Recently 12designer announced 2011 finished strong, with more than 3,000 creative contests receiving more than 330,000 design submissions.

“Crowdsourcing had always a clear aim: to solve a need directly, in an easy and uncomplicated process. And for that, contests have been a great tool, especially in 2011, where we were able to recognize its potential as a global solution for startups, which were able to benefit from this direct structure that allows them to tap into a wide creative diversity at a reasonable price”, analyzed Eva Missling, CEO and founder.

“It’s capital to understand what your customers need, when and how. That’s why we made a special survey among our creatives to explore their motivational reasons –which were not just money, we discovered. And in 2011 we implemented a special contest type, 12premium, where only the best and more experienced creatives shall offer their work, that allows clients to get the best quality results. Understanding what the market needs is really important if you want to provide an accurate solution; and as long as we observe carefully how the crowdsourcing market evolves, we’re now able to see that 2012 will be completely different from 2011”, she assures.

12design announced 2012 will be a year full of challenges for the creative crowdsourcing. They have seen the emergence of two different crowdsourcing models, those who are after a quick solution with no additional service and those who put a lot of effort into selecting their crowd. Missling announced “…At 12designer we strive to offer the best of both worlds: an interactive and direct working method, and a quality-oriented global service.”

“We can see that the market will be in 2012 more professional: that means, crowdsourcing will be definitely become an hybrid between crowd’s power and the level of service from an agency. In other words: contests are slowly getting paid off. They’re a great starting point to test how helpful an online community could be, but it’s time to move forward towards an hybrid, more quality-oriented model, where quickness and professionalism come together.” Missling concludes.