I have no doubt that many creative types will shudder at the development of crowd sourcing concept feedback.
Well too late, it is here now, and it goes against everything we have been taught.
Concept Feedback
The commonly held theory is that the less people there is reviewing a concept, the more likely it will stay pure to the original idea, and therefore the more likely you will achieve a better outcome.
I agree that this theory usually holds true, especially where you have creatives and marketers who really know what they are doing.
But what about the little guys?
You know, the smaller designers and small to medium business owners who don’t have the level of experience we take for granted?
Why shouldn’t they be able to crowd source concept feedback from people who know better, so they can be sure they are getting the best possible result?
As the old Japanese proverb goes, “none of us is as smart as all of us”.
That is why Concept Feedback is here.
As a former small business owner, I love this new platform. And here is why:
• Its free, and free is good
• You are required to review 5 concepts before you can post one of your own, to ensure that you are contributing to the community. This also works to increase the quality of participants.
• Each reviewer has a reputation score, to help identify the best feedback
• Creatives can respond to each piece of feedback individually, either to agree or to justify why they have done it a certain way.
The service currently has 500 users but I think this will grow exponentially as they refine the site.
I truly hope they meet their objective of becoming so big they “take over Iceland and only serve waffles at restaurants.”
I love waffles.
Well done guys, what a great service!
Do I hear anyone else wanting crowd sourced brief feedback?
Andrew Reid
August 7, 2009
Hi Chris,
In our music/entertainment space, ‘crowd-sourcing’ is an efficient conduit for outstanding creation and innovation, i.e. the remix (or as we cal it 2nd gen material) developed by a myriad of engaged fans and customers using stem files deliberately circulated by music artist – a concept that needs to be considered more closely by non-music brands/businesses (but that’s another post). On the flip side, crowd-sourcing can also lead to an explosion of mediocrity and saturation based on many niche opinions/tastes. The point is, crowd-sourcing is sometimes best managed using a filter process, better known as curation. Needless to say, in either instance, crowd-sourcing is now integral to the overall creative process. It is here to stay; the only question is, how is this awesome power engaged in the first instance, then harnessed?
Logically and conceptually this topic encompasses the very notion of businesses under customer-management!
Good topic Chris.