Has anyone on here had much success with online design contests? I've been keeping an eye on several sites and feel they are a good oppurtunity to improve my design skills with the outside chance of earning a few beer tokens.

 

Some offer more money but have 100+ entrants, I'd be happier going for those with smaller prizes, fewer entrants and a slightly better chance of winning.

 

Are there any to avoid (i.e. don't pay up) and any that come reccommended?

 

[i'm not sure if this is in the correct forum but feel free to move it]

it's a minefield. you may be up against some stiff competition but it's stll good to enter and push yourself a little, see what you're up against.

 

some competition holders are b**tards and never reply or want everything for 5 dollars

if you see it as creative dabbling with the chance to win some beer money then you can have a good time.

 

don't enter any competitions i'm entering though or i might not end up with any beer

Competitions are damaging to our profession. Seriously, if at all possible boycott them. Here's why:

 

1. It teaches clients to expect work done on spec. Spec work is bad.

 

2. When you enter a competition you're not practising design, you're just drawing pretty pictures. Design is about using visual cues to solve the specific problems presented by the brief (and some that arise along the way). Without a thorough discovery phase it's simply not possible to find out what those challenges are - all you can do is take the word of the client who is often technologically-challenged or inarticulate but most importantly is not a designer. It's your job as the designer to discover, recognise and meet those design challenges from the business objectives of the client, and without getting to know the client you cannot do that. The client will probably not understand the difference between design and drawing pretty pictures. As the designer, it's your job to educate them.

 

3. Design competitions reduce design to the status of a commodity. Design is not a commodity, it's a discipline and should be practised by responsible professionals.