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Ok just to be clear, since the line is getting a bit hazy. Most designers aren't against doing true spec work (where a potential client asks you to do work for

Ok just to be clear, since the line is getting a bit hazy. Most designers aren't against doing true spec work (where a potential client asks you to do work for free, for the possibility of future payment and work). Almost every designer does it. The concern most designers have is with crowd sourced spec work such as 99 designs which is a threat to a lot of freelance designers.

cwilson 15y ago
Exactly what I came here to post. There is a huge difference between smart spec work and the 99 designs marketplace spec work. That said, I really don't see where the problem is in the design ecosystem right now. Talented designers are not having problems finding really well paying work, in fact there are probably more opportunities than there are designers. On the other end you have the 99 designs space. Here there are a few hundred "designers" rehashing the same concepts, over and over, for clients you'd NEVER want to work for on anything significant. You pay for what you get.
- zachinglis 15y ago
  Hit the nail on the head. Exactly a point I am trying to make :)
rhnoble 15y ago
Since when are most designers against "true" spec work? Anytime I hear something like "the possibility of future payment and work", I run away as fast as I can. That's the kind of "spec" work the design community could do without. Crowd-sourced spec work is another matter altogether. If a potential client points to those sites as a way of driving down your price, they're not the kind of clients you want to work with. There's nothing wrong with taking on a high profile job for the exposure and doing it for free if you treat it like an extraneous circumstance and a business decision. But compared to people in other fields, designers are a little soft on what are acceptable payment terms, and are often taken advantage of as a result. Free = free and paid = paid, but "spec work" is a grey area that is on the whole bad for the community.
zachinglis 15y ago
I disagree. I think a lot of people are taking people's anti-spec to be very black and white, especially from the email and private communication i've received from this. :)

cwilson 15y ago

Exactly what I came here to post. There is a huge difference between smart spec work and the 99 designs marketplace spec work. That said, I really don't see where the problem is in the design ecosystem right now. Talented designers are not having problems finding really well paying work, in fact there are probably more opportunities than there are designers. On the other end you have the 99 designs space. Here there are a few hundred "designers" rehashing the same concepts, over and over, for clients you'd NEVER want to work for on anything significant. You pay for what you get.

zachinglis 15y ago
Hit the nail on the head. Exactly a point I am trying to make :)

rhnoble 15y ago

Since when are most designers against "true" spec work? Anytime I hear something like "the possibility of future payment and work", I run away as fast as I can. That's the kind of "spec" work the design community could do without. Crowd-sourced spec work is another matter altogether. If a potential client points to those sites as a way of driving down your price, they're not the kind of clients you want to work with. There's nothing wrong with taking on a high profile job for the exposure and doing it for free if you treat it like an extraneous circumstance and a business decision. But compared to people in other fields, designers are a little soft on what are acceptable payment terms, and are often taken advantage of as a result. Free = free and paid = paid, but "spec work" is a grey area that is on the whole bad for the community.

zachinglis 15y ago

I disagree. I think a lot of people are taking people's anti-spec to be very black and white, especially from the email and private communication i've received from this. :)