I think we can all agree that design has been in a constant change since the burst of the Internet, however it seems that the direction of who is doing the designing has also changed from those who are ‘professionals’ in their field to the new breed – ‘home designers’.
So – is this the direction for design in the future? Will design professionals be shunted off to the side to make way for other, cheaper alternatives? Or will people recognize this is killing the industry and the extra money that is paid is for quality?
Spec work seems to be the design of the future. For those who don’t know, spec work is when you hold a ‘competition’ where designers compete against each other in order to win the prize money. The thing that annoys professionals however is that the cost they can charge is being lowered as their profession is cheapened and that they could be competing against unqualified and inexperienced designers.
I myself (being an early design student) have participated in a few spec competitions to experience first-hand what it is like. Out of the 7 or so I entered, I did not come first, however, I received a commendation prize for a good design in which the ‘client’ purchased the exclusive rights to. Out of most of the competitions I entered there were 40-300 participants. Positives can be drawn from these experiences (e.g. practicing design with a real design brief) and that can be good for students however, the still-obvious downside is the cheapening of the industry.
Main reasons why spec work can be seen as ‘bad’.
- There can only be 1 winner out of potentially hundreds of entrants
- It lowers the amount of business they can receive. Clients see much more opportunity in paying $300 for 100 different designers.
If you take a look at the current spec sites (99designs, CrowdSpring and Incspring) you can see an evident explosion in popularity as word has spread around. As with Newton’s third law of motion, there has been refute for the idea. Protest websites like NO!SPEC have been set up to counter these various spec websites. On the NO!SPEC website it outlines all the various reasons as to why they oppose this idea so I will let you go and read that if you desire. This opens up to the main part of the post where you have your say.
Is spec work the way of the future? Is it going to cheapen the industry permanently or is it just a fad? Are the new younger designers going to replace the current experienced designers? Does education still have a place within the industry with spec work booming?
David Airey
December 1, 2008 at 8:16 am
Young designers will always replace more experienced ones, in time, but only with their own experience, and when they choose to value their service higher than free.
Are logo design contest sites even legal? An interesting question, discussed here:
http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_blog/index.php/logo-design-contests-legal/
Kathryn Austin
December 1, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I will admit (regrettably) that I have entered a design contest or two. At the time I thought that I would be able to make a little money on the side and and because I had a little bit of a design ego, I thought that there would be no chance for other designers to come in first place over my designs. Sadly, I learned quickly that never happened. It ended up being a waste of time for me, and I began to doubt myself as a designer (something I vowed never to do). I also realized that I would never have the opportunity to charge the true value of the work that the clients were receiving. I produce high-quality work and I know that I can work with a client who appreciates me and the work I create. Needless to say, I do believe that design contents devalue the industry.
Angie Bowen
December 1, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I entered a few in the beginning and have since turned to the no!spec side of things. Admittedly I had a very bad experience with one of mine. The guy chose 2 of us to make a few changes to our designs saying he really liked where we were going but they still weren’t just right. After asking us to make changes 5 different times he finally said we’d never get exactly what he wanted and ended the contest without choosing a winner. A complete waste of time and I suspect he took our designs and paid someone a few bucks to redraw them.
I do believe that spec work devalues the industry. The main thing missing in spec work is research. There’s no way to get a clear picture of the company your designing for, you can’t research their customers and competition. The design briefs given are usually extremely lacking and the contest holders usually focus on a specific aesthetic rather than the message conveyed.
I think spec work will always be around but I don’t think it will take over the design industry as a whole. There will still be people out there who want the things that a professional designer can supply that these contests can’t.
ptamaro
December 1, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I never bothered with those things. They never seemed worth the effort, and I have terrible luck, and limited skills anyway. I think spec work cheapens the craft, but it will probably be around for a while… It seems to me there’s a nice mix of fresh new talent and seasoned “experts” out here in the trenches these days.
