Open Contest
Description
A competition in which all of the submitted answers are visible to all and which is judged by the community of participants. In this context the competition normally seeks creative responses, such as artwork to reflect a particular design brief or company motto.
Related Methods
Purpose
The purpose of this method is to use a competition (and a reward) as a means of generating a crowd response to a design challenge. Participants are only limited by the quality of their submissions and only enter into a competition if thy think the prize is worthwhile of their entry effort. Participants make a judgement call on their competitors and competitiveness of each competition.
Category
Decide
Strengths
- Helps buyers when they don’t really know what they need.
- Fast and cheap for buyers.
- The advent of choice means that the process can be inspiring.
Weaknesses
- IPR can be an issue.
- Relies on an adequate number of responses as the prize must always be given.
Examples
| Name | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Designcontest | Graphical design competitions | http://www.designcontest.com |
| Designcrowd | Graphical design competitions | http://www.designcrowd.com/ |
Tools
| Name | Link |
|---|---|
| Simpl | Http://simpl.co |
Profile
| Item | Descriptor |
|---|---|
| How would you describe the resources you have available to this activity? | Minimal cost. Competition are usually set below £1000 |
| How important is it that you gain insight from your participants, such as statistical reports on participant demography etc? | Irrelevant |
| To what extent should participants take ownership of the activity? | No horizontal dialogues. |
| How does the digital engagement activity need to integrate with other activity? | Web based methods |
| How public should the engagement activity be? | Basic transparency in that all entries are visible to others. |
| How quickly are results required? | Used to generate quick results. |
| How important is it to know the identity of the participants? | Basic trust needed to ensure that contributions are authentic. |
| At what stage of your overall project will this engagement activity relate? | Used for development purposes. |
| On what lines are participants likely to be grouped? | Typically issue orientated |
| Are you hoping to engage a particular audience? | Not applicable |
| To what extent do you envisage your intervention in participation? | No effort. |
| How many people should the activity engage? | Needs mass participation in order to be competitive. |
| Should the activity have an emphasis on getting participants ideas and opinions to diverge, converge, or both? | May involve rating |