NAVIGATION
97. Crowdsourcing Style
To o many cooks in the kitchen spoil the soup,
and too many opinions during the design process
can turn out diluted or incoherent work. Herd
behavior often strives to appeal to the lowest
common denominator. Being well aware of the
downside of design by committee is a good
reason for creating a filter for feedback and criti
cism, constructive or otherwise.
The flip side of this is the positive power of the
people. Crowdsourcing is reaching out to broad
audiences-most commonly over the Internet
to help develop designs, raise money, and
mobilize people. Services such as Kickstarter
.com help volunteer organizations, charities,
startups, designers, and bands level the playing
field between amateurs and professionals. They
remove the middleman, allowing a designer to
go directly to the customer for content, funding,
and distribution. The goals of crowdsourcing
include finding resources, outsourcing projects,
finding funding, courting inspiration, gaining a
democratic consensus, minimizing costs, and
taking advantage of the wisdom of the masses.
When it is managed well, mass collaboration
can be leveraged to take advantage of having
multiple designers participating in problem solv
ing, multiple sources contributing components of
the design, and finding scores of patrons who will
support a designer's vision.
Making a good pitch online is not much differ
ent from the process of drafting a business plan
to impress a banker. A compelling case must be
made, because investors of any kind are look
ing for sound ideas as well as a spark-not to
mention a reward for getting involved. Ta king
advantage of this platform raises awareness and
helps to gauge what people actually want, and
potentially empowers participants to become a
community of brand citizens.
200 Fashion Design Essentials
Above: Designer Valerie
Mayen of Project Runway
fame, used Kickstarter.com
successfully to raise funds for
a startup venture. The project
is a fashion design incubator
called Buzz & Growl, based in
Cleveland, Ohio.
