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Spec work and design students
We regularly receive letters from design students and those new to the design industry. In their correspondence the students often explain how they were not educated about spec, and/or were sent to contest sites by their instructors. Earlier this year we discussed the subject with a design student, Thomas. One thing led to another and…
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Design Students Create NO!SPEC Video
As the recipient of a multitude of emails on the subject of spec, I never know what’ll be arriving next. Some emails offer suggestions, others request information, and others still are peppered with not so clever rants about how evil we are for insisting that designers get paid for their work. Just recently, student Yasmin…
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When Saying No Politely Gets You In the Door
Dear NO!SPEC, Just wanted to share a recent email exchange I had with a prospective employer who asked candidates to do a test design on a new project. I liberally stole and altered sections from an article posted on your site: “Why Speculation Hurts,” by Robert Wurth. I’ve taken out the name of the company…
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Dear NO!SPEC: The Two Faces of Spec in the Music Business
Folks, In the music business, ‘spec’ has 2 faces. As a composer, I have seen many situations similar to the graphic design examples as you describe. Most independent film-makers do not think to budget any money for music. At the very low end, they simply use their favorite CD’s, thinking they won’t get caught. Many…
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Photographers speak out on NO!SPEC
Dear NO!SPEC, I’m hoping you can let visitors to the NO!SPEC site know that graphic designers are not the only ones being plagued by requests for work on spec. On spec or as it’s come to be known in the photography industry “Custom Stock” is a growing trend. Companies are trying to legitimize a model…
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Did I mess up big time?
Dear NO!SPEC, I checked out the NoSpec site and have a quick question on mockups and I would really appreciate it if you could give me some advice. Here’s the scenario. I just got off the phone with a potential client who’s looking for someone to design his logo. This happened a couple of hours…
