Still Tempted To Do Spec Work?
‘Spec Work’ is an abbreviation for Speculative Work … this is design work that is created specifically for a client (often in the form of a competition against other designers) on which you speculate (read gamble) as to whether or not your design will ‘win’.
Spec work isn’t just for designers, although it’s rife in this industry, all industry types can fall victim to working in this way, which I promise you is not the most profitable way in which a company can win business.
There are better ways of working than bidding/pitching ideas for contests or projects in the hope of winning and potentially not being paid multiple times over – no company will produce their best work in these conditions, and producing your best work is essential to your future success.
With a speculative contest, if 200 people enter it, only one gets paid (usually not that much) and 199 people wasted their time. This can be viewed as marketing strategy, but again, it’s not conducive to producing one’s best work and there are better ways of winning clients than this as a business.
Not only do most of the designers in these competitions not get paid (after all there can only be one winner, no matter how good everyone may be), in a horrendous amount of cases the competition can be cancelled at any point without warning and then no one at all gets paid. Adding insult to injury.
Spec Watch reports on just how many ‘competitions’ go abandoned and unpaid at;
www.specwatch.info/992j25refunds.html
Let me ask you, could you turn out your best work in these conditions?
4 Responses to “Still Tempted To Do Spec Work?”
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I nearly got dragged unknowingly into some spec work the other day, the client neglected to tell me that I was up against other designers having already quoted the client for the project. When I realised I simply explained that this wasnt the way that the industry worked and that I wasnt prepared to work when there was a chance of not getting paid. The client decided that the service I was offering and the level of commitment they got from using that service was much higher than they expected and went ahead and paid for my services. Now I’ve got a new regular client who is already considering all the new ways in which they can use me to promote their business. Success!
So let that be a lesson to anyone reading this. I know its tempting to succumb to spec work, especially if not doing the job would mean you weren’t physically designing something. If you explain carefully and tell it how it is from your point of view, you add value to your service, and the client will understand. If not, then maybe these aren’t the type of clients that you need or want.
Nobody should get something for nothing.
On another note, the people who are designing the entries for these competitions can be young kids who dont have any insurance to pay you when you get sued for having a copyright infringing design, or they can be second rate designers using vector clipart to build a logo or design that could be sold over and over. I’m not saying this is always the case, but it’s a possibility, so dont take the chance.
That’s my two pence anyway.
Matt
That’s great, sometimes you (clearly) can convince them that hiring designers on a spec basis isn’t in their best interest let alone the designers and win them over as a client.
However I would never expend ‘masses’ of time (I’d explain briefly only) explaining that each person that asks you for spec work because with most of them you aren’t likely to change their mind and you’d be better of spending your time seeking out those who already understand the best method of hiring a designer for their business.
You are right about kids and insurance … even freelancers that have been working for years sometimes don’t bother with insurance, so students and such like who enter competitions like this definitely aren’t going to bother with it.
Amanda
I think that one of the major problems with Spec work besides a party not paying out sometimes, is the simple fact that we see far too often a level of consumer ignorance when it comes to design. I’m not saying that everyone who wants a logo or owns a business needs to go to design school or even pick up a design book, but they should do a little homework to understand what they are asking for, understand the difference between professional quality work that is best for the brand, and most importantly FORGET ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKE, in favor of thinking of what is best for your project or the audience you will be marketing too.
I’ve seen people ask for a logo, but award the winning design to something that followed none of the criteria of what logo is and should be. I’ve seen magazine ads where it becomes obvious the designer never learned anything about typography. Spec work is devaluing the industry as a whole, and producing low quality design, even in what should be a high end market.
You know you make some excellent points actually because whenever I hire someone to do something important for me I usually do a hefty bit of research before I choose the contractor because I don’t take ‘spending money’ lightly and don’t want to risk wasting money.
For instance before I chose my new office I looked at at least 50 suppliers and even investigated and informed myself about what sort of insulation is ‘housing standard’ so that I would understand what I needed before I choose.
You can’t just rely on suppliers to inform you …not all of them are ethical and you can’t rely on other people to make sure you make the right choice. A bad designer with poor customer service is hardly going to tell you they are inferior are they?
I agree that if a business owner is taking their business seriously they would investigate a bit about what a graphic designer is ‘supposed’ to offer a business so they know whether they are picking the right company/person for their needs.
Some other great points in there also Roberto…such as designing for the audience. Clients sometimes need reminding that the design isn’t supposed to necessarily appeal to them, but rather the customers they are targeting instead, and that may mean something different to their taste.
Amanda