Comments on: why competing with other designers in contest will hurt you rather than help you

By: Robert K.

Robert K. — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 05:29:58 +0000

I agree and disagree. I think if you lose, it won’t break your passion. I believe if you are truly in love with designing NOTHING will break your inspiration and passion. I have entered hundreds of contests and won about 50 so far. I started one year ago. I didn’t even know how to use Photoshop or that Illustrator even existed. I started off using “The Logo Creator” program. I got better because of those contests, if I lost I needed to know why and try again.

Sometimes I lost because the CH was looking for a certain look not the “best” overall design. Sometimes I lost because my design just wasn’t the best. But I believe in order to truly be a winner you must lose.

You NEED an imagination too. Don’t look at other people’s designs and say I can do it better. I look at other people’s designs and say, I can come up with a better idea than that. I think that’s the way to go no?

Thanks for the article.

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:31:42 +0000

Hi Marcell,
I just want to point out that I think this is a really great site for a 17 year old to put together. However..this article? Oh tsk tsk. First of all, if you are a designer, you are competing every day of your life. You are competing against everyone else in your field. To tell people NOT to compete is ludicrous. You need to have 100% confidence in everything that you do as a designer, or you will get nowhere. You shouldn’t look at others work and think how you will never be that good..you should look at it and say “wow, what an amazing and inspiring piece of work. I can do that.” and then try it. Also, entering contests inspires hard work and dedication, which is something you may not put into any random personal piece. Even if you don’t win, you still have a piece for your portfolio. As far as saying not to look at other designers work? Oh dear. Another TERRIBLE piece of advice. You should look at other peoples work CONSTANTLY. For ideas, inspiration, new techniques, color palettes, etc., etc. I’m sorry to rip this apart, but I just don’t think you have enough knowledge about becoming a good designer to actually try to give advice to other people.

By: Marcell

Marcell — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:55:39 +0000

Yeah but you can also better your design skills from looking at tutorials and doing something productive with your time instead of entering a competing contest. There are two types of contest in the one I am talking about is where a company or individual would need a site or logo done and a bunch of designers would compete for one prize. I see no purpose in that. Now if your looking at it as for a school project and you have a chance for a scholarship or big opportunity then why not do it but other than those types of contest I think they are pointless. Some people go into contest and believe they can win and sometimes lose and vise versa. All I can say is do whatever floats your boat. I’m against competing with others designers because I know that I do not learn anything new and it wastes my time but we are all different and think different.

By: Nathan J. Brauer

Nathan J. Brauer — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:46:14 +0000

Hey Marcell,
Interesting read. I’d have to say I disagree with you though, and here’s why: (1) In any industry whether it’s sales, music, dance, etc one needs to practice their skills — in addition to when they’re actually “working”. Contests give designers the opporunity to practice their skills while being offered a chance to earn some money from it. (2) “Losing hope”: Hate to break it to you, but we lose hope all the time, regardless of industry, just by doing our normal job. For most designers, it’s even worse because they have to deal with clients’ concerns (which are often invalid and way too many). The life of a freelancer is actually a pretty tough one if the freelancer doesn’t know how to manage themselves and their clients very well. And again, if you go into a contest with the mindset that you’re using this time to practice, and winning is just a bonus, then the “competition” shouldn’t bother you.

By: Marcell

Marcell — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:38:20 +0000

I also agree with “client self has little to know communication with the designers”. As a designer it is important to stay in touch with our clients because we can better understand what they would like or want. Great points Benjamin!

By: Marcell

Marcell — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:36:24 +0000

I said don’t look at others work to often. Also if can’t design a website without looking at another website then I truly feel sorry for you. See not looking at others work to often will get your brain cooking up ideas. I have to say whenever i try to find inspiration by looking at others sites and design I simply cannot come up with a design because I am to busy looking at others work and when I design something new I do not want it to look the same as the other site. Also you do not want to be like any designer you want to be better then them so following what they do would just make you a follower but looking at what they’re doing and creating something totally different and abstract, makes you a leader and a follower of your own work

By: Stacey

Stacey — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:55:10 +0000

I’m sorry… I read that you are 17, and it makes me wonder if this article is simply your naivety speaking.

The #1 rule to being a better designer is to CONSTANTLY be looking at others’ work… the exact opposite of “don’t look at others’ work too often”!!! If you’re not constantly taking in what the other people in your field are doing, you’re not improving. Whether it is to pick up their techniques and aesthetics, or to learn what not to do, you need to be looking at what others are doing.

Very, very poor advice for designers, I hope others who read this article don’t follow your #1 “rule”.

By: Benjamin Schulz

Benjamin Schulz — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:47:30 +0000

Hi Marcell, thanks for the nice read. I agree with manyterms. For a while i lost my faith in my talent and my profession, just because i could not win any competition on a design contest website where the client chooses the design he likes most. In many cases the client has no idea of what he wants and will likely choose a crappy piece of bullshit from amateurs over fullthought design from a pro.

I quitted the idea of free “contest” and started to focus on my babies. This is the point where the motivation comes back and you set new goals which you can reach and statisfy and enhances your knowledge.

Know what the others do, but dont judge your own work by the work of others. There are -always- better designers. Important is that you feel comfortable with your skills and the work you do, and that your clients are happy.

Another fact why competition is bad is because the client self has little to know communication with the designers, this way there can never be a design which the client really desires.

Greetings from Germany.

By: You are now listed on FAQPAL

You are now listed on FAQPAL — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:21:36 +0000

why competing with other designers in contest will hurt you rather than help you…

Competing with other designers for various reasons seem to make you believe or think that you will become a better designer. I think that applies to a certain extent and should not be taken for granted….

By: Salad Fingers

Salad Fingers — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:56:46 +0000

Well yes you are right about this… but sincerely I consider web design as an art and if you are good in that you can participate at some contest even if you not win because in my vision the best site that you do is the one that you create no matter the rest. That’s a nice post there to learn more of the basic principles.