What is Crowdsourcing?

Whether you’re creating a 3D printing business or simply have a hint of an idea that could change the world, crowdsourcing platforms can help your business and your project virtually from start to finish: from growing your idea to getting your funding, from design to notoriety. Today, we give you a guide of the 15 best crowdsourcing platforms for product design – from idea to realization.

Introduction

Whether you’re creating a 3D printing business or simply have a hint of an idea that could change the world, crowdsourcing platforms can help your business and your project virtually from start to finish: from growing your idea to getting your funding, from design to notoriety. Today, we give you a guide of the 15 best crowdsourcing platforms for product design – from idea to realization.
Afterward, all you’ll have to do is hop onto our website and 3D print your first prototype! Let’s see what is crowdsourcing and how these crowdsourcing sites can help your business.

What is crowdsourcing?

The term “crowdsourcing” is a contraction of “crowd” and “outsourcing”, which appeared for the first time in 2006 when Jeff Howe published the article “The Rise of Crowdsourcing” in Wired. This quote from the article describes very simply what crowdsourcing is and how it’s made possible by technological advances:

“Now the productive potential of millions of plugged-in enthusiasts is attracting the attention of old-line businesses, too. For the last decade or so, companies have been looking overseas, to India or China, for cheap labor. But now it doesn’t matter where the laborers are – they might be down the block, they might be in Indonesia – as long as they are connected to the network.

Technological advances in everything from product design software to digital video cameras are breaking down the cost barriers that once separated amateurs from professionals. Hobbyists, part-timers, and dabblers suddenly have a market for their efforts, as smart companies in industries as disparate as pharmaceuticals and television discover ways to tap the latent talent of the crowd. The labor isn’t always free, but it costs a lot less than paying traditional employees. It’s not outsourcing; it’s crowdsourcing.”

Some tasks require special skills and you might not always able to work on some complete tasks by yourself.

There are actually different types of crowdsourcing platforms, but their goal is the same, it connects people and uses collective intelligence to go through new innovation challenges. It can be for both simple and complex projects. Let’s start your crowdsourcing project right now and get ready for some great business innovations.

What can crowdsourcing do?

The article talked about how stock photo sites like iStockphoto were revolutionizing the photography industry by reducing drastically the cost of an image, through the use of resources from “the crowd”: everyone who wanted to share a picture on the platform and allow for it to be sold at a low price. In the 3D printing and digital manufacturing industry, there is a very close neighbor to this kind of platform: 3D files and 2D files marketplaces, that allow you to find very cheap or even free designs that you can 3D print, laser-cut, and redesign at will.

We wrote an article about 3D printing marketplaces and one about laser cutting marketplaces, in case you’re looking for a file to upload on our platform!

Why Love Crowdsourcing?

Suppose you live in a remote corner of the world and have a real flair for designing. Yet as far as opportunities go, you find them hard to come by in your locale. Armed with just an internet connection, you can connect to the wider world; lend your designing skills to any of the crowdsourcing sites out there. That way you can build up a potent and eclectic portfolio whilst earning some income.
For small businesses and startups with a limited budget, crowdsourcing seems to be manna from heaven. It can give them a visual identity for a start, and once they are firmly hitting their successful stride, they can invest in more elaborate branding services later on.

Why Hate Crowdsourcing?

Designers are competing with other designers here, and that too at the lowest fee. Though crowdsourcing might give clients a cost-effective option to avail of design services, it is the designer who has to fight for their survival here. More often than not, those designs that graphic designer crafts might get rejected.

Design contests run the danger of severely undervaluing designers when they could’ve earned a fairer fee if they worked in a professional firm.

Because the competition is so cutthroat, most designers might not deliver all-original work. They won’t do their research when just remixing an existing logo design will suffice. Time is a factor too.