TIPS for contest holders

So you are going to hold a contest on forum, contests site or maybe you are already doing that. Anyway, it doesn’t matter but you should know something to achieve better results! Remember suggestions given here and you will absolutely have a better logo at the end of the contest.

Tip: set a smart prize

If your contest is on a website where designers can arrange contests let’s say by a reward. Then the highest paid contest are on the top and the lowest on the bottom. So, if you decide to pay $300 for a winner then you should make it be $301 because your site will be above all those $300 then. This way your contest will attract more designers than it could if it was $300 worth contest and was among other $300 paying contests. Look at this image, it is just a good example of what I have in mind:

As you see there are several contests with $300 prize and one with $303 is on the top. It absolutely gets more attention from designer than those below it.

Tip: leave comments carefully not to stop unique designs incoming

Then, you should know that giving one direction for a particular designer will have quite not a good response for you. Yes, that designer may get something better but other man will follow him. They will apply your suggestion on their designs and you will get less very unique designs submitted. You may send that designer a private message if you want him to change anything in his design or do it in other way but it should be done privately. It also isn’t a good idea to leave participants with no response from you. They will quit the contest or just stop submitting new designs and wait till you show up or even choose the winner. You have to show up from time to time and maybe leave a general message for all contestants that you are still there and write a sumarized message what logo you want, tell if they are going to a right direction or tell what idea you like (for example: “I like the idea with arrows combined in the logo but it should be done more creatively” or “I like red and black standing combination”). But do that very generally.  This way you should achieve a better result of submitting new ideas.

Otherwise, if you know what kind of logo you want then you can just tell the designers what you exactly want and do the usual contest holder’s job.

Tip: be active

Mostly contests with an active contest holder are really good. Many designers submit their designs there and if they get a quick response they are about to make the changes and submit again. But it’s actually your choice what kind of contest holder you are and it also depends on your time.

Good luck running contests! I hope this post was helpful for you