When crowdsourcing works

The term crowdsourcing has come to mean poor quality and diminished (or complete lack of) compensation and quality in the world of graphic design. It has come to symbolize the movement in graphic design of "how low can you go?" We often forget that its roots are based in creating a large group effort to create a solution that might otherwise not be possible.For inspiration in creating solutions through crowdsourcing graphic designers can look to the artist JR who uses this method to get photos for posting, and to get assistance in posting them.JR uses public spaces for his work. Instead of waiting for people to find his work in traditional exhibit venues, he takes his work to the streets. In 2006, with Portrait of a Generation, JR posted portraits of suburban "thugs" in huge formats in the bourgeois districts of Paris. In 2007 he posted huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians in eight Palestinian and Israeli cities. This project was called Face 2 Face and despite what some experts felt were impossible odds, he posted the portraits on both sides of the security / separation wall. In 2011 he was awarded a $100,000 grant from TED to fund InsideOut, a participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Participants from all over the world are invited to submit images along with their story. The image shown above, I Live in Brasília, Brazil, was submitted by a group of strong, proud Brazilian mothers fighting for the rights of their LGBT sons and daughters. Amy Novogratz, TED Prize director, says "People are using it to bring their communities closer together." A project of this scale would not be possible without crowdsourcing.Rather than turn their backs completely on crowdsourcing, can graphic designers find inspiration from the artist JR and think of ways to make the power of the masses work for them, instead of against them?Sources:http://www.good.is/post/crowdsourced-public-art-project-captures-community-spirit-around-the-world/http://www.ted.com/talks/jr_s_ted_prize_wish_use_art_to_turn_the_world_inside_out.htmlhttp://jr-art.net/