Comment by Jay Francis Hunter on Sun, Mar 9th, 2008 at 6:03 pm:
You’re not the only one with the uneasy feeling. There’s a huge discussion over at Freelance Switch about it.
Honestly though, I don’t see the big problem. The publisher has a ton of cover designers on call and they could, of course, go that route but Jonathan decided to offer the chance to have someone design a book cover for Random House who would have otherwise not had a chance to. I agree, it’s most likely a ploy to gain interest in the upcoming book, but what if it’s not?
I certainly don’t really agree with spec work, but those of us that don’t need to do work like this, well…don’t need to. However, those that find this to be a great opportunity for them, whatever the reason, will undoubtedly be the ones that participate.
However, if people see this and begin to take this route as the norm, then that would most definitely be a smash in the face to designers in general. So, I guess I agree with it as a once in a blue moon kind of fun contest type thing, but as a normal way of doing things…never.
P.S. Oh crap, you and your wife wrote Vegan Freak! What a small web this is. I love that book. :o)
# Comment by Design a Book Cover - Win $1000 | Scribbles & Words on Sun, Mar 9th, 2008 at 6:14 pm:
[…] such a hot topic on the net right now. There’s a huge discussion over at Freelance Switch and Bob Torres is also chiming in at his blog. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and […]
# Comment by Luke on Mon, Mar 10th, 2008 at 2:25 am:
Coincidentally, I found (and started reading) ideasonideas blog not all that long ago and a post in its archives touches on this very subject.
I think this analogy puts the practice into some perspective:
As Jay points out, knowingly or not, you’ve stumbled on to what is a popular designer sentiment; both the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada and the US Graphic Artists Guild strongly advocate against such practice.
# Comment by Jonathan Fields on Mon, Mar 10th, 2008 at 10:03 am:
Hi Bob,
Quick update for you and your readers.
Just hours after I launched the book cover contest, I shut it down yesterday in order to avoid even the perception of exploitation. You can read the full explanation at:
http://jonathanfields.com/blog/cover-design-and-voting-contest-discontinued-lesson-learned/
A genuine thanks to you and everyone the in design community for bringing to my attention the ethical issues in what had originally been intended as simply a community-building, fun adventure, but clearly went astray.
Have a a great week ahead!
# Comment by Bob Torres on Mon, Mar 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm:
@jfh: Good points. I don’t think that Jonathan intended it in any negative way. To me, though, it just didn’t sit right, as I explained. Also, on the issue of Vegan Freak, glad you like it!
We’re working on the 2nd edition, which will be a complete rewrite from the ground up.
@Luke: thanks for the pointer to that article. Judging from the comments on Jonathan’s site, some designers feel the same way about spec work, while others saw it as an opportunity….
@Jonathan: Thanks for the heads-up, and for the proactive action on your site. I’m not a designer, so I don’t really have a horse in this race, but I’m glad to see that you’re willing to avoid all perceptions of exploitation and spec work. I applaud your forthrightness.
# Comment by nicole on Wed, Mar 12th, 2008 at 5:27 pm:
I’m a graphic designer myself, currently working on an MFA (coincidentally regarding narrative design) and teaching. I tell my students to be wary of such things. Sometimes they work out great and there are nothing but good intentions on all sides. Other times, not so much. I know the Nike logo was designed by a student for only a few hundred bucks. Not fair in my mind, but then again much of capitalism isn’t.
I’m glad to hear you talk about your relationship with graphic designers so positively. Much of the time, I think our collective presence goes unnoticed despite clogging up much of the visual milieu. Closer contact between designer and author, I think, can help to temper this mild typographic and visual insanity. Or hopefully, just make it more meaningful.