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Totally disagree on all points. Some of the most iconic logos on the planet were designed in an afternoon (Nike). There are a lot of design efforts that require depth and iteration-- logos aren't one of 'em (note: I was a designer for a good chunk of my life and still sling pixels pretty frequently).

Entrepreneurship is all about risking work for the POSSIBILITY of reward. You can build/launch a product that fails. You can spend 40 hours trying to land a customer and have it fall apart at the last minute. This is no different-- it's an army of design entrepreneurs who think the reward is worth the risk. And yeah, if you offer a crappy reward, you'll get minimal effort. Offer $100k and you'll get tremendous effort.

"But a contest is just not a good way to design, no matter what." The growth of 99Designs seems to indicate otherwise. I know lots of startup folks who have gone that route and have been VERY satisfied. In my opinion (again, with a design background), a contest with a big reward is the PERFECT way to get lots of perspectives and leverage the global economy to your advantage.




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