Participating in online art collectives offers numerous advantages. A collective is a great forum to get your worked reviewed by professionals and critiqued by peers. By working together unique opportunities arise for fusing style and stretching your creative abilities. You can grow close connections with other talented artists, and learn to solve design/illustration problems by tackling themes. Through this article, we examine numerous advantages found by participating in online art collectives.

Online Art Collectives

As stated by Wikipedia, “Collaboration is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together in an intersection of common goals.” Collaboration is incredibly key for any artist. It is so key because it allows artists to not only branch out, but to establish relationships and connections with other artists. Another spectacular aspect of collaboration is how broad it truly is. A collaboration is not limited to two artists working together on a single piece of art, a collaboration can be something on a much larger scale, the most concise example comes in the form of the digital art collective.

Online art collectives have risen to prominence as a way to display large scale collaborations to viewers who are thirsty for inspiration. Art collectives typically involve between 30 to 100 artists who release exhibitions every few months. Certain collectives like slashTHREE and Depthcore use themes for their exhibitions, while others like Intrinsic Nature do not. Regardless of theme, one thing we can be sure of is that what occurs in these massive scale collaborations is something that is not only beneficial for artists, but also for viewers.

Let’s look at some of the advantages of participating in art collectives, and how collaboration will help you grow as an artist.

Unique Critiques

Critique is one of the most essential things for all artists. Who you choose to ask, how you choose to interpret it, and how you plan on following it might be some of the issues that arise in the mind of an artist when they begin to ponder how to get their latest work critiqued. Online art collectives provide a special brand of effortless and efficient critique that can help improve the skills and attitude of any artist.

What typically happens is that within the hidden area of an art collective (commonly called the artist area) exists the control panel, where each exhibition is worked on. Typically artists will submit a work in progress(WIP) or a finished piece to be voted on.

Once a piece is submitted, it will automatically become open to all of the collective’s artists for commenting, voting, and most importantly critiquing the artwork. At the online collective slashTHREE, each time a WIP is submitted it receives an intensive set of critique from Creative Directors, Senior Members, and Artists.

After the first round of critique, the artist will typically sift through what they feel are the best suggestions, make the improvements, and then update the work. If the community of artists feels that the work now meets all standards, the piece will be voted on, but if there are still errors, then a second set of critiques will be posted. This process continues on until the piece becomes something that the artist and the community feel is ready for the exhibition.

Although this is the style of the slashTHREE collective, this is a ballpark description for the general style of collective critique. It may not seem like a big deal, but knowing that in only a day you can have a piece extensively critiqued by a number of world class artists anytime is something that can be highly beneficial to the progression of any artist.

Another typical trait of collective critique is the technical feedback line diagram. Shown below is an example of a critique showing perspective and composition traits of a piece, the piece is done by Bechira Sorin.

Fusing Style

A style is what sets an artist apart. The facial recognition function within the human brain allows us to immediately distinguish people we know. One could say this is similar with visual stylistic traits, if you are an artist reading this, I’m sure you’ve had a moment when you’ve seen an intricately constructed swirl based illustration and thousand of neurons later you have had that eureka moment, “aha! this is Si Scott.”

Collaboration is a major breeding ground for fusing two styles together to create something new and fresh. And there is no place better to do this than design collectives. When a collective is working on an exhibition and multiple artists are all attempting to create their own interpretation of the theme in their style, roadblocks can come up. These roadblocks are the beginning of greatness.

Lets say one collective artist starts up a great 3D based render, but just isn’t sure how to finish it off. All that artist has to do is place the file in the private collective forum and wait for someone else who is feeling inspired to have a go at it. Below is an example of this, an illustration I created from a 3D object of Australian artist Chris Haines.

Community

I can say from my own personal experience that design collectives are one of the best places to make connections and good friends. Different collectives have various criteria for accepting applications, but two beneficial traits for applicants are personally and attitude. This usually leads to a tightly knit community of artists who are all in contact with each other, and always looking at each other’s artwork. When someone is familiar with not only you, but also your style of art and the way you are used to working. collaboration becomes a simple task with the potential for even more magnificent results.

