Spec you! Why Designers Should Never* Work For Free

Its that tried and true debate within the design community – To spec or not to spec? No matter how many times this has been discussed its still an important and relevant topic within (and outside of) the design community.

What is spec work?

In case you live under a rock and don’t know what spec work is – let me define it for you: Working on the speculation of getting paid. This often comes in the form of crowd sourcing or design contests.

1) Spec work devalues the design professions and the design community.

Designers are highly trained professionals that deserve to be respected and paid a decent wage for their work. (For more on this read the article: Why logos should cost more than $300) We are trained to think, analyze, research, and produce thought provoking design that meets our clients needs and business objectives. We are not Photoshop monkeys! There is no ‘logo’ or ‘website’ button on or keyboards. Good design takes hard work and time. The results of spec work often lead to sub-minimum-wage rates and poorly constructed designs. Often times amateurs get lured into spec work and often end up copying or stealing others work. This sets the bar for what these clients see as ‘good design’.

2) Spec work harms and misleads the client.

Spec work teaches clients to devalue design. This type of work encourages clients to think ‘how cheap and fast can I get this done?’ Clients are mislead into thinking that the are getting more bang for their buck. Have you ever seen the triangle diagram – Good, Fast, Cheap? Pick two. No really – think about it you cant have all 3 at the same time!!!

Clients need to be shown that good design will help their company’s establish an identity, sell products, raise awareness or visibility – which in turn helps them make more money and make their business more effective.

3) Spec work damages (or completely disregards) the client-designer relationship.

When work is done on speculation the designer-client relationship is either fractured or completely ignored. Communication between the designer and client is essential to the design process. Good design does not happen in isolation.

4) Spec work often takes advantage of young or inexperienced designers that don’t know better.

Spec work can lure young or unknowing designers promising ‘exposure’ or ‘more work’ if their work is chosen as the winner. This is extremely harmful and often times the ‘rewards’ for producing design work on speculation don’t adequately compensate the designer for their hours of hard work.

5) Spec work does not meet client needs.

Design briefs for spec work are often filled unrealistic expectations and descriptive words (make it pop!) that don’t aid the designer in discerning an approach (or solution) to the project. Often times clients know what they ‘want’, but not what they need. Its our job as designers to discern clients needs from wants in order to meet their business objectives and make their businesses successful.

*But, wait!!!! I thought you said designers should never work for free!??!!

Well, there are a few circumstances that *I* would donate my design services. Let me place emphasis on DONATE (and not working for free). In fact – I think its worth it to send invoices to these type of clients to show them what you WOULD bill them and then make the final total 0 or donation.

Charities
Non-profits
Family Members

So what now?

So now that we have talked, and talked, and talked amongst ourselves as to why spec work is bad now what? Its time to take this discussion outside of the design community and educate our clients and show them the value of real design work. We need to charge decent rates for our work and include our clients in our work process.

What do YOU think about spec work?

Have you participated in spec work? Leave a comment and let me know what you think or how it went. Do you have spec work? Chime in! Tired of this debate? Let me know that as well! I’d love to get a good discussion goin in the comments!

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293138 Responses2009-04-16+12%3A07%3A28Niki+Brown to “Spec you! Why Designers Should Never* Work For Free”

kyle steed says:

Great article Niki.

As I continue to grow and develop in to a more mature designer I am finding that charging more for my work is justified. Whereas a year ago I would have shuttered at the though of asking a client $2k+ for a website, now I feel that the quality (and time) of my work is worth that. This is not to boast or anything, but just to give an example that what we offer (as designers) is worth so much more than a few hundred bucks.

April 16th, 2009 at 5:26 am

awesomerobot says:

Honestly, I have to say I’m a bit tired of hearing about spec work – here are a few reasons.

A. It will always exist – ALWAYS

B. Someone will ALWAYS do it

This isn’t 1965 and we’re not working with mechanicals, deadly chemicals, or expensive equipment – so basically anyone with a computer and photoshop will assume that sure – they can design a logo – and yes, it’ll suck – but that’s the nature of the profession these days; there’s a huge layer of unprofessional suckage that has devalued the profession permanently.

