CrowdSourcing - Good or Bad

I recently read an article on Adage about CrowdSourcing "Can Creativity Be Crowdsourced?". On the face of it Crowdsourcing can be good. But I think that it has a limited use. If you have a product, idea, service established and then bring it to a crowdsource venue, it makes a lot of sense. But trying to get a logo, advertising campaign or identity work through crowdsource is only asking for trouble for the client as well as the designer.

For the company requesting the logo if you go with a service that doesn't have a process of due diligence, you open yourself up to copyright infringement. There is a reason why large brand/logo design shops charge so much. There is more to creating a mark that is unique than pushing pixels around.  I'm not one to stand here and say that what the Future Brands and Landor of the world charges are fair. But there has got to be some middle ground. But why would you not go to a professional with such a valuable task?

For the designer it opens up a whole other can of worms. By taking part in these types of websites/services you admit that your work product is essentially worth nothing. All these designers do work for free. Yes one person gets paid. But how many people do work for free. If you as a designer/art director don't value your work, why would you think that a client is going to value your work?

Bottom line I think we need to take our work seriously so clients will take our work seriously and pay us fairly for our work product.

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Can Creativity Be Crowdsourced?

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