Since we put up The Inksquad a year ago, a lot has happened. Some plans went down the drain, others were enormous victories for us. All of which happened with the community running the show, 24/7.

Right now, we’ve reached another milestone.

Face-Off

Since we’ve already got the voting system down and other community features, we thought: why not open this up to others?

Starting today, people will be able to hold thematic, time-limited contests through The Inksquad. We’re calling them “Face-Offs”, where contest participants go head to head armed with their design wits, all for a themed-contest created by a third-party organization/group.

After all, crowd wisdom is too good to keep it to ourselves.

Crowd Wisdom: WTH are you talking about?

Ever heard that “two heads are better than one?” That’s exactly what crowd wisdom is: it’s the collective intelligence of the masses put together under one roof for one goal. If done properly, it becomes indispensible. It not only takes a popular vote (just like a democracy), but it most likely ends with the best possible results.

Crowd wisdom is what The Inksquad was built for. It’s what we believe in: you run the show.

Now we’re opening this up for other people to experience this (very) cool thing. How? Here are some scenarios:

• Bands can come up with artwork for pretty much whatever they want: album covers, merchandise (shirts, pins, stickers).
• Bands can engage their fans in a way that they never have before. Not only will the fans be able to create the what artwork to come up with, but they will get to choose, up to a certain level, what will get printed.
• Companies can come up with designs for products they want to sell, and be fairly sure about how well it will sell, since the crowd chose it.
• NGOs can get help in an almost infinite scale by opening their doors online.
• Designers who join can get their name out there, whether they get Inked or not, without commitment. We have a lot of artists that see The Inksquad as a creative outlet.
• Designers can hone their skills, collaborate with co-creatives, and learn way more than they would have it they flew solo.

Too good to be true?

We won’t lie: working with a crowd is not simple.

Understandably, this may be difficult for most people. It takes being open to letting things go. Maybe more difficult for (especially large) companies that are used to controlling everything. There are a lot of things to consider and to watch out for.

To help you, the staff will be extending their assistance and experience to anyone who’s willing to get into it. The way this will work is most likely different from what you’re used to, but it comes with great rewards:

• People are more engaged – voters, commenters, designers. Because of this interactivity, it’s more likely that these people will spread the word.
• Since the community votes, the winning design/s will sell better, since it’s a crowd-pleaser.
• Participants submit designs by choice. Because of this, the artwork is generally of higher standards.

It’s up in the air

We’re tossing this up and seeing where it’ll take us. At the very least, it’ll open up awesome and fruitful partnerships with all sorts of groups.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you think community created stuff has potential here in the Philippines?

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See the first ever Face-Off happen with The Out of Body Special.

Interested in holding your own Face-Off? Send us an email at staff@theinksquad.com.