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suit 101 on NO!SPEC
Spec Work Hurts Graphic Designers Clients want free work and ideas. As a creative professional you should just say NO! About a year ago I was asked to bid on creating the design work for a magazine for a small liberal arts college. … We really like your work, they say, but we’d like to…
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Leihu on NO!SPEC
Will The Real Style Shady Please Stand Up? … this debacle makes a great argument against design contests and spec work, in this case not only did all the entrants lose out, but the so-called winner was also screwed. Read the rest of the story at www.leihu.com
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The Biggest Challenges Facing Independent Designers
SHARK-INFESTED WATERS It took me five years to realize that whenever a potential client said, “If you do this one cheap, there’s a lot more work down the line”, it was, in each and every case, a load of number two. It wasn’t around when I was a tender wee lad but No!Spec is a…
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Andy Budd on NO!SPEC
Creative pitches are toxic by Andy Budd I’ve long held the belief that creative pitches are toxic, and unpaid creative pitches doubly so. This view is upheld by a number of professional design associations that actively ban their members from engaging in unpaid creative. Creative pitches are bad for the client, bad for the designer…
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The Copywriting Maven on NO!SPEC
The Copywriting Maven: Why I Don’t Work “On Spec” Spec is short for speculation. In the copywriting and creative services world, that means a potential client says to us, “I’m not sure about hiring you, so let’s see what you do with this speculative assignment. We’ll pay you if we like it. And if we…
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Creativiti on NO!SPEC
Designing ‘on spec’ – bad for you, bad for us Creativiti is a supporter of the creative industry’s NO!SPEC campaign. This section outlines why designing on spec is a poor compromise for everybody. If you invest in a designer’s time and place your confidence in their abilities, they will work closely with you to create…
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Michael Bierut on NO!SPEC
The Road to Hell: Now Paved with Innovation? Designers don’t have many advocates as enthusiastic and highly-placed as Bruce Nussbaum. An assistant managing editor at Business Week, he’s spearheaded the magazine’s coverage of design and innovation for years, and has become an important online voice for how business can use design as a strategic tool.…
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Andy Rutledge on NO!SPEC
Redesign Competitions: looking for a commitment or just a roll in the hay? When looking for someone to spend the rest of your life with, a hot bod and a willingness to put out are not exactly the appropriate exclusive criteria for selection. They might be part of the package, but they’re largely irrelevant to…
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American Design Awards on NO!SPEC
Say NO to Speculative Work By Art Javid “Speculative Work” is the unfortunate practice in today’s society by certain companies or organizations that put on a “contest”, asking hundreds of graphic designers to participate by designing, and sharing their ideas or work specific to the project, and promising the “winner” a meager payoff if their…
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fadtastic on NO!SPEC
From fadtastic: They have given over ideas that have not been completed under contract and could be used or could influence the client without them having to pay a penny and also they have condoned this whole approach by partaking in the first place! Why do we accept this approach ladies and gents? Why do…
