Some of you might know that I also run the NO!SPEC Campaign. For those who aren’t aware, the early campaign days are documented in the categories to the right.

The NO!SPEC Campaign was put together in a mammoth rush. Two overlapping teams were created to come up with design and copy, each team with an aim of working towards the final product. Doing it this way made it sort of a scattered experience at best, but it garnered results.

From the very beginning we knew that the site would eventually need a quieter redesign. That the IN YOUR FACE [insert expletive here] layout wasn’t meant to last forever. Also needed was a logical nav structure, as sometimes finding things was… whoooh…

But for years we were too shagged out busy with the campaign; less concerned with making pretty.

Every so often I’d get emails from designers offering to redo the site design. Jay and I would look at portfolios, check out code, and then get back to the campaign.

Several months back long-time buddy David Airey offered to do the redesign. I knew David’s portfolio and I was also aware of how he worked with clients. So I knew that we’d work well together too.

As Jay is the one responsible for everything under the NO!SPEC hood, I forwarded David’s offer. Jay blessed it with a yes.

David mentioned that the design brief was brief.
And indeed it was.

David: Brief?
Cat: Simple.
David: This?
Cat and Jay: Like.

As expected, the redesign went smoothly. No drama. No snafus. Although – and I just have to confess this part – late in the day (after most everything was done) I did start hankering after a third column to share @nospec twitter tweets. Heh. Don’t you just hate that from clients? But, without making a last minute request, I shelved the idea for afters.

If you read the comments in David’s post about the redesign you’ll see some grumbling (nothing huge, mind you). Also in the comments is an excellent point made by Jeff Fisher (LogoMotives).

I do think that many forget the NO!SPEC site is not just a resource for design students and those in the design profession. I often direct businesses, organizations, “contest” coordinators, educators, publications and others to the website for information about the topic of speculative work. I did so yesterday after receiving an invitation from GermanAviation.com to participate in a ‘competition’ [i.e. "contest"] for a new logo design. Who knows if they even bothered to visit the site for a little NO!SPEC education – but, if they did so, a very professional presence was there to be explored.

Looking at the bigger picture – communication industry + clients – is one of the main reasons I went with a calmer, more professional design this time.

All in all, I expected more of a negative reaction, but in a different direction. No matter. Eventually, everyone will get used to the cleaner design. And hey, I promise that we’ll do our best to muff everyone off with the next revamp… kidding ;-)

I’m all the way down here and there’s thanking yet to do.

The NO!SPEC Campaign started out with 20 tireless designers in the NO!SPEC committee. And they were brilliant. Some even worked through illnesses brought on from the late hours needed to put the project together. But people do have jobs and lives to get to, families to see, and all that.

So the way the NO!SPEC team shakes out today, there is a smaller, looser team comprised of Jay Wickham, David Airey, and Steve Douglas. [edit] I forgot to add myself. Between the four of us, we hold down the fort. You see, when I’m fed up with the spec cacca (it can get pretty depressing), it’s Steve and David who prop me up, giving me the support to continue on. And it’s Jay doing what needs to be done codewise, as well as fixing what I break (which is often).

Jeff Fisher, a member of the original NO!SPEC committee, continues to support the campaign on a regular basis. And btw, the original committee is not permanently out of the picture. They come in ever so often when I yelp for help.

Debbie Millman, who we all know and love, is another designer working on spec issues (I swear that lass never sleeps). And when I’m fussing up a storm, Deb sometimes sends soothing noises my way.

So a HUGE thank you from me goes to everyone involved. Everyone who has worked on the NO!SPEC Campaign in the past, all the way to the present, and even to those coming in later. Everyone who has written a post about spec issues, tweeted and retweeted those posts, whatever. It’s all important. And I thank you.

Enjoy…

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Pixlpusher

I don’t post many tutorial / designy focused blogs. Neither do I share many web / css focused blogs. It’s because I don’t do tutorials much anymore. And for css, there’s a Jay. It’s selfish. I know. But, in the future I promise to rectify this oversight. Like, starting yesterday, with Concept Design Workshop.