Most creative professionals are used to collaborating with art directors who they aren’t familiar with on a personal level for commercially based projects. I personally believe that the best collaborations are produced by close friends, and often within design collective communities. Since it is hard for me alone to articulate the differences, I asked my friend Justin Maller (creative director of Depthcore) for his thoughts on the matter:

Collaborating with a friend gives you the artistic freedom to explore and mesh aesthetics in a way that simply can’t be afforded by art directing client work. As enjoyable as the challenges of realizing a goal within the parameters of the typical art direction project are, as an artist it is always liberating to be completely free. Especially when collaborating, the ability to drift through your own stylistic flights of fancy, anchored only to your partner’s contributions is not just liberating but often provocative; I’ve discovered and developed several styles and techniques that are now staples of my creative process whilst working with friends within my collective.

By Justin Maller

Following The Theme

I’d like to end this article discussing what I feel to be one of the most unique aspects of design collectives, themed exhibitions. As mentioned earlier on the majority of design collectives create a theme to follow for each exhibition, this gives the viewers something different to look at, while also continually challenging the collective’s artists.

Theme voting begins typically one week before an exhibition is about to release. Theme voting is an incredibly untidy process that usually results with many artists brainstorming ideas whilst arguing about which is the most plausible. When a theme is finally agreed upon by all of the collective’s artists, the magic can begin.

When collaborating within a design collective, the usage of a theme can be a productive breakthrough tool. Here are some examples of themes I have encountered over the years: Steampunk, Eve, Noir, Afterlife, Unity, Empire, Spectrum, Deja Vu, Revolution, and Heist.

I mentioned style fusion before, but one thing I did not mention is about some of the difficulties two artists can run into during a collaboration, and how a theme can be a viable solution.

Sometimes it’s hard for two artists to combine styles because it visually does not look compatible. A good example would be when a matte painter tires to fuse his work with a traditional pencil artist. These two styles are incredibly far apart, but here is where the usage of a theme can provide unity.

Using the Steampunk theme as an example, we could hypothesize that the matte painter creates his own Steampunkesque town, and then has the pencil artist render the people for the town, which he can then integrate, and voila, visual unity has been achieved. Many graphic designers are always saying that design is about problem solving, and the usage of a theme is great problem solver for roadblocks in collaboration.

Conclusion

You have all been given a glimpse into the world of design collectives and the way they work. We have gone over a few key things regarding design collectives and collective collaboration, but I am afraid this is only the tip of the iceberg. There is such a vast world of collaboration to be explore. I recommend anyone enticed by this article to pursue their own design collective research and get involved. Some of the aforementioned collectives include:

• slashTHREE
• Depthcore
• Evokeone
• Intrinsic Nature

A quick bit of news today to let you know that Psdtuts+ has joined the Smashing Network which means you’ll now be able to see Psdtuts+ posts appear on Smashing’s awesome Web Design Post Network section! The quality of sites in the network is simply phenomenal, and I’m thrilled that Vitaly and the crew are letting our tutorials reach even more people through their network.

If you’ve not ever flicked through the Smashing Network, I highly recommend heading over. The only downside is you usually end up with way more awesome articles than you could possibly read!

Thought I would share with you a recent project of mine: the rebranding of The Murray Raine Puppets logo and website.

Murray Raine grew up in Newcastle, New South Wales. His initial interest and love of puppetry was triggered at the early age of six. Following a performance by the iconic “Marionette Theatre Of Australia” at Waratah Infants school, he new a career in puppetry was his destiny! Now four decades later Murray is regarded as Australia’s leading “cabaret” marionettist.

Please feel free to have a look through the old and new websites and let me know what you think. It was a real pleasure designing for Murray and his star studded cast.

Website Before – Click to view old website (opens in new window).

Website After – Click to view new website (opens in new window).

The 960 Grid

When designing for the web, it’s often a good idea to follow a grid based approach. I personally use the 960 grid system and highly recommend it. Below you can see how I have used the 16 column grid system to build a structured and stylistically coherent web site.

