We’ve covered outsourcing sites before, like Elance and Freelancer.com, which are open to all kinds of freelancers, from telemarketers to virtual assistants to graphic designers to bookkeepers. But some, like Chicago-based CrowdSPRING, specialize.
The producers of "Trep Life," the Chicago-based series of webcasts exploring the joys and challenges of entrepreneurship, just released the latest episode, featuring Ross Kimbarovsky and Mike Samson of crowdSPRING.
You might think that it’s pretty strange for a guy that’s launching his new online agency to promote an alternative to working with an agency altogether… but that’s what I’m going to do. I’m sure I’ll get some hate mail from my designer friends for posting this. I’m okay with that. I’ll explain why.
Crowdsourcing is an incredibly effective way for companies to cut costs as well as generate ideas, and in an age of digital communication, it is also a great way of connecting with customers or advocates.
Small businesses are becoming savvier about social media. And, increasingly, smaller-scale operations are turning to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social channels for promotions, customer acquisition, and sales leads. An impressive 75 percent of small businesses now have a presence on a social media site.[...] This new data comes from CrowdSpring, a Web design firm that crowdsources all of its projects and that created the splendid new infographic below.
crowdSPRING is an online marketplace that connects companies to artists for commissioned projects like CD covers, logos, copywriting and more. crowdSPRING was given the Chicago Innovation Award of 2010, was nominated for a Webby in 2009, and won the Stevie Award for New Product or Service of the Year in the 2009 American Business Awards. I had the chance to speak with co-founder Mike Samson at Techweek, where I asked him about crowdSPRING’s famous clients, the future of crowdSPRING, and the weirdest commission he’s ever seen.
Creativity is always in demand for businesses both large and small, but it doesn’t have to seem out-of-reach for the beginning start-up. From creating logos to websites to industrial designs, Chicago-based crowdSpring has provided a vast pool of creative talent all kinds of businesses since its launch in 2008.
Got a flair for graphic design and a passion for buffalo? The Interior Department has an assignment for you. The department is using crowdSpring.com to gather entries and will award $1,000 to the creator of the winning design, with $250 going to the second- and third-place finishers. The deadline for entries is June 15.
The creators of a recipe book made up of 140-character recipes crowdsourced through Twitter is asking the public to choose the illustrations. These recipes will be accompanied by pictures chosen by the public on Facebook following a design project on CrowdSPRING, and will be made into ‘Tweet Pie: The world’s shortest recipe book’.
crowdSPRING co-founder, Ross Kimbarovsky, gives businesses tips in a video interview for improving the effectiveness of their newsletters, from sending it on a Tuesday to keeping subject lines short.
I’m featuring interviews this week with founders from companies where I have directly used their products and I’m excited to have had the chance to interview Mike Samson, founder of crowdSPRING. crowdSPRING is a very cool crowdsourcing company that brings designers together with people who have design projects.
Competition is tough over at Crowdspring where there are 88,000+ creatives vying for about 250 or so open projects at any given time. Awards can range from $100 to $1,000 or more, depending on the specific assignment. Main project categories include print design packages, logo and stationery, logo design, company naming and small websites.
Chicago-based crowdSPRING is a small business primarily serving other small businesses. It is one of a handful of companies—all new and small--that has disrupted a centuries-old graphics design business. The company has accomplished it quite fast and at low cost.
New Equity Business takes an in-depth look into crowd funding and crowdsourcing, providing a list of pros and cons to utilizing these resources. crowdSPRING co-founder, Ross Kimbarovsky, discusses the rise of crowdfunding and the key elements of a successful project in this two- part series.
Crowdsourcing. Tiffany Reed owns a graphic and web design business and is always looking for new clients. She benefits from a crowdsourcing site called CrowdSpring, where thousands of projects are posted, along with the price the buyer is willing to pay. Creative freelancers and small business owners like Tiffany submit their work for consideration.
Part of crowdSPRING’s goal is to make it easier and more affordable for such businesses to buy creative services. On the crowdSPRING platform, a buyer posts a project and a brief, names his or her price, and creatives submit design ideas. Unlike with some competitors, crowdSPRING requires its members to put up finished designs and not just concepts.
Sarah Harris, like most marketing managers at small companies, relies on freelancers to help with design projects. Frustrated by her "so-so" experience with freelancers, she turned to a site called crowdSPRING in 2008. There, she ran a logo design contest for her employer, Los Angeles-based jeweler Adiamor — and was introduced to crowdsourcing.
