Grind Restaurant

Let’s talk about art contests.

Whether it be a major corporation hosting an art contest in return for “clout”, a university having their students design a new sports team logo for an alumni magazine feature, or a small business asking their community for help with a new logo, they all have one thing in common: exploiting creatives for free labor.

I, along with most other artists, have taken part in one of these contest at one time or another. You always think it’s going to be worth it – “this is going to be the way I finally get noticed”, you tell yourself, only to be proven wrong once again. It’s a gamble, one that you convince yourself will be worth the risk of putting hours and hours of your time and energy into something that will never see the light of day.

This restaurant branding is exactly that. They put out a call for local artists to help them with a new logo. “Perfect,” I thought. “I’ve got this in the bag. I’ll blow all the other competitors out of the water since I’m an actual professional and then use this as a networking experience to get actual paying clients.” Well, wouldn’t you know – not only did I not win the competition, they never actually had one! No mention of it in my inbox or on their socials. It’s like they just forgot they had the idea at all. (To be clear – no hate towards the restaurant. People get busy, circumstances arise, etc etc. I get it. But it’s just another example of a design contest not paying off in the end.)

So, now I have this work I’m pretty damn proud of, with nothing to do with it except put it on my website. And honestly, I’m okay with that. It was a fun project that I hammered out in a few days, and it serves as proof that I know how to do my job. So, are art contests inherently evil? I don’t know. But this probably won’t be the last one I pour my time into.