James De Angelis
December 1, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Sorry, but I think this is slightly alarmist and perhaps a little misguided.
People said the same thing about the graphic design industry in the Early 90′s when desktop publishing become so publicly viable and designers everywhere were worried that their profession was being stolen from them.
But now, just as it was then, is simply a misconception. There will always be room for these cheaper alternatives but at the end of the day when a good client wants to invest in quality they’ll always seek professionalism. Just because Joe Sixpack has got a hold of the latest creative suite doesn’t mean they’ll be stealing your business, and if they do you’ve got problems.
As always (and in any industry) let the quality of your work speak for you, and also in the professionalism you exude when you communicate and otherwise do business.
And to those who participate in “contests” or whatever other bullshit name their owners give them, you’re only hurting yourself. There’s so many other ways of generating work and getting jobs that lowering yourself to spec work is probably a strong indication that you’re doing it wrong.
rob
June 3, 2010 at 10:13 pm
yes and yes and yes!!! spot on!
colleen
December 1, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I live in an educated yet business unfriendly town. People who do run biz’s here tend to be stingy and behind the times. Their idea of “design” is a dreamweaver wireframe –the more sparkling and buzzing and whirring with hyper music the more likely you are to win. Chickens like to peck shiny things. No backend whatsoever, we’ll get some “programmer” to patch that in later. They want the cheap. They get what they pay for. I almost got sucked into a spec scheme, the guy didn’t even say it was a spec contest. Turns out he had 5 people on this He ended up ripping a good deal of my front end and mixing it in with some of the other people. No.
Webdesign Drenthe
December 2, 2008 at 7:05 am
I don’t like it. It’s a waste of time because the changes of winning are very small. Besides that I think it’s being abused a lot. Like sais before: ‘no winner, but who garantees your design will never be used…?’
Wes Wilson
December 2, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Thanks for the mention Matt, although I think we’re placed here out of context. Just to clarify, IncSpring is not a contest site or ‘spec’ as described. We offer designers the opportunity to upload previously unused concepts for sale to potential buyers so you’re actually earning revenue from avenues you would not have had otherwise. If you have competed in contests and lost, you can try to make some money on that design with us. It’s far from the traditional custom relationship, but it’s not spec (although some have created fictional logos from scratch and had success selling them). We’re not asking people to do a bunch of free work in hopes that you’re design get’s chosen after rounds of free revisions. Your design is up for sale until it’s sold, so you’re not in a rat race with every contest. You’re fairly compensated on IncSpring too, people have sold designs for upwards of $2,000. Some people have even used it to sell websites, collateral designs, and domains.
Thanks for the chance to clarify. Hopefully people will check it out before placing IncSpring in that category.
Brian
December 2, 2008 at 11:23 pm
@David Airey:
Wow, I’ve never looked at logo design like that. I’ve seen contests at 99Designs and various other sites, and it really makes one wonder how legally “safe” these really are. Thanks for the link, that made for a wonderful read!
@Kathryn Austin:
That sounds like probably 90% of every new designer on the block, word for word. I’ll bet tons of designers never pursue their dreams of freelancing or working with an agency because in their early days, these little contests smashed them to the ground. Thanks for the comment, and I think your story is very relevant to what this post is trying to analyze.
@Angie Bowen:
Wow, great points Angie. You’re quite right that spec work isn’t going away anytime soon. Companies looking for a cheap and quick design will always turn to these sites because it saves them a lot of time, energy, money, and on top of it all, they get tons of designs to choose at their whim (whether professional or not, it’s all up to opinion).
I was also surprised in the article that @David linked to that talks about how there actually have to be regulation for the picking of a winner in a contest – not a “because I like it” verdict.
@ptamaro:
I’ll bet that a lot of people may be in the same boat as you as well – they are not willing to invest time into these contests that they know have little chances of yielding any return. Thanks for the comment!
@James De Angelis:
I honestly could not have said it any better myself James, well put and great comment!