The best run tribes that I know plan as a group in 90-day chunks. One tribe created-from scratch-an investment bank in 90 days. Another launched a terrific business, crowdSPRING.com.
Consider crowdsourcing giant crowdSPRING, which averages approximately 225 open projects at any given time. It boasts a community of more than 75,000 designers, photographers and writers from 185 countries. crowdSPRING started with graphics projects, but has since added photography, writing and, yes, industrial design.
6. Over-promise and under-deliver. Shortly after CrowdSpring co-founders Ross Kimbarovsky and Mike Samson launched their global marketplace for creative crowdsourcing in May 2008, the site crashed.
Crowdspring.com provides access to more than 80,000 creative and industrial designers and writers. If you need a product package designed to your specifications, Crowdspring allows you to set your own price and then choose the final design. It even comes with a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee.
A simple guide to delivering value. Using social media well is not about advertising or PR so much as it is about creating value, value of high enough quality that it will bring your followers back again and again because of what you have to say and the resources you have to share. In this roundup of favorite Twitter links, Ross Kimbarovsky shows us how to create the kind of value that will keep a dedicated niche following coming back for more…and then some. crowdSpring
4. Legitimate burn-rate reducers are now mainstream. If entrepreneurs need money like people need food, the web and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem has enabled entrepreneurs to go on a diet without sacrificing their health. Sites such as Crowdspring.com allow startups to get the quality marketing assets needed (just the basics, but they are the required basics – logos, web design, and copywriting) at a lower cost than ever before.
8. crowdSPRING
crowdSPRING’s site claims that, “96% of our customers claims crowdSPRING actually works” and it seems that the industry press agrees. Launched as a way for the little guys to compete for business, crowdSPRING puts proposals on an open market where freelancers, solopreneurs and small shops can compete for the business.
Co-founders Ross Kimbarovsky and Mike Samson both had successful careers before launching crowdSPRING and show no signs of stopping. crowdSPRING is one of the companies that help put Chicago’s tech community in the public eye outside Chicago and does it in style.
Logo Design
You decided to leave the corporate world to start a catering business because it's your true passion and the only thing in life that makes you happy. Awesome. You need a snappy logo to use on your Web site, your social online presence, printed materials, etc. Unfortunately, you have absolutely zero creative skills. No worries, services like CrowdSPRING can help you by allowing you to name the price, the length of the project and any other requirements. Creatives then work on spec, submitting their ideas and vying for the award price offered. The site provides full legal contracts so that you can be sure you own the logo that was created for you.
Over 17,000 paid projects have been listed up on crowdSPRING’s online marketplace for creative services since the site launched in 2008.
I invited Ross Kimbarovsky, the company’s co-founder, to tell me how he launched because marketplaces are notoriously hard businesses to start. Marketplace-based businesses force a fledgling startup to pursue two constituents at once. In this case, Ross had to get both customers and creatives to join crowdSPRING or the site would be useless.
Find out how he did it in this case study of a successful marketplace launch.
Crowdspring.com: This online marketplace for creative services
allows users to post the parameters of their design or writing project and name the price they want to pay. Creatives then work on spec, submitting their ideas, and the user chooses the one he or she likes best. Any agreed-upon fees are paid upfront along with a $39 posting fee and a 15 percent commission.
Chicago-based crowdSPRING is an online marketplace for “crowdsourced” creative services. What, you ask, are “crowdsourced” creative services? The concept is another of the intriguing developments of online mass communication – doing for creative services what Craig’s List did for classified ads on the Web.
CrowdSPRING.com works in a similar way, but allows for more confidentiality. (The current website of the powerful Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives was designed as a CrowdSPRING project.) The company charges a listing fee of $39-$199, plus a 15% commission on the price you pay for the project. The more you pay, the more privacy settings you can activate, so competitors won't know what you're up to.
In early 2008, CrowdSpring launched a private beta, before going public in May, 2008. Since then, the company has attracted 75,000 designers and writers from 185 countries, and 20,000 registered buyers, including many multinationals. In addition to logos, CrowdSpring can be used for web design, industrial design, graphic design and writing assignments.
