spec workThe past week this subject has come up a handful of times, so I have decided that we should talk about it. I am going to try to keep my opinion out of the mix for many reasons. So for some of you who might not know what spec work is I will tell you. Spec work is basically designing something in hopes of compensation. Spec work can be offered in many different ways, but most of the time it is offered by small start up companies that just don’t have the budget to pay a big design firm for creative work. In order for them to get creative work they offer contests for the best design. Some cases they will offer money or prizes. This is where the arguments begin. I have been a graphic designer for awhile and had no clue that this type of work was called “spec work”.

So is spec work unethical? This is left to the designer to decide. Yes, The companies have a hand in this, but for right now lets leave them out of this. If you are a designer why would you let yourself design for nothing or free. “I am not, if I win I get 300 dollars” says the designer. The key words are “IF I WIN”. If you don’t win then you have let yourself work for free. Well who is this designer? Is this you? Many contend that the designers who enter are students or novice designers. Not surprisingly students want to get their feet wet and build their portfolio and the same goes with novice designers. If you are a student why would you not do this? You obviously need the money going to that big art institute that costs a lot. For the Novice designer it comes down to getting that last piece in your portfolio. It’s all starting to sound reasonable isn’t it.Wait until I throw this out there.

THE ALL KNOWING AIGA contests that “While there will always be some designers who are willing to create designs in response to an open call for work, without any assurance of compensation, the buyer immediately relegates his or hers choices among those designers, who are in demand among those designers who are least likely to be experienced. Knowledgeable designers, who are in demand among clients, work according to the professional standards of the profession. Quite often, this choice of a less-experienced designer results in a client eventually having to bring a more experienced designer into a project in order to execute it. Of course, this change results in additional expenditures that impact your return on investment in design services.” Ok I know some of you are saying. Listen they do make a point in all those big words. A lot of the time the client will find out later that the work doesn’t represent their company as well as it should. So the client will realize that maybe he or she should have just gone with an experienced firm. In the end the client loses dishing out more money for design time. What the designers entering this competition are doing in the long run is lowering the price for good design. If a client can go to the local blog and put up a competition and handout 300 dollars for a finished product why would they go to a design firm and pay hourly for design time. You are almost hurting yourself some say.

So what do you think, is it or isn’t it? Well to make the situation even more uncomfortable I am going to throw out a few examples that you can struggle with.

  • stock photography
  • stock illustration
  • t-shirt design
  • student competitions

All of these examples designers work on creative projects in hopes that they will be compensated for it. I don’t know AIGA’s take on stock art but from the definition of spec work it could very well fall under this category. I know I have left a lot of open ended questions, this is something that every designer will have to struggle with and answer themselves.