Free and Low Cost Design in the Cloud
There are so many great tools out there online these days that a person could power their entire business using nothing but free and low cost web apps.
One area that has seen tremendous advancement is the area of online applications geared towards helping people do all things related to graphic design. For some, the days of buying software suites that cost more than the most robust desktop computer may be coming to an end.
Below is a list of some of the most popular online offerings that address design, illustration and editing, including crowdsourcing of custom design.
Graphic Design
- Aviary – Suite of online graphic design tools for image editing, color and effects editing, illustration and even audio editing
- Pixlr – Extremely popular free online photo editor
- Picknik – Pretty straightforward image editor
- Inkscape –An Open Source vector graphics editor with capabilities similar to Illustrator
- Photoshop.com – Edit, store and share online
- Jaycut – online video editing set of tools that also allows you to install video editing on your site for user generated campaigns
- Splashup – Full featured image editor, plays nice with photo sites
- flauntR – Lots of tools from the FotoDesk folks
Color Design
- COLOURlovers – duh, that's why you're here!
- kuler – Color Design and Schemes from Adobe
Web site design
- Weebly – drag and drop web site and blog design
- Webs – Lots of templates and ecommerce options (how did that get that URL?)
- Yola – Another easy to use site builder
- Createplace – Focus on building portfolios
- Sitekreator – Very robust tool that includes hosting
- WebNode – HTML and css editor robust enough to design and maintain entire web sites
Presentation Design
- Slideroll – Nice simple way to create slideshows
- Prezi – This is a very cool way to share and animate a presentation. It's more like a unique platform than tool
- Sliderocket – Powerful way to build and share online presentation
Crowdsourced Design
- Elegant.ly – Focus in on pitching your start-up to a group of designers
- Crowdspring – Logo and web design and now copywriting
- 99Designs – Contest driven crowdsourced design
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about 2 hours ago
CAR57
I will pay for the plan that I like best, but I can't afford more than $150 because after all, I am a start-up. But I'll be sure to send more low-paying work to the winner of my competition.
Doesn't that sound appealing?
That's what "crowdsourcing" design is: getting a whole lot of people to basically work for free in hopes they might get chosen.
To any business person out there reading this: if you are not willing to give your product or idea away for free (say, for example, you have a restaurant and diners can come in, order a meal, eat it, and then if they like it, they'll pay), then please don't ask other professionals in the design field to do the same. If you can't be giving away an hour a day of your product for free, for example, and still make a living, neither can designers toil away doing designs that they may never get paid for.
Sincerely,
Chris Raymond
Amusante
ducttapemarketing
Of course that's one way to look at it and one way that some designers choose to view it, but I've also witnessed designers using this as a channel to create long-term, highly profitable work that they would not have had access to otherwise. There are certainly abuses, but to suggest all crowdsourcing is evil is to suggest all buyers and all free markets are evil and that's just not the case.
It's OK if it's not for you, but I wonder about any designer's motives for dismissing it as bad for the world. I wouldn't accept your marketing plan proposal, but I know people who might and think it a fine way to gain access to something else.
The potential danger might actually lie with the buyer who doesn't take enough time to make sure a designer can actually complete the work in a reasonable fashion.
John
CAR57 wrote:
ducttapemarketing
Amusante wrote:
painterchick
Some clients will use the free tools to do work they think is "basic," "simple," and, "shouldn't take long." They will either discover they have some creative talent (hey, more power to 'em), or create something that's not that great, but they won't see that, because they made it themselves (good luck with that). Or they may realize that quality design is not as easy as we talented folks make it seem, and they'll find someone to give them the value that will bring them to the level they really want.
So, some designers don't mind giving their time and skill away free. Obviously that doesn't pay the bills, so you can't do that very much if you are any kind of serious business person. At some point, people are either going to choose not to do something, or they are going to seek payment that makes it worth their time, energy and whatever they are sacrificing to do it.
I totally see what Chris is saying, but I wouldn't worry too much about this movement. People for whom price is more important than value, probably are not thinking about the long term cost, and they wouldn't have hired a professional designer anyway. (And I don't mean to insult designers who work free, but clearly a professional is someone making a living at this.) Personally, I am glad to see anything that will help people who have talent discover and use it, and also help weed out the cheap, frustrating clients before I have to deal with them.
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