@colleen:
It’s absolutely disheartening to me to browse through 99Designs and look at some of the contest winners. 90% of the winning entries consist of bold gradients, horrible typography, and just overall sloppy composition – yet they still win because the “judges” think it looks the best, disregarding usability, readability, functionality, or manageability.
@Webdesign Drenthe:
I agree, in most of the bigger contests with a some-what worthwhile payout ($2000+) there are literally hundreds of entries all vying for the contest-holder’s eye. It is a losing battle that these so-called designers face, and it will be only a matter of time for them to realize this or give up designing all-together.
Bojan Stefanovic
December 3, 2008 at 2:07 am
Matt, i must tell you that i was shocked to see IncSpring mentioned in this ‘company’. Very unprofessional of you to write this kind of statement before doing elementary research. Did you ever visited IncSpring.com at all? I agree with all your comments regarding spec work and contest sites, and i wish there were sites like IncSpring while ago when i was starting my ‘online career’. Please be more careful next time and see to revise your original post, as you just insulted a number of pretty established and well known designers, known to be very active in no!spec movement, while active members of IncSpring community… Cheers!
Matt Hamilton
December 3, 2008 at 2:45 am
Sorry all, I’ve been away for the past couple of days! (and have forgotten my login)
@Angie Bowen: Thats what i’ve figured. Even though there are design contests around, the majority of companies will still go for the professional touch, even if it has the added price tag. I suppose these companies also like to deal with someone that they can physically see, could be a bit of a comfort thing?
@James De Angelis: “As always (and in any industry) let the quality of your work speak for you.” I couldn’t agree more. Since doing these contests I have actually decided that I am only cheapening myself and need to do get into the industry the proper way.
@colleen: Sorry to hear about that, there would be alot of people like yourself out there who have ‘lost’ in spec work, even when they ‘won’.
@Webdesign Drenthe: Excellent comment, well put!
@Wes Wilson: Hey Wes, after talking with some people it just always seems that when people talk about spec work there are the 3 ‘main’ companies, IncSpring being one of them. I guess its all the perspective you look at it. While I do agree that it is not so much of a ‘competition’ environment as the others, I do see it as a ‘on the fence’ website. While some of the designs that people create and sell on the website are fantastic, they aren’t customized to capture the essence of the specific company buying it, and I guess in the end, they are the ones that lose out.
@Bojan Stefanovic: I’m sorry that you see it that way. Please read the above @ reply to see my explanation. Again, while I’m sorry that its been categorized in the ‘spec’ work area, it is perceived by many people that it is apart of this ‘evil’ spec work. I’d just like to mention again, that it is all peoples perception. Some people think spec work is great, others, quite the opposite. I’m sorry that I insulted a few of you, but I was just writing what I’ve been told, have read and have been thinking.
Since reading comments and doing further research, I should clarify that IncSpring should be in it’s own category.
Cheers all,
Matt.
Bojan Stefanovic
December 3, 2008 at 3:27 am
Matt, thank you for your reply. I am still intrigued tho, you are mentioning that is ‘perceived by many people that it is a part of spec work’. This is new to me i must tell you. Can you share some insight here? Many people? Where? Again, i really appreciate the fact that young designers now have much better option to showcase their talent, ideas and work through incspring.com with a chance to earn extra bucks (for the price that they think is suitable, rather then some greedy clients expectation) rather then ‘work’ for those spec sites and thus ruining credibility of design industry as you’ve put. The point is that none of the above sites could match direct collaboration between client and designer one on one working toward tailored solution for clients business, no disagreement there…
Wes Wilson
December 3, 2008 at 10:13 am
@Matt Hamilton:
). As @Bojan mentioned, a direct client to designer collaboration is ideal. Unfortunately, not all clients know where or how to get that. It’s a risk for clients at times, as well, especially if they get stuck with one of the designers Brian mentioned who provide bold gradients and sloppy composition. IncSpring is not traditional, so I understand the occasional push back. I only want to explain that it is designer friendly by giving designers back the ability to name their price and by allowing them to try and recoup hours wasted on past custom relationships or contest entries. By looking at all of the comments, the only issue seems to be the unfair treatment to designers and poor quality to buyers using contest sites… we’re far from a logo contest site.
