Freepik launches ‘Undead Ideas’ campaign for designers to reimagine rejection

• Announcement coincides with the week of International Design Day
• Designers can upload dead ideas and resurrect them

Today, Freepik – the leading platform for high-quality audiovisual content – announces the launch of its global ‘Undead Ideas’ initiative, including a competition, which will recognize the work of designers from all over the world. Coming the same week as International Design Day (Thursday 27th April), this is a call to action for designers to share their best ideas rejected by a client, so the work doesn’t go to waste. 

Developed with US-based and award-winning advertising agency We Believers, ‘Undead Ideas’ is backed by important international designers and creatives, who echo the action and support the project, as they have experienced first-hand what the rejection of a great idea means. Among them are New York-based artists Giulia Zoavo, Samuel Regan, Juan Sebastian Moreno, Paulo Junger, Arthur Daraujo, Max Kolo, and Giorgia Brugnoli; California’s Tyler Spangler and Jesse Nyberg; Miami’s Kiko Rodriguez; South Carolina’s Spencer Nelsony; Franklin Gomez in New Jersey; and Argentina’s Juan Cavia.

The deadline for competition entries is Thursday 4th May at 11:59pm CEST. From here, the winners will be decided by a combination of Freepik’s own team and the popular vote of the company’s followers on social media. Winners of the Photo and Illustration categories will be highlighted as a ‘Featured Artist’ on Freepik’s website, where they will be able to showcase their entire project and receive a financial reward every time someone downloads their work. 

Even after the competition has closed, people can still make use of all participants’ entries, so all efforts can make an impact. Giving visibility to the ideas that the client killed, Freepik invites all those owners of rejected projects to upload them to its ‘Undead Ideas’ initiative landing page: http://www.freepik.com/undead-ideas

Commenting on this news, Carlos Cantú – CMO at Freepik – said:

“In Freepik’s 13-year history, we have worked with countless designers from all over the world, so we understand first-hand their frustrations and challenges. We’ve all been there: burning the midnight oil to perfect an idea that a client’s initially keen on, only for it to be rejected last-minute”. 

“Across the graphic design industry, turnover is rife, with nearly a quarter (24%) of designers leaving their jobs in their first year of employment. Burnout is a key culprit here, with 12-hour days too commonplace. For designers, the negative effects of this are exacerbated when their hard work ends up in the trash, hours of effort spent for nothing. 

“At Freepik, we believe brilliant ideas and amazing designs deserve to have a second chance. That’s why we’ve launched ‘Undead Ideas’, not just to recognise designers’ work but also to reward their effort and talent. By reimagining darkness for designers, we can let the light in.”

Lucas Panizza, Executive Creative Director at We Believers added

“We believe anyone working in the creative field will feel represented by this campaign. Let’s be honest: recycling or rewriting ideas is a common practice. This is like revenge for when a client, a boss, or a focus group kills a beloved project. We turned the graveyard section of the deck into the undead ideas program.”