UC Irvine Extension Selects Winning Design For MarketingZot Blog

Design Contest and Partnership with 99designs Explores Issues, Opportunities of Crowdsourcing Graphic Design Tasks

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Nov 18, 2013, 10:00 ET

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Crowdsourcing has created new opportunities—and new challenges—for the fields of marketing and graphic design. In October, UC Irvine Extension, the continuing education arm of the University of California, Irvine, decided to explore these issues publicly by partnering with design crowdsourcing site 99designs (www.99designs.com) for a redesign of the MarketingZot blog (www.marketingzot.com), the UC Irvine Extension blog associated with its marketing continuing education programs. The process of managing a crowdsourced design contest has been chronicled in real time on the blog, and readers were invited to participate in the ranking and voting of finalists as the winning design was selected.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130215/LA60869LOGO)

"Crowdsourcing is no longer an unknown," explained Melanie Mitchell, director of marketing, management and business programs at UC Irvine Extension. "In the past few years, we've seen crowdsourcing become increasingly adopted as a mainstream practice. Crowdsourced design presents marketers and entrepreneurs with immediate access to a wide array of designers. We wanted to both explore the potential of this resource for our own blog, and allow our students and alumni to learn alongside us. This is key to why we decided to make the entire process open to the public."

"The end result for the MarketingZot blog," added Mitchell, "is a very professional, user-friendly design created through a process that reflects what we consider to be at the core of our marketing continuing education programs—to share learning and insights which prepare professionals to master emerging issues and continue their professional growth."

"99designs is an online graphic design marketplace, connecting businesses looking for design work with great graphic designers from all over the world. I'm pleased to work with the University of California, Irvine and explore how our platform can be beneficial to both marketers and designers," said Ashish Desai, Head of Product at 99designs.

The winning design for MarketingZot.com was one of 92 designs submitted by 11 designers during the course of the contest.

Free Webinar, November 21, 10:30 a.m. (PST): "What is Crowdsourcing and Why Should Marketers Care?"
On November 21, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (PST), UC Irvine Extension and 99designs will jointly present a webinar to discuss the crowdsourcing process involved in the redesign of MarketingZot.com. The webinar, "What is Crowdsourcing and Why Should Marketers Care?," will explore how crowdsourced design can impact both marketers and graphic designers, using UC Irvine Extension's experience with 99designs as a case study. The discussion will include:

Melanie Mitchell, director of marketing, management and business programs, UC Irvine Extension
Scott Rutherford, director of marketing and communications, UC Irvine Extension
Zen Yieh, marketing communications specialist, UC Irvine Extension
Ashish Desai, Head of Product, 99designs

The webinar will feature a presentation of the project undertaken for the MarketingZot.com blog, including insights and tips from those involved from all sides of the project. To register for the free, live webinar, visit http://unex.uci.edu/services/events/#00986.

UC Irvine Extension Marketing Continuing Education Programs
UC Irvine Extension offers certificate and specialized studies programs for marketers at all levels of experience, offered on an open enrollment basis without any formal application process. These programs include the Marketing Certificate Program (http://extension.uci.edu/marketing) focusing on core competencies, theories and practices required of marketers, the Internet Marketing Certificate Program (http://extension.uci.edu/im) providing a comprehensive examination of digital marketing tactics and strategies, and the Social Media Specialized Studies Program (http://extension.uci.edu/sm) which explores the constantly changing field of social media and content marketing. All of these programs may be completed entirely online. For more information, call Melissa Allison, program representative, at (949) 824-9796 or email [email protected].

About UC Irvine Extension: University of California, Irvine Extension is the continuing education arm of UC Irvine, serving nearly 40,000 students globally and offering more than 3,200 classes annually on the UC Irvine campus, online and at employer sites throughout California and worldwide. Since 1962, UC Irvine Extension has served Orange County with programs and classes to help adult learners reach their career advancement and personal enrichment goals, and remains dedicated to providing broad access to the resources of the University for the benefit of the public, both through University Extension certificate and specialized studies programs and a broad range of free and open educational resources including UC Irvine OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.uci.edu). Learn more at http://extension.uci.edu, or join us on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/ucirvineextension) or Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/uciextension).

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UC Irvine is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with nearly 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,000 staff. Orange County's largest employer, UC Irvine contributes an annual economic impact of $4.2 billion. For more UC Irvine news, visit today.uci.edu.

About 99designs: 99designs is the world's largest graphic design marketplace, connecting businesses looking for design work with more than 240,000 graphic designers from 192 countries around the world. Businesses can source graphic design work quickly and affordably by launching design contests to the community, working via 1-to-1 Projects with individual designers, or purchasing design templates from 99designs' readymade logo store. 99designs was co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz (SitePoint, Flippa), and is backed by Accel Partners and angel investors Michael Dearing (eBay, Harrison Metal), Dave Goldberg (Survey Monkey), Stewart Butterfield (Flickr, Tiny Speck) and Anthony Casalena (Squarespace). To learn more about 99designs, visit 99designs.com.