Sure you can raise awareness, but designers reading design blogs, going to design meet-ups and talking about design are pretty aware that they want to get paid for their work – and honestly, the outcry against spec work directly to companies that facilitate/ask for it just make designers further fit the stereotype of high-maintenance whiny art babies.

Yes, spec work is bad – and yes it hurts the profession – but I think a lot of designers actually make it worse by assisting in perpetuating the stereotype that designers are just over-paid art students in the eyes of companies that already think nothing of the profession. It’s like yelling at the deaf and hitting them when they can’t hear you.

To sum up my sentiments – spec work sucks – it’ll always be here – and I think *some* designers are getting a bit too into the whole no-spec thing and are just making us all look pretty stereotypical and foolish to people who already have a hard time bringing themselves to pay us.

April 16th, 2009 at 5:50 am

Jamal Ahmad says:

There is no ‘logo’ or ‘website’ button on or keyboards – i like, top article Niki.

April 16th, 2009 at 5:55 am

Abbas says:

It’s an interesting article, although a little preachy. There’s no hard and fast rules on how much any designer should charge for their work.

Personally, I’ve never produced any spec work as it’s time consuming and, like most designers, if I don’t get paid for my time then the bills don’t get paid. That’s not to say that there isn’t a call for it.

I think spec work is a credible approach to take for a student who wants to beef up their portfolio. Students and designers who are just starting out need all the help they can get.

April 16th, 2009 at 5:56 am

natalia says:

I think that local design contest are good for resume and help to get yourself known.

I agree, it’s not ideal for the client or for design, but I don’t think those clients that look for designers in contest via Internet are gonna pay what it costs ever, if there were any contest, they would hire some kid or get it done themselves.

April 16th, 2009 at 6:13 am

sean_hex says:

If my son wants to be a graphic designer, I would discourage him. Other professions have more value and receive more respect.

April 16th, 2009 at 6:25 am

Cam says:

the never ending debate. as long as there are broke artists willing to undercut other artists, spec work will be here. we are one of the only industries where we have to PROVE our worth EVERY TIME to businesses that think they don’t needs us. comedy right? basically it comes down to is design a commodity? good post, continue reading here: http://www.freelanceswitch.com/finding/the-monster-list-of-freelance-job-sites-2009-update/

April 16th, 2009 at 7:54 am

Sayz says:

@Sean Hex,
if I have a son, I would support him for whatever the profession he likes as long it is still within the ethic.

Discouraging your own children seems to kill his dream… and not every graphic designer doesn’t have value, it is depend on how they want to do it…

April 16th, 2009 at 8:18 am

Meshach says:

Great article. I totally agree with all points made.

I can’t stand it when a high-school kid learns how to use front page and then starts there own ‘web design’ company.

April 16th, 2009 at 8:34 am

Kumail.H.T says:

The designers who do spec work are mainly amateurs. They are kids who like designing or moms who are learning to design.

Do you really think anyone in their right mind would pay more than those sites are offering to these amateurs? They are just starting to learn that there is a process involved and its not as easy as opening photoshop and messing around.

What you are asking of them is that they try to find actual clients with no idea how to design. This is like throwing a kid who doesnt know how to swim in the ocean. He wont survive.

If no one ever hires them, where will they build their portfolio, how will they learn the process involved.

As a designer, if you think your service is worth the heavy price tag, you should not have a problem convincing your clients. If you do have a problem justifying your prices, maybe you are not that good of a designer and should stop attacking the amateurs.

Just my opinion.

April 16th, 2009 at 8:58 am

Brian says:

Bottom line is you get what you pay for! The consumer should know that this is very specific from designer to designer. We all have different creative inspirations ideas and skill sets. You have to make this loud and clear to the prospecting client. If not they can only assume.

If the consumer doesn’t understand this, than they are not worth your time. If you’re business is worth ‘having’, people will make an effort to invest in a project with you or your company.

If the client want’s spec work don’t do it! Bottom line

April 16th, 2009 at 9:11 am

Jason says:

I will confess. I did a spec piece recently and paid dearly for it. Be prepared for a long post.

The client had a logo that was designed in-house by their IT department I guess, and they were looking for someone to as they put it, Polish the logo. I wasn’t sure what that meant, and it definitely cost me.

So they wanted me to submit a quick spec sample to show to their CEO. I guess it was a competition against other designers. I didn’t want to, but I figured if it was just a polish, it might be quick cash (big mistake).

