Thanks Imokon,

Rather than bashing though I think everyone should actually #1 realize why this is an issue #2 be constructive in educating fellow designers and CLIENTS who in the end talk with their money.

That’s what I was trying to get at with my first comment. Everyone else who has brought an argument against Brandstack has done so constructively, which I appreciate. I’m removing the one brand I had submitted thus far.

If you continue to fight the WRONG WARS you will LOSE and YOU WILL DIE.
If you fail to respond to your clients and your enemies you will FAIL.
You have to look at what makes Crowdspring and others attractive to customers
Some of the attraction is the ability to rip off suckers and get something for nothing while others spin their heels producing total effort with no chance of gain -OR EVEN RECOGNITION, as , its not always about money - many designers upload stuff on LogoPond to share and get feedback from their peers - I’ve referred people to clients based on what I’ve seen on LogoPond so it works in that way. You have to identify what makes spec work (and contest work) attractive. Some of that ‘attraction’ is based on ignorance and misconceptions - many companies entering into this do not even know how much WORK it is to even participate on a contest, 5 minutes to give a good look at 20 submissions is more than an hour spent barely looking at what you need to do! This is time/money you cant recover and probably didnt budget for

That’s not tongue-in-cheek, it’s blatant slander. Put together some constructive criticism and I’d pay attention, but this article is just awful and doesn’t deserve to be linked up. Poor taste, CSS Drive

Your initial instinct was correct - the article was/is poor and IS slander/defamation.

Is brandstack a bad company which unfairly exploits the futile dreams of designers world wide and takes an unfair (perhaps) cut off the proceeds of their efforts - much of it in vain? Possibly.
Did the article clearly and fairly layout points, DETAILS, facts and evidence?? *NO* that is why it is and was, a BULLSHIT article.
NOTICE: This Moni wrote a d*ck sucking article regarding Crowdspring, a company very much like Brandstack. If I were suing Moni, I would point out that he is sucking up to my competitor and writing to bash ME for competitive advantage, not with any factual basis.
Finally, This “douchebag” creating multiple accounts and plugging his products/company? ... sounds pretty competent to me!  dishonest? not fair disclosure? perhaps - but savvy (but sneaky) tradecraft it seems to me. <shrug>

Phil, how can anyone sue someone over an article like that? Defamatory? Really? You’re joking right?

Also how are CrowdSPRING and Brandstack competitors? Do you use either? It’s unlikely that you have a clue. You’re just trolling and doing a poor job of it too. Get a life.

As for the topic at hand, while the article was a little harsh and written by someone who was obviously fed up with the service, let’s not forget what it’s about, Brandstacks Business Model. I also used Brandstack for several week before realizing they were as clueless as Phil up there, and did not know how to run a company like that. I took down my logos and stopped using the service. I did sell 2 logos on that site, just so no one claims I left because I couldnt sell my work there.

True, while I did agree to the 15% it was always something I protested against on Twitter, mentioned to Brandstack on there (formally known as incspring back then) that it was absurd to be charging the designers this 15% cut and not the buyer. Besides that, I noticed the shockingly low quality of logos being accepted and the lack of quality control (which is mentioned in the article) that is still evident, and decided that it would both be unprofessional of me and embarrassing to have my work besides some of the work there.

There are featured members there still, one i have noticed in particular lately is this Tabitha individual as well as others, who use stock art as mentioned in some of the comments above (please dont take this as an accusation, it was merely an ‘observation’ and if someone would like me to b`ack it up with links to stock art/vector icons I will) and the fact that Brandstack turns a blind eye due to her high number of sales is sickening, same goes for a lot on there. Designers have now taken to ripping ideas off successful designs and remaking them to sell on brandstack, I could list at least a dozen examples but those aware of what’s going on over there will already know what I’m talking about.

One last thing, Brandstack doesn’t want to spend any $ on marketing, it’s obvious. This startup, this service is and always was going to be a spec related site. The designers don’t seem to be getting any kind of exposure and again as someone pointed out, they’re better off setting shop on their own sites. It’s embarrassing some of these popular designers use a service like this to desperately sell their work.

The owner himself, Wes Wilson has stated a while back, referring to one of Brandstacks oldest members, a popular designer named Bojan from Serbia, that goes by the nickname logoholik, the following;

“So lets say you’re a creative or designer in, Serbia, there’s not going to be a lot of opportunities for you to brand, BBQ companies ” - source - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxuNhwPKHv0

So you’re telling me Bojan can’t find clients of his own and has to rely on Brandstack? I highly doubt that. Brandstack does not even advertise anywhere. No where that will pull real clients that is, advertising on Logopond for example is not going to get clients in, just more creatives. This is Brandstacks goal though, to cram their site and logo directory with as many designs as humanly possible, so that when a client does accidentally wonder in, there’s more of a chance they’ll find something they like. I’m not being sarcastic or rude here, this really does seem to be the case.

This article addresses a lot, it’s standing up for freelancers and designers in general. Sites like Brandstack and CrowdSPRING only devalue the logo design industry and if you can’t see that then you have something to gain from these sites.

I find it hilarious how Wes Wilson, owner of Brandstack states that he had figured out most small start-ups don’t have a clue how to brand themselves. - source - http://www.linkedin.com/in/wesleyswilson

He sounds as arrogant and clueless as Ross, founder of CrowdSPRING. Just another spec site. I am curious however as to why the so called SpecWATCH site has not caught on and mentioned them, could this be a case of conflicting interests? It would be nice to dig into who runs SpecWATCH and make sure Brandstack is not getting special treatment.