You can click on the images below to see them at full resolution.

960 Grid System – 16 column grid with guides.

960 Grid System – 16 column grid with guides & coloured columns.

Front page without guides.

Front page with guides.

Front page with guides and coloured bars.

Want to know how to design a logo like a professional and have all the resources you need in just one post? Then this is the post for you… Learn professional logo design in just 5 steps!

If you are after a professional logo design I am currently available for hire. Click here for a free quote.

1. Learn What A Logo Is & What It Represents

Before you design a logo, you must understand what a logo is, what it represents and what it is supposed to do. A logo is not just a mark – a logo reflects a business’s commercial brand via the use of shape, fonts, colour, and / or images.

A logo is for inspiring trust, recognition and admiration for a company or product and it is our job as designers to create a logo that will do its job.

One must know what a logo is before continuing.

For further reading on what is a logo check out Wikipedia’s Definition.

2. Know The Principles of Effective Logo Design

Now that you know what a logo is supposed to do, and what it should represent you now must learn about what makes a great logo aka; the basic rules and principles of effective logo design.

1. A logo must be simple

A simple logo design allows for easy recognition and allows the logo to be versatile & memorable. Good logos feature something unexpected or unique without being overdrawn.

2. A logo must be memorable

Following closely behind the principle of simplicity, is that of memorability. An effective logo design should be memorable and this is achieved by having a simple, yet, appropriate logo.

3. A logo must be timeless

An effective logo should be timeless – that is, it will stand the test of time. Will the logo still be effective in 10, 20, 50 years?

4. A logo must be versatile

An effective logo should be able to work across a variety of mediums and applications. For this reason a logo should be designed in vector format, to ensure that it can be scaled to any size. The logo must work in just one colour too.

5. A logo must be appropriate

How you position the logo should be appropriate for its intended purpose. For example, if you are designing a a logo for children’s toys store, it would be appropriate to use a childish font & color scheme. This would not be so appropriate for a law firm.

For further reading on the rules and principles of great logo design I highly recommend to read the logo design tips from Logo Factory before continuing and also the articleWhy logo design does not cost $5.00. You may also wish to read How NOT To Design A Logo.

3. Learn Off Other’s Successes & Mistakes

Successful Logos

Now you know what the rules of logo design are, you can distinguish the difference between a good and a bad logo… By knowing what other logos have succeeded and why they have succeeded gives a great insight into what makes a good logo.

For example, lets look at the classic Nike Swoosh. This logo was created by Caroline Davidson in 1971 for only $35 yet it still a strong, memorable logo, effective without colour and easily scalable. It is simple, fluid and fast and represents the wing in the famous statue of the Greek Goddess of victory, Nike – something perfect for a sporting apparel business. Nike is just one of many great logos, think about other famous brands that you know about and check out their logos – what makes them successful?

For more quality, lesser known logos I recommend checking out Logo Of The Day or going to your local book store or library and looking at a logo design book.

The Not So Successful Logos

We can also learn off logos that have not been as successful such as the ones in the above picture or these bad logo designs. As seen in that post linked, some logos can depict things that may have not always be noticeable to the designer (as in the middle logo above) or they could just be plain bad design, as in the logo to the right.

4. Establish Your Own Logo Design Process

Now that we know what a logo is, what the principles and rules of logo design are and what makes a successful logo we can now finally begin the design process. This it hardest part of the 5 steps and is its own topic in itself – Each person’s logo design process is different and experience usually is the key factor in creating your own logo design process however check out The Secret Logo Design Process Of Top Logo Designers for a better idea.

In short, a logo design process usually consists of

1. The Design Brief
2. Research & Brainstorming
3. Sketching
4. Prototyping & Conceptualising (See Step 5)
5. Send To Client For Review
6. Revise & Add Finishing Touches
7. Supply Files To Client and Give Customer Service

If you ever get stuck before or during your design process check out this great article on How To Boost Your Creativity.

