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I like external Hard-Drives! I like making logos! I like winning things!

I’m with Jwo on this one; I came to post the same link. Logo competitions are ways of soliciting free work from designers without paying them. The assumption is that designers “love” working on logos so much, that they’ll do them for free.

Submitting work to logo competitions is a way of telling the world that your field is so devalued that you’ll work for free. Would you ask ten doctors to all give you free check-ups because they love being doctors so much? Then, when it’s all over, you’ll tell one of them that they’re the best — instead of paying them all for their work?

This isn’t a slam against Smashing Magazine, but towards design/logo competitions in general.

Hey Guys, Awesome idea. I just submited my entry, but your email system is rejecting ico files. Just thought everyone should be aware. I’ll re-send via a zip file.

Josue

Sorry about the double-post, everybody!

I am in! i will be sending the logo.

Can we send in multiple entries?

I am with jwo and Christopher on this issue calling for free design work.

Not only AIGA has the before mentioned guidelines for professional work, the AGD, BDG and BVDW (all Germany) too.

What is the maximum number of entries?

Its completely upto the designer to choose whether they participate or not. To voice your opinion is obviously your right, but it seems a pretentious and lofty stance on this matter.

Its all very well for design professionals to hold this lofted view that the design industry is something which should be charged accordingly. I myself see what i do as an art form, and as with any artist enjoy the process of creation, as well as being given an opportunity to showcase new designers rather than larger companies holding monopolies on design specific areas.

I will be submitting an attempt and look forward to seeing what other designers have created. We are in a creative industry and therefor let those that wish o be creative, get creative and maybe step down off that pedastool.

Love to smashingmag and contributors.

wow you guys just lost all the respect i had for you

to jwo, chris and all your likeminded fellow graphic design pussies: please stop whining. this site is great so why not give something great back? and after all it is a contest, so all of you well established professionals really don’t need to participate and present yourself anyways, do you?

and btw: giving out something for free undermines its value? gee, you need to think about the concept of “making a present”! :-)

br, schub

To JWO – I do agree with your stance, but I think you should try and put yourself in the position of a young designer who is struggling to break in to the industry.

To such a person, the exposure of having your work on this site (plus link at the bottom of every page) may be worth a lot more than what an established professional might charge for a logo. The value is relative.

And lets face it, the authors of this site – who are design professionals – aren’t going to pay anyone to do a logo, they’d do it themselves. I think this has to be seen as an opportunity.

Also… Design is a creative industry and individual expression in terms of operating to a brief. Each designer puts a bit of themselves in what they do, if we didnt would you be no different than someone on a factory work line turning out the same product again and again.

Individual practice and operation is an art form, just as painting a canvas. If you take away the creativity and a designers ability to interpret a brief for themselves what differentiates you from any other designer?

design love to all

I am a biiiiiiiiiiig fan of Smashing Magazine. A liked every entry.

Thanks for this opportunity.

JWO, I’m sorry, I must say I totally disagree. If the client had to choose the designer like you described (deciding on his/her portfolio), only experienced designers would have any chances.

Every designer must start. Every designer has his first client. Let’s imagine I am just starting and I don’t have a portfolio: what is your advice, if you reject logo contests? To do something for free? I am sure you wouldn’t like it also. How did YOU started then?

IMHO logo contests are a great chance for beginners, and an opportunity to draw fresh blood to the design world. And it’s the client’s decision whether he wants to hire an established professional with a big portfolio or to give a chance to young, inexperienced but hopefully talented (there must be some!) designers.

You can expect my entry soon!

And looks like SM is blocking my ability to enter comments…so much for free speech.

I’ve read the AIGA stance (and others like it), and I agree on spec work. I’m also a member of said organization.

However, some instances clearly don’t apply, and some are in a gray area in my opinion. As designers, we do free work for non-profits all the time. Sometimes it turns into a paid job, but not always.

I realize that this is a for-profit venture with the ads and all, but honestly, it looks to me like more of a labor of love. A labor that I’ve benefited from immensely in the past few months since I discovered it.

This isn’t some large corporation making firms jump through hoops in hope of getting a lofty contract. If I find the time, I’ll probably submit a couple of ideas. However, something tells me that the winner will be some “Web 2.0″ beveled, gel coated drop shadowed bold san serif. No offense to the Web 2.0 crowd.

Besides, how many of the submitters will actually be graphic designers in the proper sense? Again, no offense meant.

kloudo: office at smashingmagazine dot com ( with subject Logo Contest )

Ok, I’m in game…

@e_anka
Not at all, the designer getting his “start” can and will use “made-up” logo in his or her portfolio. This gives the same chance for displaying work for both new and seasoned designers.

Can you post the people who’s mockups you have received? I’m not sure if mine got through.

It’s a CONTEST.
It’s like entering your work into one of those Call for Entries magazines. Only certain people get into those, and they are rewarded with recognition and possibly other things. In this case, you’re rewarded with a hard drive , and recognition.
Nobody is competing for a client.
Alot of people do this just for the fun of it

Before you ask, yes I read the page.
This is still my stance.
If you want to go fight over clients 24/7 with portfolios that kill, go ahead. Me, I want to have fun with what I do every once in a while. If I win, that’s awesome because I will get just a little more recognition, and something to give me a boost. If I don’t win, I had fun making something and I have yet another piece to add to my portfolio.
Either way, I am rewarded in some way.
It’s all about your point of view on something.

And yes, to me there’s a difference between somebody asking me to design for free/cheap as “it’ll be something to add to your porfolio”, and entering a contest by my own free will for the sake of trying something new.

Do as you will.

can’t wait to see the logos.

any votes? or you guys chose the one you like

Okay, seriously. What’s with the no-spec link? I thought it was already established what spec work was…
Hmm…

The site has a really negative view on contests. It doesn’t even point out that there are people doing it for fun in between the other stuff, and that they realise they might never get anything out of it.
Huge gambles? Why is it a gamble if you don’t find it a risk in the first place?

As for the whole “company taking a risk,” they obviously know they’re making the risk in the first place. Actually, why is it even a risk if they choose from the designs themselves? Why do designers nowadays have such negative views on things that have a brighter side to them?
Isn’t there a way to see both sides of the coin instead of sitting there and complaining about it?

Totally agree with the posting of the no-spec link. I love this site and quite suprised that it has taken this approach to a logo design. Not cool.

I see you got my design. Love your site. Keep fighting the good fight.

I agree with the ethical problems with design contests in general. But not in this case.

Smashing magazine is a resource for designers, that’s us. We benefit from it, and it, in a way, belongs to us. It’s free and provides great value to us. The winner (and possibly others that enter) will gain recognition among his/her peers. Vitaly and Sven are providing a wonderful resource and I doubt they are getting rich off of it.

If I have the time to spare, I will submit an entry or two.

Dan

Hey Guys can you extend the contest :( I was late to see this post.. I didn’t have much time I only passed 1 design and did it for a couple of minutes on the 31st of march. darn.

Any chance in posting all of the entries instead of just the finalist. It is great inspiration…