Tumbleweed Logo Contest
March 2, 2010 · Print This Article
Over $1000 worth of cash and prizes to the top 3 logo designs.
We are holding a contest for our new logo on 99designs.com. Prize money is $150, $100, and $50 cash prize to our 3 favorite entries. After we have selected the top 3 choices, they will be tested on our website for 2 weeks with the winner of that contest earning a free set of home plans to build a Tumbleweed Tiny House (details listed below).
Rules: Visit 99designs.com for the “brief” on the logo contest. All designs must be submitted to 99designs.com in order to be eligible for the cash prize.
Once we have 3 designs, we will create 3 different homepages for our website. Each homepage will feature a different logo. We will use google website optimizer to rotate the 3 pages and measure the click through rate of the 3 different pages. Whichever page has the best click through rate at the end of 14 days (or when 1 design reaches a 90% confidence level as the winner) will get their choice of plans from the following list: XS-House, Epu, Weebee, Lusby, Tarelton, Fencl, Bodega, Loring, Harbinger, Enesti or B-53. We will pay up to $25 of shipping cost. Anything over $25 to be paid by winner.
What an utterly worthless proposition.
How about you, and an unlimited number of other shed designers, compete for a pittance by submitting unique plans to me. Once I have selected three designs, I will build the selected sheds in my garden.
Whichever shed gets the most use at the end of 14 days (or whichever design meets a 90% confidence level from my wife) I will send you an A3 poster of some kittens.
Please understand the notion that spec work devalues the potential of design and ultimately does a disservice to the client
Reply to this comment
Chris reply on March 3rd, 2010 9:17 am:
What an utterly worthless comment.
These are not sheds. They are homes. Some folks don’t need a seventy-three-room-for-two-people-barn-of-a-home to collect dust, waste resources, waste time, and waste money heating/maintaining. Personally, I’d like to see these sorts of small homes being built with the lumber from the torn down McMansions that blight our countryside. Why do you think small house designers are gaining a following? It’s because people are sick of the garbage being jammed down their throat by the mainstream–a mainstream of industries and designers and housing regulation authorities that are completely out of touch, and at the core, only interested in fleecing folks and forcing them into hideous, low quality, stucco-encrusted monstrosities that would be better utilized serving as a motel 6 or a cheap hostel than they would a home.
Reply to this comment
LouAnn reply on March 3rd, 2010 6:49 pm:
I fully agree with you Chris! As an interior designer I recognize well designed, functional spaces. Tumbleweed does small houses extremely well. I also see the need in todays economic climate for smaller, more economical houses. As a baby boomer the last thing I want is to be shoved into a apartment/condo with outrageous fees and rules. Most people in Europe live very well in small spaces. Americans can learn to love this too. I know they will love the money saved.
Reply to this comment
Steve with Tumbleweed reply on March 4th, 2010 5:09 pm:
It’s my experience that if someone uses sarcasm and insult to make their point it’s because their point can’t be made with reason.
Hmmm… Maybe if you didn’t work for an ad agency (Mind Orchard) that finds clients and then outsources the work to freelancers you wouldn’t bash 99desgins or their clients. Bottom line is you’ve never communicated with us before – on our blog, via email, or via our newsletter, why the interest now?
Reply to this comment
Steve with Tumbleweed reply on March 5th, 2010 2:23 pm:
Nick, I emailed you at the address YOU provided, and a woman named Amelia emailed me back. She wrote … “I will have a member of our technical department look into this matter, as we obviously do not want SPAM to be connected to our company. ”
Are you using Amelia’s email address as a cover for your SPAM?
Reply to this comment
Hey Nick, don’t be a hater. Life is good.
Reply to this comment
Well done for completely missing the point.
Forgive me for using the word ‘shed’.
How’s this:
What an utterly worthless proposition.
How about you, and an unlimited number of other tiny house designers, compete for a pittance by submitting unique plans to me. Once I have selected three designs, I will build the selected tiny houses.
Whichever tiny house gets the most use at the end of 14 days (or whichever design meets a 90% confidence level from my wife) I will send you an A3 poster of some kittens.
Please understand the notion that spec work devalues the potential of design and ultimately does a disservice to the client.
Reply to this comment
Steve with Tumbleweed reply on March 5th, 2010 2:17 pm:
Nick, I emailed you at the address YOU provided, and a woman named Amelia emailed me back. She wrote … “I will have a member of our technical department look into this matter, as we obviously do not want SPAM to be connected to our company. ”
Are you using Amelia’s email address as a cover for your SPAM?
Reply to this comment
okay, maybe not for pros but sent to my art student daughter for experience
Reply to this comment
Nick makes several very valid points (albeit in a provocative way – but then it got your attention and mine yes?) .
As a professional photographer, I see these schemes all the time in my profession: contest vs. fair compensation for work done. Spec work with compensaton only for the “winner” at far below market value does not speak well for the integrity of Tumbleweed or sites like “99″.
I say this with regret because I like where Tumbleweed is coming from in respect to their design and social principles. Sadly they have lost their way with this contest scheme.
