Like the rest of the design industry, DesignCrowd has a range of designers with varying levels of experience.  This is reflected in the diversity of the bids for logo design that clients receive.  Want to attract the very best designers to your project? It can be done. In this article, we outline three ways to get our top ranked designers bidding. They'll be most effective together, but they can't hurt when used individually.

#1 Provide a Clear Brief

The more clearly you describe what you need in your brief, the more likely you are to inspire something in the designers reading your posting. While with the right set of circumstances a one-line brief can inspire a designer with the promise of a blank slate to play with, it's a common but incorrect assumption that having free reign brings out the most creativity.

Working within confines and dealing with limited choices is often what spurs on creativity. And, in that vein, the more information you provide, the greater the chance the designer will be able to riff off that information with visual ideas as he reads.

At the same time, keep your details focused on your business. What do you do? What sort of clientele do you serve? What are your selling points? Is your approach warm and friendly or fast and efficient? What mood are you aiming for with your logo or site? And by mood, I mean emotionally, not stylistically. Unless you're a creative director outsourcing work on DesignCrowd, it's best to leave the visual decisions to the designer's expertise.

Sidebar: the title of your brief is also important.  For example Dirt.com's 'Kick ass logo will make you famous' logo contest received 630 designs while iPerceive's 'Logo for innovative new software startup' received 765 designs! 

#2 Invite Specific Designers

Browse top designers that you like and invite them specifically to bid on your project. There are many jobs posted on DesignCrowd each day, so while it's safe to say that many designers will see your contest, it's possible that those you specifically want to bid will miss it. They might not log in for a few days, or they may be exploring other sections of the site.

Sending an email notification encourages them to get involved and lets them know that you like their design style specifically, increasing their odds of winning.

#3 Provide More Prize Money

You'll find that on DesignCrowd the jobs with lower budgets tend to attract newer designers who are trying to cut their teeth in lower competition environments. Although sometimes this brings out some real stars, the best way to attract the cream of the crop is to up your prize money and offer participation payments to designers (these can be allocated to designers when you invite them and our top designers love them). This gives them with more incentive, increases the level of competition so that you can select from a wider variety of choices, and means you've got a good chance of enticing specific designers whose work you're a fan of.

The very best designers only bid on top-tier prize money competitions because they know their work has the highest probability of winning.

In Conclusion

Communicate, invite, incentivize.  Have you run successful crowdsourcing contests in the past? Share your tips in the comments!

Further 'Bidding' Reading:

Written by DesignCrowd on Friday, June 17, 2011

DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.