Sopien

Quick Update
The support on twitter has been amazing, the crowdsink campaign is definitely taking shape! There's been a number of links that I've discovered through the wonderful people that have shown their support and I wanted to share them with you guys. I'll keep you posted!

Related Reading
Why crowdspring needs to be ashamed of their business
CrowdSpring leaves something to be desired
Spec work is evil / Why I hate crowdspring
Sharky's circle on crowdspring business model

Thank you very much for the support everyone!

Throughout my professional career, I've learned that no matter how hard we fight against spec work, crowd sourcing, plagiarism, etc. It is a fight we may never win! I would like to stay positive and hope that one day the design community will be filled with people that actually care about their work, standards and moral ethics. But I'm afraid that even then, the fight will continue unresolved.

What is the point of this article then?
The point of this article is not to talk about why spec work and crowd sourcing is bad, that would be pointless, plus it has already been discussed by Andrew Hyde and Brandon Muth as well as advocated against by NO!SPEC. What I am trying to address here, is the lack of ethics that are being displayed by CrowdSpring which is a crowd sourcing site promising "designers" a chance to make some money and customers a chance to get a "high quality" design for a low price.

Could you elaborate?
See, a very talented designer and a really good friend of mine (Mike Erickson) has been ripped off by one of the members of crowdspring and after informing crowdspring of the rip off, they refuse to ban the so called designer that stole mike's work. Now, this is not the first time that mike gets ripped off, in fact it happens very often and from many different sources, so one could say that he's used to it by now and life can go on.

So what's different this time?
Well, the difference is that this time there's a company (crowdspring) that can do something about it, they can set an example and show people that they actually have standards and the moral ethics to say "we do not endorse stolen work", let's hope they do that!

What do you expect to gain from this?
I want crowdspring to BAN the "designer" that stole Mike's work, as simple as that!
No fucking excuses, the work wasn't his and he submitted it to a competition for the chance to get paid, thereby violating crowdspring rules and breaking the law that protects intellectual property.

Can you show us what they ripped off?

The logo they ripped off is Sidewinder designed by Logomotive (Mike Erickson)

The slightly modified version that was uploaded to crowdspring by Square (star designer)

I see, why not bash on crowdspring a little more?
Despite my feelings towards crowdspring and the damage they cause to the design industry, I'm not here to fight or question what they do. They will never listen and things will probably never change, all I want is for them to show Mike and the design community a little respect!

What happens if/when they ban the dude?
He will probably create a new account and keep ripping other designers off.

So why go through all this trouble for nothing?
Because I want to show Mike that I care and that I will do anything in my power to help, plus you have to agree that it would be a small victory for the design community.

How can I support Mike and do my part as a member of the design community?
Just spread the word, comment, tweet, digg, blog, do whatever you can to raise awareness, support Mike and show crowdspring that the design community takes care of their own!

Any last words you want to share?
Whether you're for or against crowdspring you have to realize that their ethics are questionable in this particular case, please do what's right!

Written by
Selvin Ortiz
Designer / Engineer @ Sopien

Quick Update
Since posting this article and openly discussing why I'm not on brandstack, "people" have been calling this a hoax and wondering if this is connected to a competing site in the works. The truth is that even though I would like to see another site that actually works in the best interest of the designer, I am not building one nor am I planning to.

Would I like to be part of one? Of course!
For the longest time designers and developers have talked among themselves about building a better logopond, a better incspring, etc. So believe me when I say that the idea of creating a better alternative is not something new!

So I would like to state for the record that I genuinely dislike brandstack but I wouldn't use anyone else's failure for my own benefit!

I've been getting a ton of DMs from people asking why I'm removing my "stuff" from brandstack and the short answer to that is, I hate it!
The whole thing makes me feel like a cheap whore working for a greedy pimp that cares only about himself! No seriously... there are so many things that I don't like about it and I figured I'll share some of them with you, sounds good?

1. Quality Control
Let's be honest, I'm not a great designer but even I can tell that some of the shit that gets approved makes people wanna throw up! I know... design is subject to interpretation and to each their own right? Sure, but quality is a different thing. While you may not be sure if a design is good or not, you can almost always tell if a design is of high quality, period.

2. Target Market
Bit of a technical term there heh? It simply means that I don't get why the company is advertising and trying to reach out to people that have no idea whatsoever about what a good brand actually is. Don't tell me you've never thought "who the fuck paid for that piece of shit logo?". Ok... maybe you haven't said that to yourself because you're a well spoken and respectful individual but I have! Why not put in place a plan that also covers a more brand savvy audience?

3. Poor Management
I don't need to go too far here, I just don't think the people in charge really know how to run and market a fucking business. They are doing a poor job at generating exposure for designers and a worse job at keeping standards at an acceptable level! To them I say
"Get your people together, sit the fuck down and think really hard about how to improve the way you're running the company and how to make brandstack an organization that every designer can be proud of showcasing their work in."

4. Shady Business
I'm surprised at how many designers don't realize about the free advertising brandstack is getting by making them believe they're the ones gaining exposure by placing brandstack banners on their sites. But this is not a big deal, all you have to do is add a simple image to your site, that's it right? Maybe... but what I don't like about it is that brandstack is making you believe that they are helping you, get what I'm getting at? Oh... don't get me started on the cut they get or the "feature seller" spots you can pay for, do you really think that helps you in any way?

5. Etc.
I could go on but I'm not, I really don't care whether you agree with me or not! I'm not here to convince you to stop using (they're the ones using you) brandstack or to start hating them... I'm simply offering you an answer to your question: Why did I remove my portfolio from brandstack?

Share Your Thoughts
If you wanna tell me to go to hell or just want to add something I missed, please feel free to comment!

Cheers
Selvin Ortiz
Designer / Engineer @ Sopien

Some of you may know that I'm a big fan of people that advocate creativity.
Sir Ken Robinson is one of the most knowledgeable individuals on the subject, he's also very passionate about it.

So I wanted to share this presentation with you, hope you enjoy it as much as I did!



Did you enjoy it?

Cheers
Selvin Ortiz
Designer / Engineer @ Sopien

Because sometimes 140 characters isn't enough and the official launch date I have set for my website is still a few months away, I wanted to have an outlet to share some ideas, useful resources and also to talk about the things that are of special interest to me.

I've tried other services that would allow me to do that very thing, like tumblr and streem but I soon grew sick of it because of the layout or the way they've arranged things.

So here I am, all set and ready to go!
I've gotta bunch of things I want to get off my chest but I'll hold it until I have something useful to share with you guys : )

Cheers
Selvin Ortiz
Designer / Engineer @ Sopien