GDC, Week 2, Co-Exist. GROUP 10 - Reflection

Today we were explained the topic for the annual event "ICAD Design days, ITERATE BEARING". Every year there is different topic for the event. And every time is very interesting. Like it was year ago, the topic was "To the Women who design". We created different design for red bandana and each design was so special and beautiful. I think this event it's more like annual motivation for us, young designers.

So, ICAD is a big good faculty of design and of course there could be nothing without their manifestos :

Ethical Design

Industrial Relations

Multidisciplinary Practice

Competitive Edge

But first we were divided in groups and were given topics. Ours :

Design & Prejudice: How should design competition entry fees be better recognized than singling out participants?

Making entry fee better recognised 1)Why does entry fee exist? Many people wonder why they must pay for an artwork in order to show their work, but let’s understand that some organisers are actually lacking the funds to run the competition. Therefore, they have to set a quite high amount of entry fee. In general, competitions are not cheap to run. 2)How does entry fee ((affects)) the competition and participants? There are contests providers behind a competition, they have to pay the judges, prepare the prize money and the cost of advertising, expenses for ((publishing,staffs and the venue)). Entry fee also improves the quality of work. Participants feel like they have ((a bigger stake to compete. Competitions with entry fees, usually have more qualified artists who had experienced in competitions. If they win the competition they will not only achieve the prize, but also their artworks will be publicize and shown to the society. Moreover, they will be more motivated in making more artworks and joining more competitions in the coming days. They could also put their achievements in their CVs to attract the HRDs when they start to enter the work field)) 3)So is it fair for the participants? Yes and no. Yes, in terms of there ((are)) so many preparations before, during and after the competition,(( and the treats that they will get during the competition day)). No, because most of the organisers will not be fully honest or give a proper explanation on why they need to pay that specific amount to the participants. Most of the time, it is misunderstood that the entry fee is for the organisers to only get the prize money. 4)What’s the solution here so that entry fee could be better recognised without singling out participants?

We have came up with four solutions: Solution

no.1 would be to allow a flexible entry fee. Including participants decisions on setting up a poll for them to vote on the amount of fee prior to the competition. Solution

no.2 is having the designers to submit their work before they actually pay to enter the competition. They should look over the art works that are qualified to enter the competition. Solution

no.3 is If this is a big competition there will be more participants (like a famous/well known competition) and the fee can be smaller, and if this is a small competition, organisers should have more effort to find a proper sponsorship to sustain the contest providers. Last but not least, solution

no.4 is to have the organisers to open the competition with a free entry but limit the number of people so their budget can be controlled and planned well.