Well crowdspring.com is perhaps the best option available for every one whether he is a designer or a buyer. Crowdspring .com offers services for both designers and buyers of designs. The site is very professionally designed and arranged you can once signed-in you can choose the projects from your choice. The site hosts a variety of projects from logo designing, website making,ad-banners, book writing, to even character designing for animation movies. Recently a project offered $11000 (yes that eleven thousand us dollars) for a website design. This site is best suited if you want to be compete at professional level, the designs submitted here are really of some standard.
These include Crowdspring, a design venture which, according to Chicagoan co-founder Ross Kimbarovsky, thrives by offering a level playing field on which talented but unknown creatives can compete with established rivals.
What does your company do?
crowdSPRING is a leading online marketplace for buyers and sellers of creative services. crowdSPRING offers logo design, web design, other types of graphic design, industrial design and writing services (such as company names) at an affordable price. On an average crowdSPRING project, a buyer will receive more than 110 concepts.
Crowdspring connects companies looking for creative work with web designers, artists, marketers, and writers who can fill their needs. The company, which launched in 2007, now touts 75,000 members, and bills itself as the “world’s largest marketplace for creative services.”
If you missed the first part of my interview with Mike Samson, co-founder of crowdSPRING, where he talks about how crowdSPRING successfully raised $3 million in angel funding and shares some important tips that every entrepreneur will find useful down the road, click on the link below to get started.
crowdSPRING should not be new among web designers but most of us don’t know the founding story behind the site, which is one of the largest crowdsourcing marketplaces on the Internet.
crowdSPRING, an online marketplace for crowdsourced designs and writing, recently launched a new design project from Royal Philips Electronics to encourage entrepreneurs, designers and inventors to come up with the most innovative ironing steam generator of the future.
Northwestern University's Co-Director of Intelligent Information Laboratory, Kris Hammond, explains the concept of crowdsourcing and how Amazon, crowdSPRING and Threadless employ various aspects of crowdsourcing in their respective business models.
hilips is crowdsourcing ironing. Specifically, the electronics brand has teamed up with crowdSPRING and issued a call for a new steam generator iron.
The deadline is October 13th to submit ideas. The creative brief:
“Philips is looking for break-through designs which are advanced, distinctive, easy to experience and designed around people’s needs. It must be a true winner in the stores/ shelves. Please remember we are not looking for a ‘re-Design’ of the existing products(s), the awards will be granted to concepts showing a great deal of creativity: which are innovative but also feasible. Your entry should consist of designs for a new ‘iron’ accompanied by the ‘base’.”
When Heather Whaling needed a logo for her public relations company, she turned to crowdSPRING, an online marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers of creative services such as graphic design, Web design and writing.
"An overwhelming 90 percent of U.S. companies outsource at least some of their work, according to a survey by the Human Capital Institute, a global association of talent management groups."
If you run any kind of business, large or small, you're always looking for ways to get quality work done at a low cost. And when it comes to contract jobs like web and logo design, or copywriting, you're caught balancing between quality and cost. A couple years ago, CrowdSpring launched as a way for small and medium-sized businesses to get those projects done at a set price from multiple people around the world. Each project is a contest, and the buyer gets to pick the winning creative work -- meaning everyone else just created something for nothing.
"Rapid growth of job postings on freelance Web sites for highly skilled workers, including PeoplePerHour.com, 99designs.com and crowdSPRING.com, is fueling the [moonlighting] trend. Others start businesses on the side."
Crowdsourcing websites such as crowdSpring LLC allow you to post what sort of work you want done—such as having a new logo designed—and how much you're willing to pay. The designers on the site—who number more than 67,000—can submit entries for the project, and from there you simply pick your favorite.
And, while former Apple staffer Kawasaki's decision to crowdsource his latest book cover is throwing the task open to the floor, Crowdspring's MO (it is the middle man between client and craftsman) the final decision on the artwork will be made by Kawasaki himself--because that's what they probably teach you at the Apple School of Business.
By offering clients the ability to judge a designer’s work solely by its relevance to a client’s needs, rather than by the designer’s pedigree, crowdSPRING levels the playing field.
“By working with crowdSPRING, I was able to generate more than 200 logo and branding proposals,” said Zafarnia. “If you tried to do that offline, it would cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars. But by doing it this way, I only spent a small fraction of that. And I love the logo and the brand we came up with.”
