Suggestions for the contest page

thanks for posting this. here's a few small, suggestions that i think might make a difference.

-keep open contests seperate from finished ones. 2 seperate tabs
-consider using a package deal like 99designs. i.e..bronze, silver, gold. bronze-$250, silver-$500, etc. this will definetely highlight more attention to the briefs and gain more attention from all viewers...designers and clients
-i recently read a comment from a contest holder (i think it was nitro kids) said that it would be nice to see a better rating scale rather then liked, not liked and off brief. perhaps add another option..."good" but need to improve on or something like that
-can we add a bad logo voting system if one or more designer sees something off the mark. this is going to scare away clients seeing bad or average logos. don't know if this has been brought up before or not
-lastly, i would like to see a verdict or end result in each contest. what i mean is that once it's over..sometimes the designers never hears a word about the contest and there's no communication or winner. maybe add a closing remark so the contest holders know what's going on. i sometimes see admin posts comments but this should be mandatory for the client to say something like, "client did not like logos and there is no winner. thank you to everyone who participated."

These are my few suggestions for improvement. thank you

heather

Great suggestions above.

I think first and foremost, nailing quality control on contest submissions needs to be a top priority above anything else. The old brief system was abused like crazy, and the new one is now looking and feeling like the old one we left behind.

One suggestion I would make is this: make this current site 'stocklogos.com' just that, a stock site only for logo design, and let's make the contest side of things a different website altogether. So call it something like 'stockcontest.com' or similar. Currently as it stands, logos in contests do not now appear in the main stock side of the site. So uploading a logo into the general repository after a closed brief is a manual thing for all designers. Nothing would be lost if the two parts of the site were separated into individual entities.

I can't obviously comment of the full logistics for such a suggestion, but I'm guessing that there's a constant compromise between what you'd like to do with each aspect of the site, but can't because one overlaps or interferes with the other. Splitting the site would allows better resources to go to where it's needed most.

I know the contest side is a good thing to have on here. But it's clear that many designers are policing contest's on top of stock submissions, and I'm sure a lot of bad stuff is getting through that shouldn't because members are stretched, but also they do it in their spare time. Keeping things separate may help to improve overall quality control. Some designers only want to do briefs, some only want to do stock. There would be a natural order and balance to each side of the sites if they would split.

Hey,

http://stocklogos.com/contest/green-fox-manufacturing-pty-ltd/109874
http://stocklogos.com/contest/qualit%C3%A0-drinks-eventos/108503

I can see these designs in contest entries but I can't see these designs in designers portfolio.
http://stocklogos.com/user/xbluedivision

Star ratings maybe better than just the current ones. This can either be shown under the draft or in a separate page listing how many 1 star, 2 stars, etc have been given, sort of a project status. The latter I believe is also a good system in that even if a contest is not blind, no one would have any idea who got 1 star or 5 stars and which designs, preventing any possible copying. Only the designer can see his/her ratings

IMHO a voting system won't be a good idea if it's going to be seen by everyone. If it's just between the designer and contest holder (like 99 design's designer's private comments page) then that's just fine. The idea would feel like a public humiliation for a designer who already offers his/her services for free during the contest period, so save the designer from any further unnecessary inconvenience.

- Additionally, allow us to withdraw our entries during, while the contest is in deciding stage and after a winner is selected.

- It would be good also if in the project holder's profile one can see the project holder's records for how many projects he/she had held already. I thought this might somehow give designers a better idea on the credibility of a project holder.

- Last but not the least, provide for a guaranteed winner option on projects so that designers can be assured of compensations for the efforts.

As the above suggestions,

> Separate Current and Closed contests

> Color tag Contests by prize money: High, Medium, Low

> Better rating by the client: 1 to 5 Stars and 'Off brief'

> 'Result' section in pages of completed contests showing Winning Logo or 'Client was not satisfied. No winner'

> Notify all participants in a Contest by email after the Contest ends about the result