Feeling overwhelmed? Don't worry, this competition process can be confusing, but we're here to help you help yourself get the best work done, for the best price in the least amount of time.
In a nutshell, the TC Process works like this:
Now, sometimes it's just that simple. We've had many customers who've whipped up a quick contest description (here's one for example), and received many good submissions in return (here's his submissions). But most times you'll find that a better "spec" (what we call the specification, or contest description details) leads to more and better submissions.
There are no guarantees that your contest will yield the perfect result, but there are definitely things you can do to optimize your chances for success. Take a little bit of time to prepare a good "spec" and you're more likely to get great results.
That's really the one and only question that matters - and the answer is: everything.
Ok, so that answer might not seem so helpful, but the point is that there are several elements that make up a good spec, and you want to try to find the perfect combination of them.
The perfect combination of these may be different for any given contest, and many times you won't achieve that "sweet spot" which brings you the highest number of quality submissions, for the lowest price, in the shortest amount of time. Most of our contests yield a good number of quality submissions, but there are times when one of those 4 factors is so out of whack that you end up not getting what you need. The good news is that you can learn from this and always try again, but let's try to show you how to get them right first time.
The more you know for yourself exactly what you need, the better your experience with TopCoder is going to be. Before you get started, take some time to determine what your goals are for your project. Ask yourself a couple of questions:
That second question is a big one. We have found that TopCoder customers often see better results when a project is broken down into smaller and easier (and lower prize value) competitions. Often, the competitors will gravitate to contests which require less work, even if the prize money is lower. This means these smaller contests receive more submissions, giving the customer more design ideas to choose from. The level of quality is often higher as well, since the designer can focus his/her energy on getting the single task done right, rather than just getting the larger task done.
For example: You need a 10-page website designed. There is nothing stopping you from launching a contest for all 10 pages, but you're likely to receive less submissions than you would if you ran a contest for your main page alone - even though you may be offering three or four times the prize money. More submissions means you have more choices for how you want your website to "look & feel". You've risked less money if you don't get exactly what you need, and when you've chosen the one you like best, you can run a second contest to a) make refinements to the winning design and b) carry that "look & feel" over to the other 8 or 9 pages you need built.
Remember, once you have chosen a winner and downloaded the files - you own them and are free to do what you like with them. This includes uploading those files for the designers to use as part of a second contest. You also have the option to purchase as many additional designs as you want and include those files in subsequent contests as well. ("I really like the colors & layout of Design A, but please incorporate the navigation structure from Design B")
If you're running a simple logo contest, this is probably not an issue - but it is something to think about anyway. We have seen customers get 75 submissions for a logo contest and still not find the "perfect" design they were hoping for, but they might like the concept of one or two or more of the submissions, or chose one that is "almost there." Taking that winner or winners into a second contest and asking the community to improve upon or combine elements gives that customer the best chance to get that perfect design.
The better you are at communicating what you need in your contest description, the more likely you will be to get great results from the competitors.
Start with a good title: Remember that this and the prize money are all a competitor sees of your competition as he/she browses the list of Active Contests. Make it descriptive or snappy enough that they are enticed to click on yours to find out more.
Now you can get into full details - and the fuller, the better! The more you are able to describe what you're looking for here, the more likely you are to get what you're looking for. You don't have to know exactly what you want, but you should tell the competitors about the company, your goals for this contest, and how you will be using this design.
We recommend covering the following topics when writing your description:
Take a look at past contests on Studio to get a feel for the way successful contests have been presented, gather information, decide what you really need, smaller is better, good title, good description, attachments, example, copyright stuff, browse others (examples of good specs/good results), pros & cons of leaving it 'open' to the designers.
There are minimum prizes associated with the type of contest you are running to help you get started, but it is important to note that these are not 'suggested' prize purses, you can (and most times should) go up from here. We'll try to help you make an educated decision about how much you should offer.
When it comes to offering prizes, bigger is not always better - but most times is. And smaller is not always worse - but too small is almost always bad.
What does that mean? Well, the 'too small' part you probably understand already. If you're running a contest for a 10-page website layout and offering a $100 prize, chances are you're not going to see a ton of great submissions. On the other hand, a $100 prize for a logo contest is also low - but not necessarily so low that you won't get good submissions. It might depend on what you're competing against. If there are five other logo contests running at the same time offering higher prizes than yours, then your contest is likely to see less participation. If there is not, you might be just fine with a lower prize amount.
You want to make sure that the prize money you offer is relative to the amount of work required to complete the task, and that it is competitive with the prizes being offered for similar contests. You can get a good idea what that range is by looking over the Active and Recent Contests to see what others are offering, and how successful those contests were. You can also take a look at some of the examples we provide.
The dollar figure you offer is going to be the first thing that attracts the eye of a competitor, and the higher it is relative to other contests, the more eyes you will attract. Also, the higher the prize purse, the higher the Studio Cup points for that contest will be, which is often as important to the competitors as the prize itself. Learn more about the Studio Cup
So, the more you offer as a prize the more likely you'll be to get participation. But here's the one word of caution: While offering a huge prize will certainly get the attention of the designers, a lot of times more prize money = more work, and as we discussed, that's not always a good thing. Ask yourself if you wouldn't be better off splitting your project into smaller contests. That 10-page website layout we talked about? You might be more likely to get the results you want by running one contest for the front page only, then choosing the design you like best running a second contest to carry out that "look & feel" to the other 9 pages.
when do you really need it, short versus long, relative to the amount of work, give them enough time to discover and work on it, relative to other contests, lots of submissions at the end, competitors choose soonest ending first, overnights and weekends are good,
forums, answer the right questions, deciding to edit a contest, raise the prize money,
Next Steps:
launching the next contest, purchasing more than one sub, future contests,