Australian-based crowdsourcing website for creative projects DesignCrowd has received a $3 million investment Starfish Ventures.
DesignCrowd allows anyone to upload a design project, set a deadline, set a budget and invite the platform’s group designers. The startup says that on average 25 to 100-plus custom designs are submitted from designers around the world, and the project manager can then decide which one suits his needs. Users can also give feedback to the designers and request changes. Once the design is set, payments are transfered and the design can be used for the submitter’s use.
How DesignCrowd aims to differ from other crowdsourced design platforms is that the site gives participation payments to designers that don’t win but participate in a bid. And DesignCrowd only
allows designers to see each other’s work once a project is completed, preventing group think
and copying issues.
For example, Harvard Business School used the site to crowdsource a new logo for the Harvard Forum for Innovation and received 267 logo designs from 57 designers. The company plans to use the funding towards additional hiring, product development and expansion to the U.S.