Say “NO WAY!” to “Spec” Work!
Posted on 30 June 2009
Boy! It sure takes a while to catch up with my to do list after vacation! I believe I owe you a Monday business post so…
It makes me crazy when I consider how many people are willing to work for free… do “spec” work in the hopes of getting meaningful freelance or small business accounts! For the record, “spec” work is free work you do on speculation that you might get paid as a result. While there are exceptions to this rule, it is almost always a very bad idea to create designs, photography, etc. on spec because the payoff is always small and the investment is a pure gamble. The problem is that people offering the speculative proposition often think of this as “common practice” when in reality, it may be common but it is quite unethical and unfair to all of the participants including the person who ‘wins’ the contract/business. Ironically, even the entity arranging the whole mess is often a loser too.
Here’s what I mean
One of the more common scenarios is a contest. Essentially somebody says, ‘I need a logo,’ and they accept submissions and pay only the winner for their work. (There’s even a web site that uses this as a business model but I won’t dignify their unethical efforts with a mention here.) So if there are 250 submissions, 249 people worked for free. The ‘winner’ might very well get paid, but they lose too because they are working with a cheapskate client with absolutely no potential for loyalty, and it’s very unlikely that they will send you any significant follow-up business. Finally, even the customer loses because they have chosen their logo based on what they like. — Drive down any major business street in any city in America and you’ll quickly see that a huge percentage of company logos are complete junk and you can hardly even read the name of the business!! (But I bet the owner really likes the logo.) If these companies had hired competent professionals, their logo would incorporate appropriate design elements and (this is important) potential customers would be able to read the logo.
It gets even worse in these situations because of the temptation companies have to “borrow inspiration” from some of the “losing” submissions. They’ll look at the top two or three images, and then go to a designer and say, “we really like your design the best, but if you could just redo it a little and include (a typeface or other design element from a 2nd place entry) then you’ve got the job.” Now the 2nd place entry is being ripped off even more than just not getting paid, their stuff is being stolen!! And the “winner” is being ripped off because they have to do even more work for no additional money, just to “win.” Talk about unethical!! But it happens all the time.
Exceptions
If somebody sets up a bid process and wants to see work you’ve done, that’s fine. If you take pictures or create generic designs which appear to be for a paying client but which are only used to promote your business, that’s fine too. — Still, there are times when you might actually create a work on spec, but this should be only when it is your original idea and you control the conditions of the gamble. What I mean is, you might approach the local Chamber of Commerce or some local charity and offer to take a photograph or design a poster for an event, so long as you get credit wherever it is shown. If you create an image or a poster for an event, then you should be listed as a sponsor and/or get some other large, public “thank you” (and you should report this to your accountant as a donation to be rolled into your tax preparations). By the way, you should also do some charity work with no intention of personal or business gains, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.
Now I’m not an activist on the No Spec topic, but whenever I have the chance to give advice about what kinds of free work to avoid, I’m happy to offer an opinion. If you want some stronger opinions or to visit a site dedicated to heightening awareness on the topic and campaigning actively against people/companies conducting business in this unethical way, there’s a site called No!Spec. (Note: This is not an endorsement of that site or their practices.)
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5 responses to Say “NO WAY!” to “Spec” Work!
You make some valid points, but I think ultimately you’re on the wrong side of history. The internet is here to stay, so we now compete in a global market with wild new business models whether we like it or not. A flatter world tends to increase competition and options, favoring consumers in many cases. To call designers who use spec work to make a living “unethical” is ridiculous and a definite lost cause. There have been similar arguments and campaigns made for hundreds of years in every field where new technologies lower the barriers to entry and threaten the established elite. There is still a place for the traditional design professional who can offer personal attention and expertise…but if you want to compete on efficiency, options, convenience, or price, you’d be wise to embrace services like logotournament.com, because they’re not going away.
While I agree that this approach isn’t going away, and while I am not personally joining the campaign against spec work (like the folks at No!Spec), I will continue to recommend against it to my friends.
You’re right that the Internet makes for more and broader competition for many types of work. Great! I couldn’t agree more that competition is beneficial to everyone. I just don’t happen to believe that spending time and effort on a gamble is any smarter than any form of gambling for a living. Sure, some people can do it. Some people win. Unfortunately there are always more losers than winners in any form of gambling and you should only ever gamble what you can afford to lose. That goes for the Blackjack tables and for spec work in business. If you have tons of free time, go for it.
I simply believe that the low-price approach is one which too many people take because they don’t know any other way. Spec work contests can tend to sucker people into wasting their time. For a designer or photographer to win at low price competition (spec work or any form of low price competition), you have to do a much greater volume of business and you need to have a very refined, fast workflow. If you can do that, great! If your workflow is so amazingly refined and fast that you can afford to gamble by doing free work, great! More power to you.
By the way, I never said designers doing free work was unethical. Rather, asking many people to do lots of free work is unethical. True, people (should) know what they’re getting into up front, so it’s not technically illegal. It just goes against my personal ethics to ask dozens or hundreds of people to work for free because it makes it easier for me.
This article is intended to help people refine the value of their own time investments and consider that gambling on spec work might not be the best way to use their talents. Of course some people will succeed at the low cost, high volume approach to business but most won’t.
Hi Larry, I’ve been away from the forums for awhile (too busy finally shooting commercial fashion projects) but I’m soon to return. I just red this and wanted comment real quick. I sometimes to “free” work in order to get my foot in the door, but if my work is chosen, then I attach the real bill with it. Sometimes they pay and sometimes they turn me down- and when that happens the work just goes in my portfolio or stock catalog.
I agree with your spirit on this, but free enterprise is just that- competitive means to make a living. If someone wants to work for cheap, it does de-value the industry, but that one person is only concerned about feeding his family. I personally set my rates and never undercut anyone. I don’t want the job if it means I have to put more time into it than it’s worth, but there’s always going to be someone who will. C’est la vie.
Spelling errors -”red” was supposed to be “read” and “to” was supposed to be “do”. I’m not from that far south.
[...] these are and if they will change over time. On a related topic – make sure you also read This Article by Larry Becker on SPEC work. Too many beginners get caught in this trap and it will only do you and your clients, more harm [...]