Category: NO!SPEC News

  • No more spec shooting!

    If you plan on being in Las Vegas this Sunday, Ben Chen is scheduled to speak at the SPAA Convention. SPAA: stands for Sports Photographers Association of America. No More Spec Shooting! Sunday, February 20, 2011, 1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. “After more than 10 years of speculative shooting of several youth sports, Ben Chen…

  • Relaunching NO!SPEC with 28 talking points

    Welcome to the relaunch of the NO!SPEC site. And who do we have to thank for this revamp? My good friends David Airey (designer) and Jay Wickham (programmer). From day one, Jay and David have been tireless contributors. Behind the scenes, and no matter what insane hour of the day or night, Jay is on…

  • iStock + Logos = ?

    Worms, lawyers and style-whores iStock opens can of nasty worms | Logo Design Love: I’ve learned a lot during my years as a designer. One of those things is that a logo in isolation is like lipstick on a pig. It needs to be treated as part of an overall brand identity strategy, not picked…

  • Interviewing Debbie Millman: President of the National AIGA

    Dear Debbie Millman, For years, you’ve been an inspiring advocate of the design industry. I know you’ve certainly inspired me. Your opinions on ethics in the design industry jumped out at me when I first came across Speak Up. And I believe it was right about that time when I started listening to your Design…

  • AIGA & NO!SPEC: It’s all About Education

    The spec watch is finally over Back in February we had the Forbes Says Designers are Snooty fiasco. During it all, we received this good news: Debbie Millman has now been asked by AIGA to chair a task force in an effort to understand the various sentiments about this practice in both the design community…

  • The SDGQ Denounces Speculative Work

    La SDGQ nonce le travail specculatif The article is in French. Below is the babelfish translation into English. The Company of the graphic designers of Quebec (SDGQ) officially gave an opinion against speculative work, not remunerated. According to it, the companies should not need to see creative proposals to choose a studio; or they should,…

  • VANOC 2010 Mascot RFP: GO Canada GO!

    I swear, when I die I want to come back as a Canadian … Yesterday, Steven Luscher (Group Organizer for the Vancouver Graphic Design Meetup) contacted NO!SPEC about the VANOC 2010 Mascot RFP. VANOC is the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee. Steve’s post on the Vancouver Graphic Design Meetup message board: Congratulations to everyone responsible for…

  • Bitching About Pitching and Agency Compensation

    Three Top Creatives Speak Their Mind at ANA Conference Is this the beginning of the end? In surprisingly strong comments before a gathering of the nation’s largest advertisers, three ad agency creative chiefs last week criticized the account pitching and compensation models that currently govern their business relationships with advertising clients. Check out the whole…

  • Barenaked Exploitation by Robert Wurth

    So, what do you do when you’re an internationally recognized, successful band with millions of dollars in CD and concert ticket sales? If you’re the Barenaked Ladies, you slap an industry in the face by running an unethical, exploitive contest, that’s what. Over at the web site Deviant Art, a recent contest was posted for…

  • NO!SPEC Campaign: Rundown and Roundup

    March/April of this year saw the launch of the NO!SPEC campaign. Since then I’ve come across a range of confusing posts, some even using open source interchangeably with spec. To clarify the spirit of the campaign I’ve put together a short rundown on what working on spec is, and isn’t. What the NO!SPEC campaign is,…