5. Learn The Software & Complete The Logo

After you have got your design process sorted out, it is usually a good time to begin mastering your software (Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard) but remember you can’t design a logo by just hopping straight onto the computer… brainstorm and sketch first.

After you have got your initial ideas and sketches from brainstorming you can then usually jump onto the computer to start digitising your logo. After you have got a great concept(s) digitised you can send it to your client, get revisions, and eventually complete the logo and thus, you have successfully created a professional logo.

Do you have any other tips or suggestions on how to make a professional logo?

In this article I outline the so called “pros” and cons of speculative work and then outline other’s opinions on the debate… If you haven’t already guessed it, I am against spec work. Let me explain – it’s worth the read.

What is “spec work”?

Speculative work (or free pitching) is any job for which the client expects to see examples or a finished piece of design before agreeing to pay a fee or compensation.

The term “crowdsourcing” is sometimes used however this is not spec work, however, some do use this term to cover up the fact that what they are actually offering is spec work. Do not let this vernacular term deceive you.

For clarification I will quote AIGA’s description of spec work:

Speculative work—work done without compensation in the hope of being compensated, for the client’s speculation—takes a number of forms in communication design. There are five general situations in which some designers may work, by choice, without compensation:

• Speculative or “spec” work: work done for free, in hopes of getting paid for it
• Competitions: work done in the hopes of winning a prize—in whatever form that might take
• Volunteer work: work done as a favor or for the experience, without the expectation of being paid
• Internships: a form of volunteer work that involves educational gain
• Pro bono work: volunteer work done “for the public good”

For students and professionals, there may be a different line drawn on which of these constitute unacceptable practices. In each case, however, the designer and client make the decision and must accept the relevant risks. Most designers would consider the first two types to be unacceptable.

In certain design disciplines, such as architecture, advertising and broadcast design, business practices differ and professionals have been expected to participate in speculative work. This usually occurs in fields where the initial design is not the final product, but is followed by extended financial engagement to refine or execute a design. In communications design, this is often not the case. The design submitted “on spec” is all that the client is seeking.

Difference between spec work and crowdsourcing:

Crowdsourcing: “Vote for our new logo, we will use the one you all like the most!” This means the logos have already been designed (and hopefully not via spec).

Spec or Free Pitching: “We need a logo, someone design one for us and we will pick the one we like.”

Spec work is a lose, lose situation. Let me explain why.

What is wrong with spec work?

While a client may feel they don’t want to invest money until seeing some work, designers should not have to prove their worth (do spec) to get a job, though this is the least part of the worry. Instead, clients should choose a designer based on their portfolio and experience and commit to building a working relationship with him or her. Only then will both the client and designer see the best results.

On a side note, talking on behalf of all designers, I would like to say that if a client can’t look at a designer’s style and quality of work (let alone the awards, testimonialsor education) and put trust in their services, then they are usually not a client you want to do business with. Developing a working business relationship is all about educating the client and building trust.

An example of spec work: Design Contests

“Design contests” are one of the most common forms of spec and one of the most dangerous. A company will put out a request for a design (eg. a logo design) inviting anyone and everyone to submit work. Often hundreds of designers will submit a design, but only the chosen work, the winner, will be paid… and that is not even guaranteed – even on prepaid contests.

Let me explain the negatives of this situation for both clients and designers.

“Pros” For Clients Using Spec

Before looking at all the negatives of spec work, some claim that there are positive sides to designing on spec. I want to examine the so called “pros” of why consumers (those that need the designs) are attracted to using design contests and suggest reasons why these pros really are not so “pro”.

• “Cheaper” Cost & More Variations

One of the main attractions of using spec work is the so called “cheaper cost” & the fact you get more variations & ideas. The typical scenario goes “Wow, I can get 200 different variations for $500″. On the surface, this may appear cheaper however if you dig deeper you will find that this – in nearly every case – is not so.

Please read on to view the many cons of designing via spec.

Cons For Clients Using Spec

Summarised below are 11 cons for clients designing via spec. These 11 pointers are explained in more depth below this summary.

