To the professional designers here, how much guaranteed prize money would it take for you to participate in crowdsourcing contests for app design?
Sites like Folyo are a good idea, and I'm happy to see so many designers on HN, but as someone who's worked with crowdsourcing sites and pro designers one-on-one, it's much better as a client to have multiple designers working on your idea simultaneously based on a single crowdsourcing design brief than finding good designers on Dribbble/Folyo, building relationships with individuals who may or may not be a good fit, and then managing relationships with the candidates who happen to be available and oh they want to get paid $150/hr up front for work that isn't guaranteed to work for you, be on time, on budget, etc.
I would much rather pay $10,000 guaranteed if it meant having Folyo level designers compete to deliver something based on a design brief. Overall, I think crowdsourcing is a much better arrangement than pay 'N pray. It leads to a wider range of options, more creativity, and ultimately gives clients better results.
Sites like Folyo are a good idea, and I'm happy to see so many designers on HN, but as someone who's worked with crowdsourcing sites and pro designers one-on-one, it's much better as a client to have multiple designers working on your idea simultaneously based on a single crowdsourcing design brief than finding good designers on Dribbble/Folyo, building relationships with individuals who may or may not be a good fit, and then managing relationships with the candidates who happen to be available and oh they want to get paid $150/hr up front for work that isn't guaranteed to work for you, be on time, on budget, etc.
I would much rather pay $10,000 guaranteed if it meant having Folyo level designers compete to deliver something based on a design brief. Overall, I think crowdsourcing is a much better arrangement than pay 'N pray. It leads to a wider range of options, more creativity, and ultimately gives clients better results.