A few of such excellent article. The article is so familiar to
what i've faced.
I learnt alot after reading this. Because i did a handful of spec
works too.
Now, no more!!! 
Whichever discipline you're in.
Respect yourself as a designer, and take pride in the value of your
work.
____
More than Just Spec: The Curse of the "Just That Cool"
Project
by Dani Nordin
I should have seen it coming. I knew it would happen eventually the
more people I meet as a self-employed designer, the more
well-meaning new friends end up forwarding me job posting after job
posting. Some friends, as lovely as they are, send me info on
full-time employment gigs, not understanding that I work for myself
because I DON'T want to work full-time for someone else, as
tempting as it may sometimes seem when times are slow. Others (and
this is much more common) come across every person on Craigslist
looking for a website or logo and forward the job listing to me, in
hopes that it might beget me a new client. They're sweet
really.
The only problem with this bevy of well-intentioned job leads is
this: inevitably, each and every one of them save a scarce few was
looking for the same thing great design for almost nothing. None of
these potential clients had the slightest clue what contracting
professional design services entails. One in particular was
especially annoying: a logo contest for an online corset retailer
offering the winner a free corset, valued up to $200, as payment
for the chosen design.
My undying love for custom corsets aside, the fact that someone is
seriously offering the possibility of up to a $200 value for their
logo is profoundly ignorant, if not insulting. However, at least in
this situation, there is a chance of some form of payment. In a
trend I've seen entirely too often, someone logs into one of the
various online communities I frequent and makes the following
tentative request:
Hi,
I need a website for my new business venture/webzine/dog-sweater
store. Flash intro with lots of graphics, an online store and a
blog. I want something really cool and eye-catching, like the Nike
site.
I can't pay you now, but if this thing takes off I'll be able to
give you more work in the future. Plus you'll get to use this as a
portfolio piece.
Please send an email with a link to samples of your work to:
[email protected]
Recognize this one? I'm not even going to beat the spec horse here;
many people, including the AIGA, have already gone there with much
more eloquence than I. This type of request, as well as the
corset-logo contest, represents the ultimate in ignorance: it's the
client that expects you to work for free or almost free because
his/her project is Just That Cool.
I fell into this trap before, back when I was a poor and struggling
designer, trying to break my way into a regular practice. Forever
ago now, I decided to volunteer as the art editor of an online arts
and culture webzine. I had some free time (well, not really, but I
always kid myself that I have free time) and thought it would be a
great opportunity to meet interesting people, support the arts and
keep this really cool thing alive and flourishing. All in all, it
was a great gig most of the artists came to me, and I was happy to
give good artists a venue in which to expose their work to a wider
audience. The only problem? The founder of the site wanted four new
galleries every two weeks. In addition, I was asked to design
advertising for the site; magazine ads, Flash banners, etc. All in
all, for this thing I wasn't being paid for, I found myself putting
in 10-20 hours a week, and when I vocalized my frustration at the
many unpaid hours I was putting in, I was accused of not being
'committed' to the cause. Finally, I realized that the job wasn't
worth the time I was putting into it and left.
I'll be honest here I'm generally a pretty giving person. I love
helping people achieve their goals, and I've actually made it part
of my business model to work exclusively with companies and causes
that I believe in. As a result, the majority of my clients are
start-ups, artists, non-profit organizations, and solo
entrepreneurs. Many of these clients don't have the largest budgets
for design services, and I give them the best I can within their
budget range. But there is a certain contingent, especially in the
non-profit and start-up sector, that either doesn't understand or
doesn't value the contribution that good design gives to their
image, and ultimately their credibility.
Two of my first significant clients were of this ilk. The first was
these two guys (one of which worked with me on the underground
site) who decided to start a webzine, but could only pay me $150
for a website complete with Flash menu pages and 9-11 HTML articles
per issue. I did it strictly as a favor, and as a portfolio piece,
since it was my first Flash website. Ultimately, I did three issues
of the site before I got tired of doing all that work for next to
nothing. After I stepped down, they found some guy to update one
issue, and then the webzine folded. I had the site in my portfolio
for about six months before I had replaced it with better
work.
The other was a woman who ran a small start-up design studio. A
friend of mine, who I had met at school, had been working with her
for a few months when he ended up burning out in a major way. Like
an idiot, I didn't see the red flags there and decided to work with
her for almost a year. I won't even embarrass myself by admitting
what I got paid, but I will say that for the trifling amount I did
receive, this woman expected SIX unique concepts for each logo
project I did for her. Every project she gave me was ridiculously
high-maintenance, and she refused to stand up to her clients
against ridiculous amounts of revisions. All in all, I produced
some really outstanding work, but I did it at a rate I still can't
believe I agreed to. When I finally addressed the fact that I was
making about as much as a Starbucks barista doing design for her,
she tried to tell me it wasn't because she was asking for an
unreasonable amount of work, it was because my designs weren't
'successful' the first time around, and if I wanted to take on all
the work of networking and getting clients, I was more than welcome
to do that. Needless to say, I did.
Why am I sharing these somewhat embarrassing (and certainly
cringe-inducing) moments from my journey as a designer? Consider
this a cautionary tale, both to the people who pull this kind of
stuff and the hapless young designers who might take the bait. To
the designer: I don't care HOW much you need the experience, if you
don't value yourself enough to demand what you're worth, nobody
will give it to you; and to the client: get over yourself. Nobody's
project is "Just That Cool".
About the Author
Dani Nordin is the founder of the zen kitchen, a graphic/web design
and branding studio on the outskirts of Boston MA. The studio aims
to help clients create a brand that tells their story in a way that
relates to their audience as human beings, not as just another
demographic. It also helps clients communicate their message in
ways that have less harmful ecological consequences by supporting
sustainable printing practices and finding ways to provide more
information via the Web, which reduces paper waste.
Prior to the zen kitchen, Dani spent the last thirteen years
floating between gigs as an activist for various causes,
mind-numbing data entry work, and a year and a half of doing
prepress for a small print shop. The last five years have been
spent doing design and production work for such companies as
Staples, CVS/Pharmacy, and Stanley Bostitch, all the while sneaking
off to create brands for people and organizations she cared about.
Her various passions include photography, cooking, yoga, most
things spiritual and/or holistic, and looking for new ways to both
fuel her creativity and give back to the community.
