Brandstack.com is a marketplace for graphic designer's "leftover" unused work made for a past clients.
Brandstack is like Ebay, but for creative design work. The site encourages graphic designers to sell all of the unused work made for past clients. Graphic design is all about giving the client options, and there’s frequently a lot of “leftover” material — still valuable, but not sellable. Until now. Cool!
For people looking for design work, Brandstack markets itself as a way less expensive alternative to agencies. Some of the designers say they’re willing to customize their works, but I have to sense that you’re still going to get more from an agency than from a Brandstack designer. After all, Brandshack is kind of like a giant used record store or mega flea market for graphic design. While I wouldn’t launch a small business completely reliant on Brandstack, I would definitely be interested in doing business no Brandstack from either side.
For every item sold, Brandstack receives a 15% share. Not bad if you ask me. I’m not too familiar with the ins and outs of graphic design, but this seems like a great way to capitalize on work done for past clients. When I designed my logo for Preheat 350, I couldn’t stand not knowing what to do with the other concepts. Had I known about Brandstack then, I could have dramatically boosted our budget by selling our design scraps. (Of course this would require someone to actually buy our work.)
Brandstack does bring a few questions to mind:
- Are graphic designers ever legally obligated to not share, sell, distribute, etc., any and all work made for a client? In other words, is this completely legal? Something tells me we won’t be seeing mockup design ideas for Apple, Starbucks, or Nike on Brandshack.
- Does an agency own rejected creative work made from its graphic design team? Can the agency owner sell this work on Brandstack? What about the designer?
- How does Brandshack ensure the authenticity/originality of the sellers’ work?
- Pretend you’re a self-employed contract graphic designer selling work on Brandstack. How do you avoid putting yourself in an awkward situation with past and present clients if they find out you’re selling the work you created for them in the past? How do you maintain your reputation and attract new business in the future?
Brandstack’s really cool, but I have some legal/ethical concerns — what do you guys think?