1. Chance Of Plagiarised Work
2. Unoriginal Ideas & Designs
3. No Protection
4. Inferior Quality Designs
5. No Research or Development
6. Limited or No Revisions
7. Unproductive Time Wasting
8. The Client is not an Educated Design Professional
9. Unethical & Immoral (and possibly Illegal)
10. Little Communication & Involvement In The Design Process
11. You Build A Negative Relationship Built On Distrust

Client negatives of spec work:

• 1. Chance Of Plagiarised Work

One of the biggest reasons not to use design competitions is the fact that so many of the designs are copied from elsewhere. There have been numerous, numerous reportson theft from elsewhere especially within the logo design industry.

It goes without saying that this can get you into a lot of legal trouble if caught with plagiarised work.

And in some cases, “designers” (evil quotes there) are doing spec work with the intent of suing the company further down the road. I wonder how many people have ever thought about that?

• 2. Unoriginal Ideas & Designs

More often than not, designers who enter these contests are often using template work, which means the work is unoriginal and may have been used for another client. In some cases, it can lead to problems many months down the track such as when a rejected design gets used for another contest. There are also numerous examples of this happening to many unfortunate business owners.

• 3. No Protection

Most professional designers have an agreement or contract that they send to their clients… these contracts protect both the client and the designer while also establishing a trusting, working relationship. In nearly all jobs posted on design contest sites, there is no contract what so ever which leaves the client and designer at much higher risk throughout the whole design process. Who owns the copyright? What are the restrictions for the design? What are the terms and conditions?

• 4. Inferior Quality Designs

Although you can find some great individual talent on design contest sites, the vast majority of the users have little or no knowledge of what “good” design actually is, let alone know how to communicate an intended message for your company. This raises the chance that the final output will be inferior to what could have been achieved by using a professional designer.

This leads me to the next point…

• 5. No Research or Development

Most professional designers will have some form of questionnaire for clients to fill out to ensure that the final design will be reflective of the needs of the business and target market, unlike contest sites.

For an example see either my design brief page or my logo design questionnaire.

Without these vital components, the “designer” is only producing decoration, not solving the problem of what the design should be communicating.

• 6. Limited or No Revisions

Revision rounds are almost non-existent in the context of a contest. Sure, a contest winner could be hired again after being chosen to make a few changes, but in a true client-designer relationship this communication would be constant. The end result would be a collaboration instead of guesswork which also leads me to the next point…

• 7.Unproductive Time Wasting

Designing via contests takes a lot of time… a client will have to spend numerous hours commenting and looking through the submitted designs picking and choosing what the “best” design is which also leads me to the next point.

The number of designers who aren’t making a penny, while entering dozens of contests, is in the tens of thousands, and you just need to look at the astonishing raw numbers for Crowdspring and 99designs to see for yourself. Wasted time, in terms of unpaid designs submitted, is, quite literally, in the hundreds of years. Yes, that’s hundreds. ~ The Naked Truth

• 8.You Are Not an Educated Design Professional

When I say “you”, I mean the client wanting the design. The reason one hires a designer in the first place is due to the fact that they are after a professional looking piece of design – one that they could have not done them self. Alas the person needing the design is more than likely, not a professional.

So, how can a client choose the “best” piece of design if they do not even know the basics of design? The fact of the matter is, clients choose the “best” design based purely on style, nothing more. On top of this fact, do clients even know the technicalities & visual issues of what is being presented?

ie. What is the difference between vector and bitmap generated designs? What is thedifference between RGB, Pantone or CMYK colours? What print, bleed & trim settings are needed? etc.

The bottom line here is that most clients are unversed in what is really needed and they should be leaving this to a trained, experienced professional.

• 9. Unethical & Immoral (and possibly Illegal)

Although not directly a con to the client, the fact of the matter is design contests are unethical & immoral. Period.

The very fact that there is only one winner per contest means that the other (usually in the hundreds) designers will get no return for their hard work. To put this into perspective imagine a $500 contest with 100 entries. Second grade maths tells us that each entry is worth $5… that is below minimum wage and to make matters worse, the ‘losers’ will not even receive that $5.