So I submitted a quick design, and then the guy wanted me to submit 2 variations of that, so the CEO had some options to choose from. These were major variations as well. I refused, and told him I would change the color of the typeface and that’s it.

They chose my design and I sent over my contract. I only charged $200, thinking it was a simple polish (idiot). My contracts required 50% payment up front, which I got. Turns out they only use their contracts for any design, which the guy I was corresponding with didn’t know about. I read their contract and it was similar to mine, in fact I’m pretty sure some of the things were a direct rip of my contract. The basic idea was that I would make 3 variations of the design they chose, then do two small revisions.

They chose a design, then I did one variation, then they decided that their original design didn’t work, so they totally changed the logo. They sent another one that was designed in-house, and I was supposed to polish that. The guy wanted three variations of this as well. His instructions for the variations were interesting. 2 of the variations he wanted were small things, the third he asked me to make my own design, disregarding their original design and do whatever I want. He said maybe his influence was affecting the design. I now realized that they were trying to get a lot more out of me than they were paying for, so I refused to do that. I said if I design my own logo, it’ll cost a lot more than $200.

So I made some variations, then he asked for more variations. I told him that was his final revision, and that after I do it, he’d have to pick one, and I would not work on it anymore. So I sent the designs, waited a week, and then emailed him asking what was going on. He told me that the designs I sent were not as good as the designs on my website (obviously), and that I hadn’t delivered something that was as high quality as they were expecting. He also stated that one of their IT guys polished the logo in about 15 minutes and it looked better than what I had sent. So the question is, why didn’t they just get him to design it?

So anyway, they canceled the contract and didn’t pay me the rest of the money. The good thing is though that I watermarked all of the designs I sent, so it would be hard to steal it.

April 16th, 2009 at 10:10 am

Nicholas says:

Great suggestion on the watermarking Jason. I have to say I haven’t done spec work for say, but rather tried to be the cheapest guy in town. I have done this in order to receive work and keep a good rep. In the end I have learned a lesson. No more CHeap Guy in town as it usually means giving money back after the project is done.

April 16th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

Martin Chaov says:

Guys, if the client is beggar, and I mean it … if he can’t afford or doesn’t want to get the job done right, why would you care?!

Our job will always be misunderstood.

April 17th, 2009 at 12:51 am

Thibaut Allender says:

Well, I did some spec when I began as a freelancer. I’ll never do again.

Last time I wanted to do it, I said I would do something and when the timeline arrived, I said I had nothing to propose… They’d better have some spare designers

Clients asking for spec want several proposals for the price of one… That means: they are broke too!

I’m not suprised by Jason’s story: this kind of client doesn’t value AT ALL you work. For them, designing or coding is just some clicks, it’s “easy” and takes no time.

If you really need money, don’t loose you time with spec, work on your own portfolio, launch personal projects. It will be easier to sell yourself because you’ll have done things you like instead of being some broke clients slave.

April 17th, 2009 at 3:44 am

joyoge designers' bookmark says:

nice article thanks for writing..

April 17th, 2009 at 5:23 am

Tim Smith says:

Couldn’t agree with you more!! Awesome article!!

April 17th, 2009 at 11:30 am

Yana says:

@sean_hex I agree that designers do not get the value or respect they deserve, but that is not a reason to discourage anyone from going into the field. In fact, I’m kind of sick of anti spec work articles too, but only because the prevalance of spec work exists for the same reason that designers don’t get any value or respect – simply that non-designers are ignorant. They think it’s all just a bunch of pictures put together, and moreover, since its done on the computer, it takes a second to just drag and drop stuff on a page. They don’t realize – and perhaps this is the mark of good, subtle design – how much work goes into creating an effective logo, poster, brochure, website, etc. How much symbolism and psychology and thought. They absorb the message subconsciously, but the result is that they think it was a quick and easy thing.
The answer is not to discourage people from putting up with this, but to educate the people who don’t know any better. Most people don’t know what a doctor does specifically to make them better, but they trust and respect them completely anyway. They just need to be shown that designers are just as valuable for the community as any other profession.

April 17th, 2009 at 3:07 pm

Michael says:

Spec? Not anymore….