Henry
Reply to this comment
I have to agree here. I’m a graphic designer from germany, and I have been following Jay Shafer and the Tumbleweed site for a little over two years now. As much as I’m loving it, and as much as I was tickled by the prospect of creating a new logotype for one of my favorite sites, I will not do spec work as a rule.
Spec work and Crowdsourcing devalue design as a profession as well as the work and skills it to takes to produce quality work. I am sure someone who composes highly functional and cleverly designed houses should be able to understand why it is important to ask – and pay – a realistic price for your design.
I do not mean to harass anyone here, but I still hope to get a point across. If you want to have a look at this article, which is aimed at designers rather than their clients, you may understand why many of the commenters here seem to be disappointed by the proposal of spec work by such an innovative and responsible company as yours.
http://www.creativepro.com/article/spec-work-and-crowdsourcing-gambles-dont-pay
If any of this comes across as hostile or insulting, I apologize in advance. English is not my mother language and I’m trying my best to set some things straight that seem to have missed the point in the previous comments.
Oh, and keep designing those awesome tiny houses. One of these days I’ll build my own New Vessica.
Reply to this comment
Steve with Tumbleweed reply on March 4th, 2010 5:17 pm:
Sabine, thanks for turning the conversation in a professional and rational direction. I can understand your position, but I can’t decide where to draw the line. I find it amusing that something we did for fun has caused such a stir.
We charge as much as $859 for a set of plans. Sarah Susanka sells her plans to build the “Not So Big House” for $6500. Are we devaluing her work? Should we raise our price? Who is the arbitrator of a fair price?
Reply to this comment
Sabine reply on March 4th, 2010 6:44 pm:
This is a very good point, Steve – and I think there is no fixed point where to draw the line. Everyone needs to charge for his work what he feels is a fair compensation for his creative output.
An arbitrator is mostly useless – in Germany there exists a scale of fees for graphic design work, however, this is only a guideline and crowdsourcing and spec work are just as common here as they are everywhere else.
I fail to understand why some big name designer can charge a five-digit sum for a little sketch (well, obviously because of his big name, duh) while an equally brilliant but as yet unknown designer may have to struggle to get a decent dinner out of one of his layouts, but that’s my problem I guess. I don’t think the discrepancy between Sarah Susanka’s and Tumbleweed’s prices is justified either. But no, neither are you devaluing her work, nor should you raise your prices just because hers are much higher. If you feel your hard work is well paid for, everyone should be happy.
And maybe the reason that this little logo contest has caused such a stir is that many of us are somewhat touchy about financial matters in these times of economical crisis. It’s not so much the potential clients that are devaluing us – we’re all slowly losing the sense of what our work is really worth.
Reply to this comment
I think the idea is fun and it does engage the followers of Tumbleweed to participate. I would recommend changing the prize. Offer a set of plans of your choosing and a 2 day building seminar for 1st prize. Offer a set of plans of your choosing for 2nd prize. Offer a 2 day building seminar for 3rd prize. These prizes related to why we follow you and how we can experience a Tiny House sooner.
Make it fun and rewarding!
Stephen
Reply to this comment
Steve with Tumbleweed reply on March 6th, 2010 10:24 am:
Great idea! Thanks for sharing. We’ve been so impressed by the quality and effort, that we wanted to give all 3 top designs a free set of plans and a free ticket to our workshop.
Thanks to everyone who is participating. The quality of the work being done is amazing, and we are honored.
Reply to this comment
Good idea Stephen!
Reply to this comment
PS link to 99designs now says: Page Not Found
(http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/tiny-house-company-logo-prizes-prize-money-388566)
Reply to this comment
Steve with Tumbleweed reply on March 6th, 2010 10:25 am:
Thanks. Fixed it. http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/tiny-house-company-logo-prizes-prize-money-38856
Reply to this comment
Would you submit new designs for free in a contest to see which architect could win a prize for the best plans for a new house or office building? Not to be confrontational, but but I think that situation is equitable of what you are asking graphic designers, both professional and amateur, to do with your contest by working on spec.
My advice? Hire a design firm or designer and establish a working relationship instead of hoping that someone with Adobe Creative Suite and a computer can come up with something that adequately defines your passion and your brand. You might find that not all design firms or designers charge an arm and a leg for this kind of work, and I think the quality and breadth of their product you will get in return is far greater than someone just designing a logo.
I love your houses, but I refuse to enter this contest for professional reasons.
Reply to this comment
In light of this discussion, imagine if nurses handed out invoices every time someone off the street asked them for health advice?
Voluntary advice or work on occasion, even for as little as a smile for compensation only makes the world a better place.
I understand where the designers are coming from, perhaps they don’t have a steady income from their line of work.
We all have to live with our choice of profession and with the reality that salaries do vary.
I took nursing in school because it was a security for me. I focused on some talents, setting my artistic inclination aside, for the sake of feeling financially more secure.
When you chose a profession, you have to know what you’re getting yourself into, you have to weigh the pros and the cons and ultimately, you chose what’s best for you. Nobody else is responsible for your choice!
Reply to this comment