Escapade

LogoContest works well and has great promise. It does have a few issues I hope will be addressed though. The fact that a contest becomes "guaranteed" after receiving 40 entries is rather ridiculous, because many designers submit a dozen or more entries of essentially the same design with only very minor tweaks. It is very easy to have 40 entries which are essentially only 2 or 3 designs. I was rather irritated at first because I had two designers each submit over a dozen entries, each just a minor tweak of a basic design, without any indication from me that the design was even something I was interested in. In my opinion, designers should submit a variety of general ideas at the beginning, and only provide a ton of variations once a client has confirmed they like the basic design. To encourage this, I would like to see LogoContest implement a system where designers can only submit a few designs per day for each contest (maybe 5, for example) until and unless the client checks a box or otherwise allows the designer to submit more. Hopefully this would solve the problem of a client being flooded with designs they have no interest in, which would also save time and effort for the designers. Fortunately, in my case I eventually received over 240 entries from 15 designers, with a very wide variety of designs. However, I am uncertain how much of this was due to my $300 prize and the openness and theme of my brand, because the amount of participation I received seemed rather high relative to other contests. The site tools worked fairly well, although it could use some more features. Having the entire page refresh every time I change an entry's ranking was particularly sigh-inducing. Another concern of mine is that there is absolutely no way to receive a refund. If you fail to receive 40 entries (very unlikely, given the ability of designers to flood your contest) you are granted an extension, and you may also be granted an extension if you are not pleased with any of the entries, but ultimately the contest will end and you will be required to pick a winner. If you don't pick a winner, LogoContest will just shrug, end your contest, and keep all of your money. I understand that the company must protect itself and its designers, but this policy is a bit too much. Although there are many excellent designers here, there are not a huge number. Frankly, although I am extremely pleased with my final logo, I feel that I lucked out. I realize LogoContest can't give full refunds, as they need to keep their site up and running and can't waste time with flaky clients, but I would like to see a change in policy where at least a partial refund may be given if the contest is fully extended and the client is still unhappy with every option. If I need additional design work done, I am not certain I would use LogoContest again. While the site works well enough, the above two policies make me nervous. I am not totally confident I would have a similarly good outcome next time. So far LogoContest is a very promising resource, but I hope it continues to innovate and improve. I would likely use it again, and I would recommend others use it, but be aware of what you are getting into and be certain to remain active in your contest by giving the designers frequent feedback.

June 12, 2016 - Score: 4/5 - Escapade - (Review Permalink)

Travis Parker