But now, CrowdSPRING is hitting a little closer to home -- or office -- by outsourcing writing projects under pretty much the same model. Now that my own rate card is in jeopardy, suddenly, the democracy of the internet doesn't seem all that attractive. With this in mind, I dialed up Mike Samson, co-founder of CrowdSPRING, to explain why he isn't a predator -- or worse.
When I wrote my most recent book about the chaos created by the digital revolution, I, of course, needed a cover. In the spirit of my subject matter, I crowdsourced the project through an online site called crowdSPRING.com. More than a hundred designers from around the world took on the project, and the winner got 500 dollars, plus the glory of illustrating The Chaos Scenario.
CrowdSPRING advertises itself as a one-stop-shop for virtually every kind of graphic design and/or content need that clients might need. The question become: can crowdSPRING deliver, or is it simply another overhyped company? To answer that question a fairly as possible, it would help to take a look at how crowdSPRING works from the perspective of a client.
06.03.2010 – CHICAGO - crowdSPRING, the global marketplace for crowdsourced creative services, has been selected as a finalist for Best E-Commerce Site in the 2010 American Business Awards (also known as the Stevie Awards), one of the most coveted awards programs in the business community. crowdSPRING was also a 2009 Stevie Award winner for best product/service.
By partnering with crowdSPRING, more than 400 designs were submitted during the six-week competition in a battle for more than $80,000 in awards. LG awarded $20,000 plus a Wacom Intuos4 medium tablet to the first place winner, $10,000 to second place, and $5,000 to third place. Each of the top three winners will also receive professional design and sketching software from sponsor Autodesk, Inc. LG also presented 37 honorable mentions with $1,000 each!
Those at crowdsourcing companies disagree, of course. Crowdspring has 63,000 graphic and visual designers on its platform, with clients frequently using it to get logos completed. CEO Ross Kimbarovsky said he doesn't shy away from the spec-work charge.
99% of email newsletters sent by technology service providers are lame, yet a recent newsletter I received from crowdSRING (online market for creative work like web design, logos, branding, etc. http://crowdspring.com) had me not only open it, but I actually read the whole thing.
The founders of crowdSPRING didn’t waste time trying to tell the world how special they are, or trying to convince people to use their service. Instead, they developed a brand story and content that spoke to the larger realities and pressures of small business owners.
Right from the start, crowdSPRING's founder Mike Samson recognized the need for timely and accurate responses to support requests. In the world of web startups, he explains, customer service and support is not something you think about after you've built up your customer base, it's how you build up your customer base.
Once you've organized all those thoughts and ideas, it's time to start your project. If you have the writing down but need a logo, or if you're artistically inclined but could use some cleve copy, head on over to CrowdSpring.com.
As of Wednesday, the popular service opened up their designer's club to include copywriters. Now clients looking to crowdsource text for any use can log onto crowdSPRING, set up a contest for users to submit their work to, set a reward price, and watch the entries roll in.
When the economy tanked, Rowe's suburban design business dried up. But soon she found the Web site Crowdspring.com where companies post projects so anyone can submit design ideas. A company picked the second design Rowe entered for their logo.
What the company, crowdSPRING LLC, is attempting to do is akin to creating an eBay for creative work. The firm bills itself as an online marketplace for graphic and industrial designs. When Barilla needed a new pasta shape and LG needed a phone design, they went to crowdSPRING. And the company has helped hundreds of small businesses buy professional designs, in many cases for hundreds instead of thousands of dollars.
The logo competition cost the museum nothing and was conducted last July through the Web site Crowdspring.com. Milanie Cleere, CEO and founder of Oompa.com and Oompa Toys, which has a store in Middleton, suggested the museum conduct the public competition and donated the $1,000 prize money for the winner.
While the importance of a logo in brand-building is overblown, there is another aspect of logos that is often overlooked: the effect it has on the business. I've just completed my ninth logo facilitation using crowdSPRING and am starting another logo project this week. Without a single exception, the completion of each logo project energized the business.
The Joffrey posted its proposal on CrowdSpring.com, where 49,000 registered users can vie for the work. "Small, mid-sized business did not have easy access to high-quality design and designers, and we see ourselves as a bridge to those gaps," says Mike Samson, co-founder of Chicago-based CrowdSpring.
