Designers Who Blog: Design, Illustration, Photography, Web, Advertising, Branding …

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. [... Continue reading ... Pixlpusher and more …

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.
[... Continue reading ... Open Letter to CL (Craigslist) Administration

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.
[... Continue reading ... NO!SPEC looking for craigslist author

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

Barenaked Ladies

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. [... Continue reading ... NO!SPEC: Barenaked Ladies with Barenaked Exploitation

March/April of this year saw the launch of the NO!SPEC campaign. Since then, I’ve come across a number of confusing posts using open source interchangeably with spec. So, 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, and isn’t. [... Continue reading ... NO!SPEC Campaign: Rundown and Roundup

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

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.

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

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

Fact: Bruce Nussbaum from Business Week’s NussbaumOnDesign launches INside Innovation, a magazine that promises “a deep, deep dive into the innovation/design/creativity space.” [... Continue reading ... Michael Bierut on NO!SPEC