Spec Work – just read it.
Posted by Lindsayanng This is a very VERY touchy topic in the design world. Speculative work (otherwise known as spec work) is work done prior to engagement with a client in anticipation of being paid. There is a scary increase of spec work based websites popping up all over the place touting their “low cost quality logo design” Companies like Crowdsource.com, 99designs.com and others are based around a “contest” type of approach. They give small businesses the opportunity to create a “logo design contest”. The business owner types out a brief and gives the designers ideas and suggestions on what they want and they offer a “prize” to whom ever wins (winner chosen by the business owner). Then, hundreds of designers spend hours designing a logo for a company that they have never stepped foot inside in the hopes that they win the all important “prize”.
Why is this so wrong? Well, there are a bunch of reasons in my opinion. The main focus of everyone’s arguements against spec work is because there are hundreds of designers who just spend hours creating a logo for a company and never got compensated. A good designer should value themselves and their work, and if you are going to spend time on a design, you should get paid for that time.
Can’t I use it to build my portfolio? No. And the reason is because it does not really help your portfolio and it cheapens the value of design work across the board. Future employers want to know that you can work within a design brief and turn an understanding of a business into a logo or mark. This does not happen with these crowd sourcing websites because you never really get to speak directly with the client, and you never EVER step foot inside of the inner workings of the business. If you want to build your portfolio you can do self initiated work to show off your technical skills, or you can do pro-bono work. Find new non-profit organizations and offer to help design a memorable identity at no cost. No matter how small the organization is, a future employer will respect the type of work that went into this versus a crowdsourcing website.
But I can’t beat them, so why don’t I join them? Well you can, but it’s not going to help you boost your income. You will literally be working entirely for free and when to do maybe sometimes get paid, it’s not going to be your going rate. Plus, why would you want these clients? Why can’t your market yourself to the local businesses and sell your skill set as a one of kind ability? What is so wrong with doing traditional marketing techniques that you design for your clients for your own business? Joining “them” is not going to help you personally nor is it helping the industry of design.
The way I see it, I am not in competition with these spec work websites because the clients on there are not my ideal clients. I want a client that understands why my skills as a designer are worth what I charge and why. The clients that I love to work with might not know a lot of about design, but they like to learn and are interested in the best quality for your business. The reason I know I do not compete with these websites is because I do not just design logos sitting in front of my computer. I don’t start with design at all, I start with research. I take the time to go into the business that I am working for and try and understand it. No one knows a business better then the owners and workers. Talking with everyone involved in the business is my first step in understanding what is best for them. The next step is to understand their customers. Sometimes this means just going inside of a store and watching who shops where and what type of person they are. Other times we do some market research on their industry and the area where they do business. I need to understand the customers of my clients because they are what makes a business work. These are all things that you will never get on a crowd-sourced website. NEVER.
If you are a small business owner that stumbled on this post looking for information for cheap logo design, I hope that maybe I helped you to understand why you can get a logo for $50 and what it will end up with. If you want, have a look at this story:
The cheeses of Nazareth “$50 logo experiment”
If you are a designer and are inclined to try it, please just don’t. If you really do value yourself, do this the right way. Join some design associations like AIGA or the GAG and start to really understand your own value as an artist and a designer. If you still feel that you need to hone your craft, do pro-bono work for the betterment of the community, or take classes or self initiated work. You need to choose where you want to be. Do you want to rise above the bottom scrapping, low balling design computer? Or do you want to bring yourself above that and demand compensation for your work? It might take you some time to rise above, but you can only benefit from bettering yourself in the long run. There is no benefit to just “settling for what you can grab”
Here are some sources to educate yourself more and understand why this type of thing is not the best for our industry.
- AIGA – on spec work
- Facts on unpaid, cheated, and down right scummy things does through these “contest” sites
- SpecWatch
- CrowdSprung – collection of some of the “quality” work that comes out of there
I would love to know what you all think about this. It’s definitely still a debate among designers and non-designers. I am firm where I stand, but I would like to hear from everyone.
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7 Comments »
spec sites in my opinion are absolute scum.
these sites belittle the actual work that goes into designing something.
It is not like buying an off the shelf item which is the same wherever you buy it.
With design you buy their knowledge, skill, understanding, experience, influences and more.
All these things are individual to the designer.
A designers job has so many facets from understanding the brand or product, what message the client wants to portray, the end user who will visit a site or read a brochure etc.
I think anyone who uses spec sites to look for designers are exactly where they should be as I do not want to work with anyone who does not respect the work I do.
“I think anyone who uses spec sites to look for designers are exactly where they should be as I do not want to work with anyone who does not respect the work I do.”
You are right for the most part about this,a nd that is one of the reasons why I never felt threatened by these – those would never be MY clients. My only major concern is the clients who get sucked in because these sites like crowdspring try and show how you can get such “GREAT QUALITY LOGOS” for little money.
I mean, if you think about.. If there is a site that SEEMS to be offering the same quality work for 1/2 (or less) the price, you would probably check it out. Of coarse these websites put the best work products front and center and bury the crap. They also inflate the worth of their logos and deflate the need for a solid understanding of the business.
I don’t really understand how they can “guarantee” quality when they actually don’t oversea the work that is being produced. I would think it would be great if the only people who contributed to these places were hacks and mac rats (as MOST are) but the scary thing is, some really GOOD designers offer stuff on there and I just really do not understand it.
Also, the nicely looking design can be TOTALLY wrong for that business. You wouldnt design a fancy chic logo for a toy company most of the time..
A terrific, comprehensive article. Well done. You may want to include a link to the good folk at http://www.no-spec.com/
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Yes half of my job can be educating people to what I actually do versus a wham bam-thank-you-mam cheap logo design service.
Again it is like any service out there. Restaurants all do food but some are terrible yet cheap. Some are expensive but you know why they are. Every service has its fast food counterpart.
The difference with online design is their is much more ability to FLUFF up their work and promise great things. The people who don’t get what they expected rarely decide to tell the world about it. They just mark it up to being duped and this mars the industry and puts us with the bad apples.
The only way to help people who feel into this trap of promises is by education. Articles like this explaining the difference of professional design and someone who thinks they know what you want but has never talked to you or done any research.
What about spec sites for students? College students rarely have the opportunity for real clientel access and class assignments hardly have real world value. Now, when go to look for a job after I graduate, isnt is better to have designs that were created for real companies and clients rather than stuff I just made up or did as a class project? Even if it is spec work?
Spec work in general is wrong – even if it is students doing it. The reason for this is it brings down the value of design as a whole. Student or not, you are a designer who is getting an education that should have some value. Graphic design is an interesting field because the best in the industry don’t nessecarily have a college background, so just because you haven’t graduated yet doesn’t mean the value of the work is any less – unlike a doctor who doesn’t obtain their value until they actually become certified to practice medicine.
Student designers who complain that there isn’t any work out there to get them busy and used to working with a client (in my opinion) aren’t looking in the right places or don’t have the skill to be out in the real world yet. Spec work is not even CLOSE to what you would learn when working with a real client. It does NOTHING to get you ready for the real world.. If you really want to get ready for the real world, start contacting non profit organizations. Working with them for probono work will give you everything you need to get used to working with clients in the real world.
Spec work should not be done by anyone no matter what college level you might be at.
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