For Years I have been the go-to guy that would do that “little” bit of work for free to push the project forward for a potential client. While there is some merit in this if our mission is to improve the world, it is almost ALWAYS a total waste of time and you will NEVER see a bean from this activity. Clients who do not pay are, by definition, not clients. They are timewasting tosspots who will never value what they are given because they have no paid for it. BTW, alot of these guys are serial offenders and know exactly what they are doing.

I have been a design professional for nearly 25 years – in Industrial Design for 10 and Naval Archtecture for a further 15. I have been very lucky to be moderately successful and have earned a decent living over the years.

About two years ago I was having a moan about non-payers to a friend of mine who has been in the business for well over 50 years.

He said to me: ” Michael, as long as you work for nothing, you will always have plenty of work. Think about what else you can do for nothing.” It took a while for this to sink in, but he is absolutely right. I can go to the beach with my kids for nothing, sleep in, fix that bloody dripping tap the wife has been bangimng on about for months, ride my bike, go skiing, or just chill with a cup of tea and look at the view. There is a ton of really cool stuff I can do for nothing!

So I started inviting everyone who wanted me to work for nothing to piss off, sometimes not even that politely, and it is AMAZING how many of these people can actually find some money to get the job done. The ones that can’t, well, maybe I’ll catch them on the beach one afternnon, spending the money they saved because some other idiot is now doing their work for free. If you are reading this, the hopefully it won’t be your money they are spending!

I can tell you it sure as hell won’t be mine.

Perhaps as creative people we are bound to be completely shit at business – perhaps we are just not that focused on the bottom line – or perhaps we undervalue what we do because we are mostly in this line of work because we love what we do. Whatever the reason, try thinking about what YOU could be doing for nothing, and then ask yourself why you should give someone else the luxury of spending that time doing something that cool with YOUR money, while you do their work for free.

Of course, there will always be hungry people out there that will be taken advantage of, or want to build their portfolios or whatever. Good luck to you – and thanks for the day at the beach! You are my heroes!

April 18th, 2009 at 2:02 pm

k says:

never work without a contract. ever.
design is time. and work. respect yourself with a legal contract. include hours and specify rounds of revisions. this is the only way to guarantee that you won’t get screwed. don’t provide any spec work. just provide work samples and if that’s not good enough to get the job…the job is probably not worth it.
the title of this article should be changed to don’t work for free. ever.

April 19th, 2009 at 1:10 pm

alex says:

can anyone here say he/she has never ever worked for free?

Problem is when you were in your late teens or early twenties, no matter how creative you are, no one will consider you as a designer. Old people like to take advantage of young ones.

April 22nd, 2009 at 3:56 am

Luke says:

1. Your work is only as valuable as someone will pay for it. IE, the market values your work.

2. Professional designers would be taking a pay cut to do spec work – so they’d be retarded to do spec work

3. Spec work is great to build up a portfolio. I think a lot of very talented and experienced designers are saying spec work is bad but forget that everyone has to start out somewhere, and it’s hard to just go out and start charging $80/hr for your time.

4. People buying spec work know that they aren’t getting the same product as they would get from a design agency or talented freelancer – except (and this is a big one because no designer seems to understand this) they don’t have enough money to pay for a good designer. If they don’t have the budget for a logo that takes 50 hours to build, then you were never going to get their work anyway.

6. “Designers do not get the value and respect they deserve” – A design degree doesn’t automatically earn you respect. Great work does. Just because you can use photoshop and you know about colours doesn’t mean that you should automatically be paid lots of money for your time. You need to demonstrate value to your client. Spec work is a great way of building up a portfolio so that you can say to potential clients “Look – this is all the great work I’ve done in the past”. That is worth more than the money you get from spec work imo.

Yes spec work doesn’t have a client->designer relationship, yes it doesn’t meet needs like a good design does, and yes it has flaws. But the market determines value, and if you want it any other way then move to a communist country.

BTW, I don’t do spec work, it pays less. Pretty easy stance for a professional designer to take.

April 22nd, 2009 at 4:48 am

Aaron Irizarry says:

There is a difference between “Design” and “Decoration”… that is very well put.

I completely agree with Carson, and Lydia. Though I think there are those who will continue to “chase the wind” hoping there designs get picked, and that is fine… It is not my position to try to control what people do.

