Crowdspring was launched in 2007 by Ross Kimbarovsky and Michael Samson. It was later launched as a design marketplace in May 2008. They believed that there was a huge gap between designers and the people who require designers so they stepped up to create a marketplace where the clients could connect with the designers or vice versa. Crowdspring is one of the companies who started with crowdsourcing design ideas when it came into trend. Their headquarters are situated in Illinois, USA and they have designers and writers from all over the world.
If you are planning to look for a crowdsourcing design Platform, We have come up with an unbiased review of Crowdspring followed by our verdict to help you decide better. Let us take a detailed look at Crowdspring:
1. Services
Crowdspring offers all kinds of crowdsourcing design services. Some of the notable services offered by them are:
- Design Contest: Crowdspring offers a wide range of design contests. If you require multiple ideas from various designers, you can launch an online design contest based on your needs. All you have to do is fill a design brief and set a prize amount for the winner. You will get to choose from a list of multiple design entries and select a winner whose design meets your requirements.
- Find a Designer: You can invite a designer to work with you on your design project. If you know what your requirements are, then you can choose to work with a designer who you think is a perfect fit for your project. You can simply choose from a wide range of design categories and select the designer you want to work with. You get a lot of categories of designers such as Logo Designers, Web Designers, Print Designers, Flyer Designers, T-Shirt Designers and much more.
- Design Consultation: If you require professional help for your design project, you can simply get a design consultation for your project at Crowdspring. Just explain them your query and a design expert will contact you to discuss your query along with prompt feedback.
- Crowdspring Pro for Agencies: If you are an agency looking for a crowdsourcing website that can handle bigger design projects, Crowdspring can help you cater those requirements by providing you dozens of designs.
- Resources for Small Businesses: Crowdspring also provides free information for small businesses to help them with Branding, Marketing and much more. They have also authored some books to help small business owners to stand out from the competition.
- Become an Affiliate: If you have a platform where you can advertise about Crowdspring, you can earn money by putting their affiliate links on your platform. Simply fill the application form, get approved and start earning!
2. How does it Work?
Like other design websites, Crowdspring also provides design services by two ways:
- Hire a Designer: Crowdspring helps you to invite a designer to work on your design project. You can simply choose a designer profile from a categorised list of hundreds of talented designers. If you have a vision for your design project, they can create the same design as your expectations and more.
- Start a Contest: Crowdspring provides you the option to launch a contest for your design requirement. Design Contest makes the whole designer community engage with your design project. Simply fill a design brief and set a prize for the winner and you are all set to get design entries for your project.
2. Usability
Starting with the homepage, Crowdspring has a great UI with plenty of information on the homepage. You can get all the information without any major navigation. Also, the website navigation is pretty smooth. They have given great space to designers as well. The Designer profile has been put into categories for you to get specific results. The quality of content on the website is amazing as well. They have made a separate space for business resources and that is available for free. You can head over to the resources section at the bottom of the homepage and get to read the content which can help you create better marketing strategies and work on perfecting your business services and operations. They have also created separate web pages for agencies so that they can coordinate effortlessly and the customers can interact with them on a better platform. Finally, the overall experience is great and it promises better engagement from the customer.
4. Pricing
The pricing plans at Crowdspring are varied for each Design category. For specific packages you can head over to the website to get the exact amount. However, for each design category they offer 4 packages: Silver, Gold, Elite and Platinum. Their logo design packages are as follows:
- Silver: $299 – Up to 60 Designs, 100% Guarantee, Unlimited Designs and Unlimited Designers.
- Gold: $499 – Up to 90 Designs, 100% Guarantee, Unlimited Designs, Unlimited Designers, Unlimited Focus Groups and Promotion.
- Elite: $899 – Up to 20 Elite Designs, 100% Guarantee, Unlimited Designs, Unlimited Designers, Unlimited Focus Groups, Promotion, Project Privacy, Dedicated Manager and Priority Support.
- Platinum: $1199 – Up to 75 Premium Designs, 100% Guarantee, Unlimited Designs, Unlimited Designers, Unlimited Focus Groups, Promotion, Project Privacy, Dedicated Manager, Priority Support, Team Collaboration and Unlimited Presentation.
5. Pros
Some of the advantages of Crowdspring are as follows:
- Free Design Consultation
- 100% Money Back Guarantee
- Additional Business Resource Material
- More than 200k Designers
- Great Customer Support
- Good Customer Ratings
6. Cons
While there are so many advantages of being one of the most famous design websites, some of the cons of Crowdspring would be:
- Not for customers on a very tight Budget
- No Free Trials
- Not Hiring Enough Designers Frequently
7. Crowdspring Alternatives
Some of the alternatives of Crowdspring are:
- Designfier: Designfier is a cheaper alternative than Crowdspring. Their pricing starts at $129 and more than 90 design entries, it is a better option for customers on a budget.
- 48HoursLogo: They provide cheaper pricing options than Crowdspring at $128. However they have a smaller designer base with only 74k Designers. They offer 50 design entries and the contest duration is two days.
- 99Designs: 99Designs is one of the most premium alternatives for Crowdspring. It charges a bit more but they have a bigger designer base with better customisation features.
- Designhill: It offers great value for money at $199. However, Designer offers more customisation in providing design briefs for contests.
- Designcrowd: Designcrowd offers great services and has a higher designer base than Crowdspring. Their plans start at 109$ which is cheaper than Crowdspring.
8. Our Verdict
Crowdspring is an amazing platform for people who want high quality designs at good prices. It can cater to small scale as well as large scale businesses along with agencies who have design requirements for bigger projects. They have an ample amount of designer base and their customers leave positive reviews about them on the website which tells us that they are providing great services to their customers.
It was launched at the time when the crowdsourcing concept was introduced. So they have been at it for the past decade and have earned a trustable name for themselves in the design industry. Their website is also easy to use and provides great information to help you make better decisions. They also help you in getting more by providing you with other resources to guide you in a particular direction which can work wonders for your business.
Their pricing packages might seem a bit too much to a small business owner or a Startup owner but they provide great service at the said price point and you can always choose their most basic silver package and still expect quality work at that price point. If you feel you have all the information required to make a decision, you can check out their platform by clicking the link below and experience their platform on your own!