I love this topic: Crowdsourcing. I'm a believer and I put my money where my mouth is. When we re-branded Fanscape with a new logo and a new website about a year ago, we used a website called Crowdspring.com to design our logo.
crowdSPRING: An amazing resource for small business logos. I have now down 7 client logos using crowdSPRING and am working on two more. You can get a good logo for as little as $200. Check out my guide to using crowdSPRING to get a good logo.
If you haven’t heard of CrowdSpring.com, it’s definitely worth a peak. It’s a website that connects customers who want say, a new logo, with graphic designers willing to give it a shot.
Once you have chosen a good name for your venture, you need to start building the user experience and brand identity. Whether it is logo or site design, consider crowdSPRING to engage a community of professionals from across the web to deliver quality designs.
In most cases, the company in need will look over a selection of designers, review portfolios, and pick one to come up with a design. But why only choose to employ the abilities of one designer when you can crowdsource the project and pick from an unlimited number of submissions from a vast community of designers? The controversial but still successful crowdSPRING does just that.
Crowdspring.com is the online matchmaker for small and medium business, and a global community of 47,000+ independent designers in 150 countries. It’s a head-slapping concept that’s pure genius in its simplicity
"It should be strategic vs. ad-hoc," says Ross Kimbarovsky, co-founder of crowdSpring LLC, a Chicago-based online marketplace for creative services, and a social media blogger.
While you’re on the job hunt, if you’re looking to earn money in the meantime, you could take part in crowd-sourced projects. Popular sites such as 99designs allow designers (budding or actual) to submit designs for free, for people that are looking to commission projects. If your designs don’t get picked, then you’re still building your profile and experience in the meantime and your pro-activeness will reflect well on your CV. Crowdspring is another good site for designers.
While you may be a fashion plate, your business doesn’t have to be. Are your customers conservative? Then go with a strong, yet neutral image. If you’re confused about your look, your prospects will pick up on that. Interview a few graphic designers and don’t think about cost – at least at first. Investing thousands in an image pays off as your look becomes well-known. Or, you can outsource your image project to a company like CrowdSpring who has 45,000 designers ready to work on your project.
The first thing we've noticed is that there are lots of different ways to use co-creation and crowdsourcing to solve marketing and product design problems. We've run projects on Crowdspring.
For one of those projects, Green at Work (in which I participate), a logo needed to be designed. It was done through Crowdspring, a crowd-sourcing platform. Even the seemingly simple process of having a logo designed by a crowd has many aspects of open innovation to it. I would like to share the experience with you and place it in the context of idea management.
Struggling to figure out the return you get from conferences and trade booths? In this On A Roll video, Mike Michalowicz, shares his technique for measuring return on investment for conferences and trade shows as a response to Mike Samson and Ross Kimbarovsky from crowdSPRING.
If you are skilled at what you do, you can even charge hundreds of dollars for your services. In this market, if you are good, you get really rewarding compensation, if you are not so good, not so great compensation. It is one or the other. If you consider this to be your type of “work,” feel free to join CrowdSpring and 99 Designs to find web designing, logo designing, opportunities.
This discusses crowdsourcing from an advertising point of view and shows that certain websites like OpenNet.net and Crowdspring.com offer advertising, marketing and design ideas via the crowdsourcing method where, in one example, a network of more than 11,500 creative people from more than 125 countries contributes their designs. A request for a simple logo generated over 1200 submissions.
Ross Kimbarovsky, co-founder of crowdSPRING, an online marketplace for creative services, advises that people find a niche that's interesting to them and find a way to provide value to someone else interested in the same topic. Be engaging and share useful information.
Just recently, I used crowdSPRING’s creative community for designing the logo of a new project website... It’s a simple email, thanking me for the business we did, asking for feedback, and mentioning that spreading the word (for example a blog post) would be appreciated. It’s a short, honest and to-the-point email, and this short blog post proves that it works.
It can be a challenge at a small company to find affordable high-quality creative – whether for a website, print materials, or overall branding. Chicago-based startup crowdSPRING was started to solve this problem – to help people from around the world access creative talent, and to help creatives from across the globe find new customers.
At the same time, sites such as crowdSPRING.com, a type of graphic design auction house where people in the market for graphic design work post the specs of a job and how much they are willing to pay, are not without their controversy.
crowdSPRING is an upcoming startup that aims to provide a transparent process for obtaining creative talent, with a strong emphasis on quality content and trusted freelancers that companies can work with.