When it come to different areas of spec work… do what you think is best… if a competition sounds fun, and you ahve the time and resources… do it (i.e the Carsonfied slide for FOWD). If you want to help a charity, there is nothing wrong with giving back, but Designers should get paid for their work.

I wouldn’t bring a contractor to my house… ask him/her to build an add on, and then keep it and pay them only if I like it.

If you do not value your design… no one else will.

April 22nd, 2009 at 7:46 am

Emily Gonsalves says:

Lots of good points brought up in your article and the comments.

I think though, that it is not just clients who need to educated about the value of work, but amateurs as well. There are plenty of competitions out there that use wording that favours the entity holding the competition, and I assume it’s out of legal convenience.

How many amateurs are not even reading the rules of competitions that state that ENTRIES will have all copyrights transferred? This is an especially dangerous clause if there’s also the stipulation that the contest holder reserves the right to not choose a winner. Because that’s a loophole that can lead to theft.

I admit, quite a few years ago, when I wasn’t as aware and didn’t read the fine print as thoroughly as I should – I entered a spec contest. I’m glad I didn’t win anything, and I’m glad they didn’t use my art. The prize was pretty small (table space and admission to a convention, valuing about $100), considering what they asked for. The winning design would be sold for profit by the convention on T-shirts/posters/what have you (depending on the design); could be displayed on their website; and they wanted to be able to re-use the artwork in later years as much as they wanted, without further compensation. As for exposure? I can’t imagine that winning led to heaps of money for the winner either. Especially when they plastered the work on things multiple years in a row.

As far as experience is concerned; do work for yourself, family, and (sometimes) friends. Make a fan website about your favourite show. Create art to give people as gifts on special occasions. Be creative!

Spec work is not a way to get exposure or recognition. There are plenty of places online where you can freely display things that you created for yourself, and that can lead to things like commissions. Being active in artistic communities will do more for you than a spec contest that you might just end up wasting your time and effort on.

If you do any work for free, including donating work to charities/non-profits; make sure it’s something you’re passionate about. If you’re not getting any money from it, you should still be getting recognition and feel proud of your work.

April 24th, 2009 at 10:43 am

John says:

nothing good ever comes of spec work unless you are a charity.

April 27th, 2009 at 5:59 am

Joshua says:

IN order for the design community to be taken seriously as professionals and not looked upon as “photoshop” monkies, we as a community need to focus on showing the results of our work. We need to find a way to measure and prove “why” one loge or layout is better than the other.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) we work in a world filled with business people who could not give two shits about the color of their logo or website. They don’t give a shit about the quality of the paper their brochures are printed on or how just the right color combination can make a designer come to tears.

These people care about the bottom line and they want to know that the investment they make in their design and marketing efforts are going to make them more money. It is up to US to break out of the “artist” phase and show the real proof of how design effects the bottom line.

May 16th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

Dee says:

I too work at a place where every so often I'm expected to do spec work. I generally think spec work is a waste of time, and if I were self-employed I wouldn't do it because it makes absolutely no business sense to do so. However in my situation, as much of a waste of resources it is for the company I work for, at the end of the day, I don't really care because I'm still getting paid for the time I spend doing a spec. It's their loss if they don't realize that they're giving away work for free.

And, yes, I realize this attitude doesn't make me a "team player" or "good employee" or whatever, but as you can probably already tell, I can't really be bothered.

In general, I think spec work sucks. But there are exceptions, so it's not a black and white issue. Everyone has to figure out where their own line is drawn.

@Sherry: Why aren't they giving away free ad runs instead of free market analysis? It seems to me like the market analysis would be more worth paying for than an ad spot in a newspaper. They've got it backwards.

January 7th, 2010 at 11:00 pm

Dani says:

ooo! I wish to buy this phantom 'logo' and 'website' button. My marketability would sky rocket! Great article, thanks for writing it.

January 8th, 2010 at 7:02 pm

Gecko Designs says:

Great article! Our time and talents are valuable and I think it's inappropriate to ask for free work. If a client is looking for a design to demonstrate your skills you should refer them to your portfolio and offer to share client references who can speak of your creditability and talent.

February 28th, 2010 at 6:52 pm

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