Modding Phobya Case Design Competition - Final Voting Round

So you design their next case for them and you get a case and some H20 gear? WTF? How about you get so many points on each case sold?

 

Great looking case Mike..old school a water coolers dream

 

Phew Proteus is getting so close !

 

So why can't I vote in this poll?

 

i registered about two days ago when i will be able to vote ?

 

If my memory serves me well you need at least two weeks of membership or >15 posts in order to vote in polls...

And spamming posts to get the quota may be a really quick path to the land of the ban (this is not exclusive to this forum, just something that is generally frowned upon pretty much everywhere).

 

Something around the price tag of MM Pinnacle or XSPC H2 cases I presume?

I would still get Mick's Proteus over either of those any day of the week and twice on Sundays tho...

 

Sorry still not a fair deal for the person who designs it.

 

I think you will find it quite fair as Combatus has mentioned we are not expecting to see large amount sold due to the cost and based on the fact its a small market in the grand scheme of things.

If we switched it to your idea based on even 50-100 cases selling the winner would still be better off with the case case and wc kit.

Not to mention that if you dont like this you just dont enter. Simples.

 

It is fair if you consider the fact that not everybody has the money or tools or craftmanship to make their design come to life and get one for free. It's a great opportunity to see your design reach production whitout the enormous amount of time it takes to get there. We all knew this right from the start and it's not like they are going to make lots of cash selling these.

If i had to charge for the work i did on this design (like a designer would) i would not be asking more than what the first prize is worth....wich is about a week full time at 50$/hrs.

You still have the right to beleive it's not fair...but i think mick64 and i would be happy men just to see our design for real after all the hard work that was done

Again I'm thankfull to Phobya & Bit-tech for this contest

by the way i went to see your work on your web site and i think it's awesome

 

Sorry, you are not talking to a n00b. If you make a low production run on cases you will charge a premium price. No designer worth anything will design a case for you for a couple grand (which is a generous estimate based on your prize pool). I actually WORK in this field so I guess my perspective is a little different Hate to see people being taken advantage of but if they do it willingly I guess that is their option. At least I can try to point out they are not getting a great deal.

 

I hope mick64 gets this, His design has been all over the web and I'm baffled on why some of the big chinese companies havn't approached him. I remember wcuk having a look at it but I think costs would have buried them as a company.

The Black Owl looks like a Zalman morphed with a NZXT. Not a diss just my observation.

Both Black Owl and Proteus need to look at their drive bays, theirs no airflow, I know Mick64 has several renders and different setups. If a manufacturer could create after market parts or throw them in to allow for maximum choice that would be bop on

 

DB sent me this link and asked me to comment as a guy who makes his living designing products, and is in manufacturing...for what that is worth.

I assume everyone entering will not be professional designers (or they would not be entering obviously) so from their perspective, as it was pointed out, just having a design they like put into production so they get their case built is a nice feeling for sure.

That said...it doesn't mean they are not being taken advantage of a little bit either. The argument that the case is "low volume but expensive" so there won't be much profit is almost comical. The price is higher because it is low volume so that they DO make a profit. They are not going through all that is involved with manufacturing a case for altruistic reasons I assure you. Using a forum based contest with voting also builds in focus group type research and allows them multiple designs that they get to pick from without having to pay the designers whose work is not selected.

You might argue the company is small and can not afford a paid designer and that they are just trying to be entrepreneurial and "boot strap it", (not sure if that is the situation in this instance) but if that was the case then a more equitable solution is to do as DB suggested and pay a smaller up front fee and "points" on sales. That gives the designer a vested interest in the design selling well.

In the end if the designers competing are happy with being paid in barter and risking zero payment if their design is not selected then it is on them. I actually competed in a case design contest like this many years ago for a $5,000 first prize and no angels lost their wings. As it turns out $5,000 is about the base fee I would normally charge for a case design if all I was required to submit was art work--meaning no 2D or 3D CAD and no production oversight etc.

And you never know, the people submitting designs may find out they really enjoy product design and this contest ends up being the catalyst for a career path. I took a look at the designs and all of them are winners in my book. Good luck to all the contestants.

 

Mick64's case is just about perfect! Hope you win, mate!

 

As a professional designer working in manufacturing (medical devices though, not sheet metal or cases) I both agree and disagree with you. If I was a professional case designer then I could understand charging $5000+ for a case design but sadly I am not. I don't even do sheet metal design so anything created by me or any other "non-professional" would be worth a lot less, and would need to be significantly reworked by the Phobya engineers (to make something easily machined and profitable).

Like Snowy said, some of us don't have the finances to build these and the contest provides a way to get a stocked case for a few hours of CAD work. Even given the increased price for the low production numbers these cases are going to cost a lot to make and really won't be making that much profit off of each one. If for some reason the product really takes off, then I could see the lack of royalties being an issue but I honestly don't see that happening at the targeted price points.

I do appreciate you looking out for the best interests of the designers. I think I speak for the rest of the participants when I say we know there are downsides to the contest rules but for us (not everyone) the effort is worth it. In the end it was a good opportunity to get feedback on our designs and I do plan to build mine in the future at some point.

Thanks,

-Scott

 

I would like to see verbiage stating if more than X number of units are produced the designer gets so many points (percentage of each sale - that being percentage of profit). Any designs NOT chosen should be the property of the entrants so they can sell the design elsewhere if they choose to do so.

 

The intellectual property issue was already covered (I don't feel like searching through the hundreds of posts to find it) but all the designs belong to the designers unless chosen by Phobya to be produced. I can't speak for Phobya/Aquatuning but there may be some room for negotiation regarding sale/profit numbers if the cases end up selling well.

 

It would be really cool if the winner ended up with a job designing for them.

I would spell out the IP issues and such in writing. Things can get ugly when legal issues are not well-documented. google Aqua-tuning + trademark registration to see the hard time they had when legal issues and agreements where not well communicated or documented

 

Now that would sweet!