Yeah, I've never used SitePoint contests before, and may never use them again (we'll see). It does rule out some of the best known designers, because the best known don't need to work on spec, but the hope (as with any of the methods being discussed in this thread) is that you'll get the "soon to be best known" designer working on your project.
If the logo we get sucks, it'll hopefully suck less than the current one, and we'll try again in a year. The entries so far aren't great, but they aren't all terrible either. We're only a few hours into the contest, and there's already at least one that I think is better than the current logo. So, we're already ahead. The other neat thing is that the SitePoint contests allow everyone to see what's already been submitted--it's a constant refinement process where everybody knows what everybody else is doing. I dunno if that'll really encourage everyone to bring their A game, but it certainly is more fun than staring at the 12-15 logo ideas I got from LogoWorks was.
I'm still groping to find the best way to get jobs like this done--so far, nothing has been satisfactory. But then, until recently, we had very little money to spend (I was going to put up $1000, but it seemed pointless--$500 makes ours the highest paying logo contest running right now...I might bump it to $750 before it's over, if it needs a little extra oomph). I still managed to waste plenty of money and time on logos, though. ;-)
Best case, the logo will rock, and we'll have found ourselves a little known designer who works reasonably cheap, but whose work we love. I'm not holding my breath, but it could happen.
I'm looking through SitePoint now and I'm actually rather impressed by the functionality and surprised at how well the contests seem to work, even for much lower dollar amounts. I have no doubt that you'll get some good entries and I imagine watching the logos come in is a lot of fun too.
Agreed. I had been there in the past, and it seemed pretty slapped together...but they've used their success wisely by investing in better technology. The contests system is, so far, top-notch.
If the logo we get sucks, it'll hopefully suck less than the current one, and we'll try again in a year. The entries so far aren't great, but they aren't all terrible either. We're only a few hours into the contest, and there's already at least one that I think is better than the current logo. So, we're already ahead. The other neat thing is that the SitePoint contests allow everyone to see what's already been submitted--it's a constant refinement process where everybody knows what everybody else is doing. I dunno if that'll really encourage everyone to bring their A game, but it certainly is more fun than staring at the 12-15 logo ideas I got from LogoWorks was.
I'm still groping to find the best way to get jobs like this done--so far, nothing has been satisfactory. But then, until recently, we had very little money to spend (I was going to put up $1000, but it seemed pointless--$500 makes ours the highest paying logo contest running right now...I might bump it to $750 before it's over, if it needs a little extra oomph). I still managed to waste plenty of money and time on logos, though. ;-)
Best case, the logo will rock, and we'll have found ourselves a little known designer who works reasonably cheap, but whose work we love. I'm not holding my breath, but it could happen.