Perhaps you do not know that ethical, standards for professional graphic designers prevent them from entering contests where no one is paid but the winner. Design contests like the one you have don’t promote graphic design as a legitimate career choice. How many designers will do the work, submit the designs in the hope of getting paid but wont win? How long can designers feed them selves, put a roof over their heads, when every job is a design contest? A few will rise to the top but most will not succeed. Even those with massive talent need practice (example Tigger Woods). To have a healthy industry we all need to understand that these type of contests hurt the designers and the clients.

Just what type of a logo do you think you are going to get with this contest? Creating a logo is a process. The client and designer must work together so the resulting mark is suitable, appropriate fitting it’s requirements in the blink of an eye. When the process is one sided (designer alone, no client input) the client is only doing themselves a disservice. How can a designer come up with a logo when they know practically nothing about the client? Even a good designer with years of experience can only guess what might be needed. Often the process of designing a logo or any other communication starts in one place and ends up in another through questions, research, and business education of both the client and the designer. That is what you pay for when you pay a designer to create a logo, not just what ever pops into their head, when ever they get some time to work on a non paying job. It will likely be far from the perfect design.

If you want to find out more about professional standards in graphic design look up “Graphic Designers Association”. They are in most countries of the world.

J. Michael Queen – you’re absolutely right!