Crowdsourcing is when someone can post a creative project and sit back and watch as the world contributes ideas through submissions, then the best idea is selected. User generated design sites have always had their share of controversy, and designers/creatives have set up camps on both sides of that discussion. Some say crowdsourcing is evil because it works on ‘spec’, while others say that it fills a niche that is cost effective and competitive for designers learning to sharpen their skills.

As 2009 rolls out and the new year comes in, we will see new ideas being born and some old ones leaving us. This is the circle of design life. What will be trendy in the new year? Why should it matter? 2010 doesn’t mean that all new trends in design will pop up; rather, it just might be that the current trends will slowly evolve. Here are some of my design predictions for the coming year.

From the entire crew at 10e20, we want to wish all of our colleagues, clients, blog readers, fans and friends a happy, healthy and safe holiday.

When do you stop creating and send your work out to face the public? Deadlines can be a motivating factor most of the time, but you can’t perpetuate the design process forever — sometimes you just have to trust that its wings are strong enough to fly. When working on a project like a new tool, a program, design, etc, you have to have a finish date or you’ll just keep tweaking and reshaping and second-guessing until infinity because there will always be new technologies, conventions or new opinions that shake the ground you built on.

In the age of social media madness, you’ve probably been scrambling to sign up for various social networking profiles and have built a blog or forum for your website. You’re creating content, responding to your users and engaging with them, which is a huge part of what social media marketing is all about. But what about the community aspect? How engaged are your users with each other? Have you fostered an environment where people come to your site and want to come back again and again so they can not only interact with you and your brand, but with everyone else?

In wrapping up 2009, it’s good to assess our sites and projects by seeing what needs updating or revisions, like that copyright at the bottom of the page or those old holiday deals that need to be changed out. By thinking of your site or design as a living/changing thing, you can build on the story you have already created and demonstrate to your users that you have a good attention to detail.

Well folks, it’s about that time of the year where people all over the country give thanks and appreciation for the people and things that made them who they are today. Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I thought I’d share 10e20′s list of thanks from each employee. Unfortunately, I didn’t really bother to poll my coworkers since we’ve all been so busy, but I figured I could make an educated guess as to what they’re all thankful for and just wing it. Enjoy!