Essentially, design contests are like a lottery to the extent that some even question the legalities of them.

• 10. Little Communication & Involvement In The Design Process

When working with a professional designer you collaborate together throughout the whole design process to achieve the desired outcome. From creating the first initial design brief, right through to the sketches, brainstorming, development, feedback, revisions and delivery.

When designing on spec, all you provide is a short (often less than a paragraph) design brief and then receive the design. There is no involvement… let alone after sale customer support.

• 11. Negative Relationship Built On Distrust

If potential clients are asking one or several designers to show work, they are immediately establishing a negative relationship. Instead of building a long lasting relationship with a single designer, they are often asking several to submit work with little contact between any of them.

If you are still not convinced, read this article for 16 more reasons why to NOT use design contests or read some of SpecWatch ’s examples of design contests gone wrong.

“Pros” For Designers Doing Spec

The people who are “for” spec work often have these arguments saying why spec work is benefiting the world.

They claim that contest sites provide:

• a world wide access & equal playing field
• a choice of work to choose from
• a chance to gain experience
• a chance to build your portfolio
• a chance to gain a small monetary reward
• a chance to gain more work
• a chance to meet people

But in nearly all cases, you can find this right on your doorstep, without working on spec…

If a designer is wanting to build up their portfolio and do all of the above, all you need to do is approach your local non-profit organisation (or local businesses) and offer them your skills, free of charge.

This will give you experience, allow you to improve your customer relation skills, build up your business network all while giving back to the community and getting exposure for your work. There is also a chance that the organisation will pay you for your work and the work may lead you to more (paid) work too. It’s a win-win for all and certainly not a waste of time – like spec work.

Cons For Designers Doing Spec

Apart from all of the negatives mentioned above, there are numerous more reasons why designers should not participate in spec work.

• It devalues the design industry
• There is a lot of work, with little, to no pay
• There is no copyright or legal protection
• The winning designs are chosen purely by the client’s personal taste
• There is little interaction with the client
• It is very time consuming

Still not convinced? Here are 10 more reasons why not to do spec work .

Grey Area: Volunteering / Pro Bono Work

Volunteering is one area that you could is a ‘grey’ area. Jennifer Bender from AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) answered this question quite well in regards to AIGA using volunteered students for some of their design work. This response can be applied to the topic of volunteering & pro bono work in general.

“AIGA works with designers and firms to create promotional materials including posters, event programs, event web sites, etc. AIGA’s policy is to always provide an honorarium for design projects as compensation . While we realize it is not set at market rates, it recognizes that no design should be expected without compensation. Implementation, such as printing costs, postage and paper, are covered by AIGA and/or an interested sponsor.

The difference between this and speculative work is that our volunteer designers are never required to do work up front for free before a contract or project begins. Each designer knows explicitly beforehand the terms we are able to offer, which is meant as our demonstration that every designer’s work has significant value, knowing that there are both monetary and non-monetary considerations in any project. Designers typically send us a portfolio of their past work, then have the opportunity to review a design brief and accept or decline the project. At that time, a contract is executed with a commitment to an honorarium, after which work on the project begins.”

Official Association’s Views:

AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) also have a firm “no-spec” stance on the subject.

As quoted in the AGDA Code Of Ethics :

4.1 Predatory pricing (free pitching)
AGDA discourages members from predatory pricing practices such as free pitching, loss leading and other pricing below break-even. Members should be aware that such practices will damage the economic viability of their business.

and then continues on with:

6.2 Free pitching
AGDA is unequivocally opposed to the unfair manipulation of designers with the aim of garnering unpaid work (commonly known as ‘free pitching’). Client practices which do damage to a member’s business are those that award projects or commissions on the basis of the commissioner’s acceptance of unpaid design submissions (eg. unpaid competitive tendering or speculative work)

AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) also has a firm “no-spec” stance:

AIGA believes that doing speculative work—that is, work done without compensation, for the client’s speculation—seriously compromises the quality of work that clients are entitled to and also violates a tacit, long-standing ethical standard in the communication design profession worldwide. AIGA strongly discourages the practice of requesting that design work be produced and submitted on a speculative basis in order to be considered for acceptance on a project.