From Pixlpusher: This blog is for design students and designers. I will be posting tutorials, free stuff, and other need to know information.

Scrolling down the category we have apple (no) designers (seems interesting) [click] and bingo. Is spec work unethical? One of the reasons I chose this post is due to two hot conversations going on right now.

At Freelance Switch we have Freelance Radio, Episode 12: I�m a Proud Weenie!

Now, when it went live, I was busy packing to hop on a plane so didn’t get the chance to get to the podcast until yesterday. It’s a good listen so I do recommend those interested to take the time. Basically what they did was agree on spec as a theory. It’s the grey bits everyone has problems with.

Another point made wraps around this comment, “Try not to burn so many people at the stake …”

And I do agree. The spec issue is a hot one. It’s hot in part because it’s been around for a long time without a voice. And now we have one. The internet. Oh joy.

But think about it, if you are slamming a potential client over the head with the no-spec.com logo, you’ve pretty much wasted an opportunity to educate that client. Right?

So there I was. Almost finished writing a post on no-spec.com on this very same subject. When google alerts binged Kevin’s post into my email box. 99designs: Bullshit 2.0 (foul language warning).

Drat and drat. There went my softy-feely post about being kind and all, as I do agree with Kevin.

So on one side we have uneducated clients needing to be led through the process of our industry (softly, softly, please). On the other, we have companies like Sitepoint creating sites such as 99designs (no, I won’t link to them).

And like Kevin, I can’t help but be shocked and equally peoed at the numbers.

Quoting Kevin: At the time of this writing, $1,226,703 has been awarded across 346,171 entries. Second-grade math teaches us this averages out to $3.54 per entry.

$3.54? What? [shaking head] Makes you wonder how they plan on surviving. If they even do.

Also found at Pixlpusher:EMOHOC – The creative online outlet of Alan Campbell – Graphic Design, Illustration and Photography.

Enjoy.

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Open Letter to CL

Yesterday, this letter was forwarded to NO!SPEC. Soon after, the letter was replaced by ‘This posting has been flagged for removal’.

After reading, I feel the author has put forward valid points as well as a doable solution to the escalating problem at Craigslist.

Maybe Craigslist doesn’t want to tackle this problem. Maybe they feel it’s too much work. Well, maybe this leaves it wide open for another company to take the concept and run with it.

Open Letter to CL Administration:

Reply to: gigs-412731766@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-09-03, 8:34AM

Original URL: http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/crg/412731766.html

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I Wish I Had Written This

I should have titled this post “it’s all in a title” or some such, but we’re earnestly looking for the author of this craigslist piece.

I’m not sure for how long, but there’s a wonderfully written article repeatedly being posted on craigslist. At the bottom of the article is “Please copy and repost daily so that our profession may be respected.” So someone posts it, it gets taken off, then reposted again.

On one of the up moments, Calvin Lee grabbed it. After trying to discover who wrote the piece (by contacting one of those reposting), Cal shared it on the HOWmag forum with the title Craigslist: Love This Guy!

Steph Doyle posted it on his blog with I Wish I Had Written This! Well, I couldn’t think of a better way to say it (and I’m always rushed), so I used Steph’s when posting on NO!SPEC.

Jeff Andrews picked it up for one of his blogs, Adventures in Blogging, and gave it the title Free Graphic Design, which means that ORblogs also picked it up.

position : relative posted with Craig’s Pissed.

Cal then alerted mediabistro.com when the article was reposted on craigslist. Mediabistro.com chose the title Wanted: You To Feel Really Dumb About Doing Spec Work.

Sooner or later, hopefully, we’ll discover who the writer is.

Below is the piece in full. If you are the author, please contact NO!SPEC. We’d love to talk.

Edit: The author is Dave D�Esposito of ArtMonkey Studios, Inc.

Craigslist: Love This Guy! I Wish I Had Written This! Free Graphic Design. Craig’s Pissed. Wanted: You To Feel Really Dumb About Doing Spec Work.

Every day, there are more and more CL posts seeking ‘artists’ for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.

But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.

To those who are ‘seeking artists’, let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? None?

