In that sense, then, Threadless and CS are dissimilar in their business models rather than similar. With threadless, the best products (shirt designs) rise to the top while with CS the quality of the product (in this case, the designer and the work they produce) can and will vary.

This debate won’t end anytime soon, unfortunately, and it will spread to other service oriented businesses. One day lawyers rather than solely designers will be competing for clients online and arguing over quality vs. price. I can almost promise as much. Too bad it seems to be starting with design.

…see little value paying more for a quality design when they can turn to farms like crowdSpring and get a lot more work for very little investment, regardless of quality. Naturally, these people also run their own business, but they are not concerned if their actions lead to getting ametuerish work rather than something more professional because the bottom line is the price and the value.

Wal-Mart works the same way, and while they have been extremely successful and offer low, low prices, most of us probably aren’t particularly proud of what they’ve done for the whole of the retail industry.

My biggest gripe is not that these design ghettos exist, but that they are being propped up through their exploitation of the Web and the willing slaves that actively support them (against all logic), rather than falling apart like they deserve. Could we call the prevalence of spec work a graphic design “bubble”?

Unfortunately, there will always be people who are not creative, who have a narrow imagination and see little value in paying more for a quality design

I wrote a post about this recently and feel the EXACT same way that you do about the situation. If you’ll note the comments on the post, someone actually suggest that you guys started the whole situation.

In fact, I helped run the first online snowboard design contest for Monson Snowboards back in 2000…and much like with Threadless, the contest wasn’t about getting people to design a bunch of stuff that could be cherry picked later. The guidelines were clear, and more than anything else, our impetus was to create something fun and new for the still young online design community.

In any case, I really appreciate you speaking your mind and making it clear that you disagree. More people need to use their voices to educate those that don’t know the full story.

In a good way,
Greg

I have got a certain feeling each time i visit a new website. A kind of gut feeling. And as i visited cS the first time i immediately knew that they were business driven. I knew that it was not made by designers for designers and design addicts.

You see it in their comments. It’s a fight designer vs designer and not a community feeling like “hey let’s make some great stuff together” as i see it on Threadless.

Should an artist create a painting even if they don’t have a buyer? Absolutely.

Should an artist design a specialized logo or graphic for a company even if they have little chance of getting paid for it? Much harder decision.