A SXSW panel today will attempt to answer whether spec work is evil, a question a lot of people, designers and non-designers alike, have been asking since Forbes published this article on Crowdsourcing in February 2009.
Frankly, the question is completely irrelevant.
Crowdsourcing isn’t evil, it just is. In much the same way newspapers, music, and TV have radically changed, Crowdsourcing is the graphic design industry being transformed by the Internet. And like newspapers, music, and TV, graphic design will never be the same.
Instead of wringing our hands, designers should ask “what new opportunities are being created by the forces killing the old model?” There are new opportunities: the same network that connects clients to thousands of designers willing to do spec work also connects a designer to a global market. All we need to do is imagine the possibilities and get busy.
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