Discussion on:

Crowdsourcing in action: 5,700 new logos for Times Square site

It seems everyone is a designer at some level. How functional of designs they produce is an entirely different and totally unqualified and quantified answer. "Its significant that more than 1,000 professional logo designers were part if the process. No doubt the other 4,000-some entrants represent new talent who otherwise may have never been seen." It's more telling that 4000 people felt they were as capable as the 1000 "professional" designers - and may well have been. The term "designer" doesn't imply any particular level of expertise, training, skill level, or financial success - just some level of creativity that produced something of unproven worth. It was even more telling regarding the professional level of design that of the five chosen - only one was from a "professional" designers. With that level of professionalism perhaps crowd sourcing is functional, but then flipping a coin to decide might be just as much so.