Ethics of a Site Redesign Contest
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
I currently do some consulting for an ex-employer. The company has been around since 1999, survived the dot com bust (barely) and is currently running very lean. The site could use a makeover, design, XHTML, CSS, etc. Budget constraints don?t allow for much in the way of going and hiring consultants to handle the project. The site caters to college students and college grads. My thinking is that this would be a good situation to offer a cash award to the person who comes up with the best re-design. Not only will it provide cash for their effort it can also act as a portfolio piece.
I question if this is the right way to go. On one side the company is looking for an inexpensive solution but is working a contest angle. On the other side interns are hired everyday to do dozens of tasks for little to no wages, what is so different about this?
Thoughts?