That makes sense Matt, thanks for clarifying. Since you wrote this post based on ‘hear say’, that would explain the misconstrued description of IncSpring (Honestly, I’m glad to see we are in the top three
Didn’t want to hijack your post, sorry. Thanks for letting me shed a light.
Matt Hamilton
December 4, 2008 at 4:33 am
@Wes Wilson:
@Bojan Stefanovic:
Thanks for your input guys. I think this calls for an in-depth comparison of the ‘spec’ sites and IncSpring, see if we can analyze a difference. Please note though that I’m not about to change my opinion on the basis of these comments, I will be doing some digging through the internet first
It will be a while away though, got a few more posts to right, hopefully won’t be too controversial, this post was in no way meant to single out or insult anyone one/group of people.
Cheers!
Youri
December 5, 2008 at 3:43 am
3 minutes on Incspring tells me it’s not a Spec site, this whole discussion should basically not be happening. I feel a revision in the post is in order, but that’s just my $5.
Ben G
December 5, 2008 at 11:11 am
I know that the idea of the ‘spec’ sites and work that they bring about may somewhat cheapen & lessen the expertise influence, but I still think that if you are good at what you do and have a high level of expertise, it will be very hard to not utilize those types of people…
Love your blog design by the way! Props!
Jin
December 5, 2008 at 12:13 pm
“Thanks for your input guys. I think this calls for an in-depth comparison of the ’spec’ sites and IncSpring, see if we can analyze a difference. Please note though that I’m not about to change my opinion on the basis of these comments, I will be doing some digging through the internet first
”
Why didn’t you do some in-depth research before you wrote this? Especially when you’re risking defaming someone. It’s not a very responsible and professional thing to do.
“I’m sorry that you see it that way. Please read the above @ reply to see my explanation. Again, while I’m sorry that its been categorized in the ’spec’ work area, it is perceived by many people that it is apart of this ‘evil’ spec work. I’d just like to mention again, that it is all peoples perception.”
So you’re basing this off what you heard from other people without doing some investigation yourself?
Joe
December 5, 2008 at 4:36 pm
@Any-one-wishing-to-make-a-living-from-design : If you don’t charge clients for every minute of your time you will not work profitably and struggle to make real money. Don’t even turn on your computer or get out your sketch pad until a client has agreed to pay you for what you do. The only thing you should do for a potential client before entering a contract is write a short tender document and a formal quotation with a brief breakdown of your intended time / resource allocation. If they do not agree to pay the quoted fee – don’t design them anything. Its simple. If you are in need of work – go out into the real world and apporach a company with a limited or outdated web presence and sell your self. If you can’t do that, go get some marketing experience.
I love the design community, really I do, but some parts of it need to stop spending their time obsessing over pretty blogs and learn to do business.
I think most experienced designer will agree with me.
Ross Kimbarovsky
December 7, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Matt – thanks so much for mentioning crowdSPRING. Let me first say that we don’t shy away from discussing spec work. There are plenty of arguments why spec work is bad – and some are perfectly good arguments. We spent a great deal of time thinking about those arguments – especially as advanced by No!Spec and AIGA before we launched crowdSPRING in May 2008. And we believe that we’ve introduced protections not available anywhere else. Recently, we had an opportunity to discuss spec work at length in the 37signals SVN blog: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1253-the-nospec-campaign-vs-crowdspring
I wanted to mention two things, generally. First, crowdSPRING operates very differently from other marketplaces. Among many other differences, we require escrow in all projects, we provide free customized legal agreements, we offer projects with full privacy and user control, we have rigorous intellectual property policies, and we work hard to enforce those policies. We’ve built a community of over 10,000 creatives from 130+ countries in six months.
