It was great to see this post about Napkin Labs today. Last year I consulted with founders Riley Gibson and Warren Ng on the right positioning and strategy that a new an online crowdsourced design firm could take. Clearly we knew from the get go that the current winner-take-all method was harmful to both the creative participants as well as the client. It’s very unlikely that excellent work will be generated consistently from the current crowdsourced model.

We developed a basic idea that an online community could slot right in between the traditional full service firm and the untouchable spec work model. It’s great to see some recognition for what I think is a fantastic opportunity for freelancers and students to participate in big projects and collaborate outside their normal spheres. In a later post, I think I’ll delve a little deeper into the initial ideas we developed that’s turning Napkin Labs into what it is a year later.

As a side note, I’ve been participating in the beta projects and I’m very happy with the quality of participants and the ideas being generated!