The new AIGA President, Debbie Millman has her say on the spec topic:

“I am personally vigorously, passionately and fundamentally AGAINST designers being asked to do work on spec and neither I nor my firm will ever participate in speculative work. I have said it before and I will say it again: Speculative work denigrates both the agencies and the designers that participate. If we give away our work for free, if we give away our talent and our expertise, we give away more than the work. We give away our souls.”

Other’s opinions against spec work:

Many have spoken about their distaste of spec work before, including myself in the articles Why logo design does not cost $5.00 and How NOT to design a logo… below I quote & link to just a few more designers who have spoken out against spec work.

Andrew Hyde

“It is a major ethical flaw of both parties.”

• Spec Work Is Evil / Why I Hate CrowdSpring
• Spec Work Is a Ponzi Scheme
• Spec Work Panel at SXSW

Update 13.8.09: Check out the site WinWithoutPitching, a website dedicated to growing your firm without spec.

Steve from Logo Factory

{with a sarcastic tone} “Keep in mind that not winning any money after dozens of contests only makes designers try harder. That means, they’ll eventually get better at designing. And they’ll enter more contests that they won’t win. Which will get them even more exposure, helpful stars and comments. So, by not paying designers, you’re [clients] actually helping them be better designers. Strange as it seems, paying designers is bad. Makes them lazy.”

• Why you should crowdsource your next logo design
• Design Contests – The Battle Continues
• Are logo design contests even legal?

Graphic Push

“It insults everything about the real-world graphic design industry and the hard-working professionals that make a living building long-term client relationships, crafting deep and varied portfolios, and routinely putting their blood, sweat and tears into their work.”

• 99Designs: Bullshit 2.0

David Airey

“You, as the client, should know that your designer values your business. They’re not providing you with a design based purely on aesthetics, and one that took perhaps 30 minutes to create. They’re looking deep into your business plan, your company mission, your background, your way of dealing with people, and many other aspects of working practices.”

• Logo design contests are bad for business
• The reality of logo design contests

Jeff Fisher

“Those conducting such competitive ventures are not always seeking to take advantage of designers not knowing better. Some simply need to be educated about the design profession and all designers need to take it upon themselves to aid in that education process.”

• When a “contest” is not a contest

GB Studio

“A potential client shouldn’t need to see free work on their own project to determine if a firm is capable of doing the project at hand. That’s what a portfolio is for.”

• Why We Don’t Do Spec Work

Twitter Poll

I also held a poll on Twitter (follow me ) about those who support spec work… at the time of writing over 84% agreed that “No, they didn’t support spec work” and a further 8% were unsure of their decision.

Please cast your vote so we can get a more accurate representation. I wonder how many will change their views after reading this article?

My Own Opinion

If you hadn’t already guessed I am on the “spec work is evil” side of the fence although I am not 100% entirely against it – you could say that I am 99% against it… Spec work isn’t right for all designers (especially due to economies of scale) and all situations and I don’t think anyone would argue that, but the market exists and there clearly is a demand for it – but that is not to say that doing spec work is “right” or ethical…

Design contest sites are not the future of graphic design… nor do I see a time when it ever will be, however, in the long term I believe spec work is going to be detrimental to the design industry… both devaluing design and designers as a whole (while making the world an uglier place). And with that said, it’s sad to say that spec work isdefinitely here to stay. In fact, design contest sites are now now implementing “corporate services” for large studios which obviously are going to be a direct threat to large existing agencies.

Thus, my opinion is to not support spec work and if you’re with me, I encourage you to send this article to whoever you see involving themselves in spec work so they can make an educated decision too.

Summary

I would like to summarise by quoting two views on how to look at spec work one by very “anti-spec” Andrew Hyde and the other by Jeffrey Kalmikoff who holds a neutral view to the subject