There’s a big difference between a museum and the stock exchange. Flame me for saying so, but most freelancing job sites give you the feeling of being in a marketplace.

Here’s a typical scene, you get a list of projects, and when you click on one you see several proposals/pitches each with their bidding price. The winner of the price battle is the one with the best pitch, the best price, and/or the best portfolio. This kind of environment doesn’t really allow a newcomer much of a breathing space. Just a slight chance that he/she might land a project to cover for the membership cost of the site. That’s after spending several days refreshing the project list to try to be the first to bid on a newly posted project.

What makes crowdSPRING different is that it doesn’t feel like a marketplace. You’re not trying to outbid each other with a better (often cheaper) price. You’re not competing against others who have a better portfolio, and others who have stolen portfolios.

You’re part of a community. How you approach a project, and how creative you really are is what can get you that project. Yes, you still get to compete with others, but it’s a healthy kind of competition. You put up your design to win the project, and not your price. crowdSPRING is fair competition.

A good portfolio is still an advantage, but it doesn’t guarantee you a win. Likewise, fair competition doesn’t mean that you have a big chance to grab a project from a seasoned pro, but it doesn’t rob you of a fighting chance. And this is the best part, you get to learn how to design better and how to give direction to your creativity from seeing other people’s design pitches for the project. I would call crowdSPRING a museum for those seeking to buy services of a designer.

And here is what crowdSPRING looks like when you browse for a project. Again, I like simple. So crowdSPRING definitely gets my vote on orderliness and simplicity without compromising functionality and quality.

This is what you get when you browse for projects. Everything you see is self-explanatory and informative. You see the title of the project, an exerpt, what category it is in, how much it will pay, how many days left, and how many entries have been submitted. You also have a helpful filtered search.

When you click on a project, you immediately see the gallery. To protect design rights, I’ve stained glassed all the design proposals. But you get the big picture here. You can zoom in on the designs submitted for the project. If the project is closed (like this one), you get to see the winning design as well.

In the Details tab, you get to see the details for the project. The crowdSPRING contract is there as well, a very important material for any project.

And then there’s the Activity tab. This is where all the discussions, feedback, Q&As, and comments are posted. You don’t pitch. you don’t bid.

There’s not much more I could say. crowdSPRING is great!

If there’s still any question about how crowdSPRING pulls it off, know more about HOW IT WORKS right on their website.