Remember the movie Gladiator? Warriors doing battle... Blood and mayhem... "Are you not entertained?"
Now, imagine something like that, with less blood and death, starring graphic designers, and you get the idea behind DesignOutpost.com. (Hint: This is not a good thing.)
This is not a good natured "skills" battle along the lines of Photoshop Tennis. It's not a website for clients to search/solicit freelance designers for hire. This is freelance design work derailed by a contest model. Whomever posts the best design "wins" the (usually small) cash prize. Another strike against: Most of the clients are not of the non-profit/in-need variety. Look no further than the site's front page for their view on design as a profession:
"One of the drawbacks of hiring a freelance graphic designer is you have one choice... theirs. Wouldn't it be great to have the option to choose among many different logos or other graphic designs from several designers?"
In the business, this is called "double vending". (Actually, it usually ends up being "triple vending", "quintuple vending"... you get the idea.) It's a not uncommon, but universally despised practice.
Back to the site: "you have one choice... theirs." Apparently, according to this site, designers follow their own whims and directions, mindlessly ignoring the client's needs/directions. That's why you need a place for young designers, doing battle in this Design Thunderdome for scraps and being miseducated into thinking the client = master = adversary.