Jason, what are you, an idiot?
Crowdspring and Brandsmack are two shitty sides of the same spec toilet paper! of course they are competitors!

Moni is doing a disservice by sucking the dick of one and busting the balls of the other

And as for suing, you should realize that businesses sue not to get redress for some wrong they have suffered, but squelch, silence and bully their detractors and competition. - you think Brandshack would be ABOVE that kind of behaviour - ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE AN OPEN AND SHUT CASE??? -please

The spec sites are just like CHINESE TOY FACTORIES - as they push to the LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR then obviously quality, safety and value will suffer. The real danger is that CEO at Mom & Pop Company will think that this is what REAL DESIGNERS ARE LIKE. The only solution is:
1. Unionize: gather as much good designers together (outside of the bullshit spec site clientele to provide a professional counterweight to their fraudulent practices.

2. STANDARDIZE. Document a min standard of Behaviour (Turn around time, responsiveness, revisions , DISPUTE RESOLUTION etc. ALL designers that associate with your union legally swear to stand by those quality levels.

3. Document and expose their abuses ( Specwatch claims to be doing this, but 80% of their output is illeterate ranting “fire bad! Trog no like!”

THATS WHY THE ARTICLE WAS SHIT- IT DIDNT DO THAT - IT FAILED.
Idiotic rants dont move industry - You think Martin Luther King or Ghandi would have accomplished anything if they acted like idiotic rabble rousers??

Give me a break, who’s going to sue over that? If anything, from what you’re saying, Moni could sue you for slander too. Seriously grow up and don’t throw that BS around.

You do make a point though,

2. STANDARDIZE. Document a min standard of Behaviour (Turn around time, responsiveness, revisions , DISPUTE RESOLUTION etc. ALL designers that associate with your union legally swear to stand by those quality levels.

I think something like this would work well, specially if there is some sort of guild, a community of designers, well known ones that do know what they’re talking about. A group that set the bar higher than what it is now. I think that would do well to spread awareness and slowly suffocate sites like these.

The other thing would be LEGAL SERVICES.
If they form an association, it could be like members if the association have access to some legal muscle. I would suggest a structural agreement kinda like what the RIAA have with music content providers, some kind of ‘limited joint copyright assignment’ that enables the riaa to take action on the behalf of its members.
Right now, every single designer who’s work gets skimmed, scammed or outright stolen has no recourse than “angry blogging” which only makes him look like an impotent idiot. With MORE designers registering their work AND HAVING SOME LEGAL MUSCLE BEHIND IT - that automatically SHRINKS THE AVAILABLE POOL for those spec companies to operate in!
Spec work is not bad - or not all bad. ALL work without a direct promise of payment/contract that you didnt do just for fun - is ‘spec work’.. resume, maintaining a personal site, cold calling, networking with ‘friends you hate’ just to keep in touch..its all work,  Designers dont hate WORK, they just hate getting fucked over while doing it!

There are featured members there still, one i have noticed in particular lately is this Tabitha individual as well as others, who use stock art as mentioned in some of the comments above (please dont take this as an accusation, it was merely an ‘observation’ and if someone would like me to b`ack it up with links to stock art/vector icons I will) and the fact that Brandstack turns a blind eye due to her high number of sales is sickening, same goes for a lot on there.

I’d like some proof of me using any kind of stock art. I’ve never stolen anything from anyone and I’m not about to start now. Every single design I’ve ever made has been 0 original. As a matter of fact, I added a design to Brandstack once that was approved and got a message that it was very similar to one that was already sold. I immediately took it down. It sounds to me like someone might be a little upset that I’m actually selling as much as I am. I promote my designs as much as I can, why does being successful have to mean that I’m cheating? Come on now, aren’t we all adults?

What I’d like to know is why Toni [or Moni] promoted Julie Kapral’s [a fake and thieving designer inside out] work so vehemently on Brandstack [which was then Incspring], promoting all her logos, sending massive amounts of traffic there, literally asking people to go buy her logos on that website, asking fellow designers to promote her till they were all sold due to HUGE exposure. And then she turned out to be a FAKE! ripping off logos and designs like there was no tomorrow .. and even after she was gone, I remember Toni defending her in a conversation.

I am sorry but if you are going off on a tangent regarding such websites repeatedly over and over again every few weeks, you need to have more credibility, you need to have a cleaner slate where you haven’t done the same thing yourself in the past that you are NOW saying is horrendous!

Sneh, at the time you’re referring to Brandstock, errm. Brandstack, errm. Incspring was still relatively young and some of its practices were forgivable.  Wes has had PLENTY of feedback since then and I think your Julie situation just points out the shortcomings of Brandstack more than anything.  How many of those sold logos were stolen?

Bringing up Julie Kapral is just stupid, by the way.  All of you supported her just as much as Toni did and once she was found out, Toni went silent just as quickly as any number of you.  I personally DM’d Wes SEVERAL times about how stupid it was to let the Julie saga get to the level it did, but he was too stubborn and stupid to listen.  I’m sure I still have them saved if I need to bring them out.  He didn’t listen and incspring shot itself in the foot as far as I’m concerned.