All case studies
Birdsall
A magazine art director who commissioned by whoever replied fastest, which is a strategy in the way that flipping a coin is a strategy.
The problem
Birdsall had a weekly deadline and no shortlist, so every commission went to whichever illustrator answered first — a system that reliably produced work and unreliably produced the right work.
The excellent illustrators were often the busy ones, and the busy ones reply on Thursday. By Thursday the page was assigned. The magazine was, in effect, systematically selecting for availability over fit.
With Artkive
A pre-built roster means the shortlist exists before the deadline does, which changes who gets asked first.
Illustrators are ranked, tagged by subject strength and filtered by turnaround, so a Monday brief goes to three suitable people rather than to everyone at once. Thursday replies now arrive to a conversation already in progress.
The results
150
Illustrators ranked
By fit, not response time
3
Names per brief
Instead of a mass email
48 hrs
Average time to assign
Down from the full week
Birdsall is invented for this demo, and so is every figure above it.