More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them.

And this is not really a surprise.

In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.

So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?

Would you offer a neurosurgeon the ‘opportunity’ to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him ‘a few bucks’ for ‘materials’. What a deal!)

Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?

If you answered ‘yes’ to ANY of the above, you’re obviously insane. If you answered ‘no’, then kudos to you for living in the real world.

But then tell me, why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?

Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.

A few things you need to know;

1. It is not a ‘great opportunity’ for an artist to have his work seen on your car/’zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a ‘great opportunity’ for YOU to have their work there.

2. It is not clever to seek a ‘student’ or ‘beginner’ in an attempt to get work for free. It’s ignorant and insulting. They may be ‘students’, but that does not mean they don’t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a ‘student’ once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid.

3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it’s one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their ‘portfolio’. They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It’s not compensation. It’s their right, and it’s a given.

4. Stop thinking that you’re giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.

5. Students DO need ‘experience’. But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the ‘experience’ they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother’s house when they were seventeen?

If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.

6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to ‘submit work for consideration’. They may even be posing as some sort of ‘contest’. These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the ‘contest’, or be ‘chosen’ for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or ‘spec’, work. It’s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, please visit www.no-spec.com.

So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are ‘spec’ gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them.

And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free, please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you’re accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.

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Society of Graphic Designers of Canada

About:
We’re thrilled to announce that VANOC has adopted virtually all GDC guidelines and suggestions and have created a fair, equitable and professional RFP that meets with GDC’s approval and support. For those opposed to spec design competitions, this is a momentous occasion in Canadian and international design indeed.

Check out:
VANOC’s RFP page and VANOC makes good on mascot RFP

Via: Steven Luscher from The Vancouver Graphic Design Meetup Group

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From Robert Wurth of Freshly Squeezed Design:
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 the development of a t-shirt design to promote a new Barenaked Ladies tour. The details of this contest are glaring examples of the problems this trend creates within the design community. The fact that it comes from a representative of the music industry, an industry very vocal in the protection of artist’s rights, makes it all the more disturbing.

So, why the bitch? Besides the fact that they are a business and can pay a fair rate for designs they will turn around and sell?

Check out, for yourself, a snippet of their rules:
All entrants to the Contest acknowledge that the Barenaked Ladies will own all results and proceeds including copyright in and to the entrant’s designs submitted hereunder. To the extent entrant owns same, entrant hereby assigns such rights to the Barenaked Ladies in perpetuity. Entrants waive any and all moral rights in and to the designs and the artwork created hereunder. Entrants acknowledge that Nettwerk Productions may commercially release or otherwise exploit the artwork design in any manner it deems fit, now or hereinafter invented, without territories limitations, and that entrant shall not be entitled to any payment of any kind as a result of such use or other exploitation.

Related posts
Designers who Blog on the NO!SPEC campaign

Related sites
Creative Latitude on how the NO!SPEC campaign began
NO!SPEC at www.no-spec.com

EDITED: The Freshly Squeezed Design blog is no longer available …

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Spec is not:
Pro bono
Open Source
Industry Awards Contests

Spec is:
Working on the SPECulation of getting something of value in return.

The NO!SPEC Campaign is not about:
Taking the fun away from what we do.

The NO!SPEC Campaign is about:
Educating designers so they can make educated choices.

The NO!SPEC Campaign is not about:
Coming up with a lot of tight rules to stifle the client / designer relationship.

The NO!SPEC Campaign is about:
Educating the public on ethical business practices.

Still confused? Then please stroll through the roundup of the latest blog posts and articles below.