Second – when we hear criticisms from other designers to spec work – we certainly respect those criticisms but we remind them that other industries, including music and copywriting, faced the same changes. Some feel threatened by increasing competition. But the industry’s attitude is far more damaging to the industry than spec work. Here’s what a friend had to say in response to the attitude reflected in some of the above comments:
“The NO!SPEC crowd want to prevent willing parties from engaging in commerce only because they fear that the resulting competition will hurt them. If they were secure in their own business model, they’d not be concerned about others’. They are just the latest incarnation of the “You can work only if you are not part of the right guild/club/gang/race/ethnicity” mobs so popular during every dying gasp of an artificially privileged minority. Grow up. Competition is here.”
The words are harsh – and I would not put it quite that way. But they do ring true.
And let me ask those who’ve contributed to this discussion. How do you feel about traditional marketplaces (elance, guru) where graphic design projects are awarded almost always based on the lowest bid, and where logo design projects are done for $25? My personal belief is that price competition – what you see on traditional marketplaces – does far more to cheapen the industry, but I am interested in what you think.
Best,
Ross Kimbarovsky
co-Founder
http://www.crowdspring.com
oren Aks
December 7, 2008 at 6:55 pm
does anyone think Graphic Design will be affected further then it has after the early 90′s?
i mean by amateurs and by anything else…
i mean typographers almost dissapeared from the planet after the computer was invented…
i dont know so im asking
please let me know
Ray
December 11, 2008 at 11:20 am
New / Fresh Designers although inexperienced, are usually in touch with the latest pop culture and charge less because it seems like “fun”. They also don’t have a set style in which they do things and still trying to find an identity.
Now if a professional chooses to stay fresh, up-to-date and not adhere to the same style they’ve stagnated to – they’d have a fighting chance of a.) Staying in direct competition with these new designers and b.) Offer advanced services i.e. upkeep, interactivity, stability, compatibility etc etc. and easily out-match the newbie in experience. The idea is to offer more value for what seems like a worthy enough price-up!
I have hope! – I’m not super experienced, but not new either. The idea is to stay ahead of the wave constantly with fresh ideas and continuously try to set new trends. Because if you ever “follow” – you’re already “behind”. We will continue to fight the front and I will offer my services at my set price, and in my experience – they’ve always come back, paying extra because this person’s brother’s niece takes forever to reply and is not as professional.
Joe
December 30, 2008 at 5:43 pm
@joe, well put.
… nice come back from “joe sixpack”
Most of my clients (like me) have a hard time keeping up with the latest trends, so to that extent I doubt they will exploit spec sites, however, if they knew that it was available I might help them formulate the contest and assist in judging the winners or make changes to the final. At that point, what’s to keep the client from awarding a winner? Not saying I would condone cheating my fellow designers, but where there is a way there will be a will.
Becca
January 11, 2009 at 8:58 am
I don’t know, I guess it depends on where you look. For example, I just read an article the other day about fastest growing skills and demand for 2008 and I actually found the results quite encouraging. It doesn’t specifically touch on web design, but it does mention wordpress trends, and it shows that the demand for these skills has actually increased by 4 times since the previous year. I think that’s very encouraging, especially in this economy.
I suppose either way we will just have to wait and see which way things go in 2009.
jara
February 25, 2009 at 4:58 pm
nice article. thanx
Michael
April 3, 2009 at 11:40 am
There’s a difference from a design being functional, and a design being pretty.
A big difference.
Let whatever users that use spec work do it – they are working more than what they are getting paid unless they win, which is a usually pretty poor chance. And let whatever businesses that want it use it, they get a variety of general and poor grade designs, which eventually likely lead to a loss in brand recognition. I’m willing to bet most of the companies that use spec work are likely to fail after their first year.