When taking a look at the Stock Art hullabaloo from last week, I think the immediate lesson to be learned is that in today&8217s Web 2.0 world, with its instant internet echo chamber, mob mentality can be a very dangerous thing. An equally important lesson involves our old buggaboos &8211 logo design contests, spec work and it&8217s newly approved corporate label &8220crowdsourcing&8221. I&8217ve tub-thumped that issue for years now my first anti-logo design contest screed dates back to 2002 and all along I&8217ve warned about the possibility of business owners selecting a design that&8217s been ripped off from somewhere else as their new corporate identity. I wondered aloud about how long it would take for a very high-profile incident to occur that would illustrate exactly how dangerous spec work, logo contests and design &8220crowdsourcing&8221 really are.

Turns out the vs Jon Engle episode, after all the …