Bloggers Speaking Out Against Spec

Creative pitches are toxic
By Andy Budd

Redesign Competitions: looking for a commitment or just a roll in the hay?
By Andy Rutledge

Wikipedia and Bowing to the Brand
By Mark Boulton

Shooting oneself in the foot and other truths about designing on spec: An interview with Carmen von Richthofen and John Furneaux of the RGD
By Kevin Broome

Will The Real Style Shady Please Stand Up?
By James Mathias

Why I Don’t Work “On Spec”
By Roberta Rosenberg

Designing on spec – bad for you, bad for us
By Creativiti

Answers Against Contests and Spec Work
By Robert Wurth

Dear Prospective Client:
By The Stapler

NO!SPEC – Just Say NO!
Matt Davies

Getting Paid
By Athyrius

The Road to Hell: Now Paved with Innovation?
By Michael Bierut

The Biggest Challenges Facing Independent Designers (I)
By Sean

Spec Work Hurts Graphic Designers
By Mary Rayme

Designers Speaking Out Against Spec

It’s time to check spec at the door
By Neil Tortorella of Tortorelly Design

Design Contests Are Dangerous For Your Business
By Robert Wurth, Creative Director, Freshly Squeezed Design

When a “contest” is not a contest
By Jeff Fisher, Engineer of Creative Identity, Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

On Contests, Contention and the Creative Process
By the team at NO!SPEC

Why We Don’t Make Speculative Presentations
By Creative Business

Why Speculation Hurts
By Robert Wurth, Creative Director, Freshly Squeezed Design

Why Speculative Work is Unethical
By Habib Bajrami

In Their Own Words: Why These Designers are Against Speculative Design Competitions
By Catherine (cat) Morley

A Design Analogy
By Tom Stephan

A Winning Strategy: Industry awards as a marketing tool
By Jeff Fisher, Engineer of Creative Identity, Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Just say NO! to Spec Work (Why Spec is Bad and other stories…)
By Tamar Wallace

Ten Reasons to ponder
By Neil Tortorella

What is ‘working on speculation’?
By Elisabetta Bruno of ThinkCreation

Visit Creative Latitude: Cat’s Fancy: Designers who Blog: NO!SPEC Campaign to read what bloggers Eric Karjaluoto, Elisabetta Bruno, Piers Le Seure, Tamar Wallace, Danita Reynolds, Debbie Millman, Robert Wurth, William Alexander, Steve Douglas, Michael Surtees, Kevin Broome, Jeff Fisher, Daniel Schutzsmith, Lisa Duty, Mark Bixby, John Klein and Susan Kirkland have to say about spec.

Check out the Designers who Blog NO!SPEC crusade blogroll.

(Thanks for the nudge Darren)

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Matthew Pennell

The Watchmaker Project

About:
The Watchmaker Project is the weblog and online project playground of internet know-it-all and web designer Matthew Pennell

Check out:
Shitty behaviour from Unmatched Style and Build it and they will come – how to promote your site online.

Related posts:
James Mathias on NO!SPEC NO!SPEC
The growing NO!SPEC Campaign section on Designers who Blog.

Related sites:
Creative Latitude on how the NO!SPEC Campaign began
NO!SPEC at www.no-spec.com

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James Mathias

leihu

Will The Real Style Shady Please Stand Up? by James Mathias

… this entry at The Watchmaker Project details some shady business occurring at one of my fellow 9ruler’s sites Unmatched Style. The shady business appears to be a design contest gone bad.

… 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.

Related posts
Designers who Blog on the NO!SPEC Campaign

Related sites
Creative Latitude on how the NO!SPEC Campaign began NO!SPEC at www.no-spec.com

While visiting leihu, be sure to click around as it’s a luscious site, full of surprises.

Check out:
Lt. Thumb and Peter File.

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Andy Budd

Andy Budd::Blogography

Creative pitches are toxic

In a recent survey of design agencies, the BDI calculated that unpaid creative pitches cost UK agencies an average of �38,000 per year.

As such, the BDI survey found out that over 25% of projects are not awarded after a creative pitch.

I have always believed that creative pitches provide poor value for the client, and makes choosing a design partner harder rather than easier. I also believe unpaid creative pitches are bad for the designers involved and damaging to the industry as a whole. Apart from the large amount of money lost per year, unpaid pitches relegate design to a commodity, and a free commodity at that. People value things they pay for, while they place little stock in things that are free. This is why so many creative pitches go un-awarded.

Brought to you by: NO!SPEC
Check out bloggers contributing to the NO!SPEC Campaign
Read about how the NO!SPEC Campaign began

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