Spec Work

I believe there are several issues that arise when designers get involved in spec work. It can not only be a negative situation for the designer, but for the client as well. Of course though not all work done without a fee is spec work, such as for an internship, competitions, or volunteer work. I believe those kinds of situations are okay to do without the designer getting paid. But, if it truly is spec work then there can be consequences. For the designer, it could mean getting taken advantage of with the client getting free work in return, as well as losing credit for the work they have done. For the client, it could mean a lesser quality of work because the designer didn’t take the position seriously. For both the designer and the client legal risks could arise over the work.

If professionals get involved in spec work it could impact the creative professions industry. It can do so by devaluing professional work and diminishing the true economic value of the contribution designers make toward client’s objectives, as stated by AIGA. It could also damage the image of professional designers. Clients may begin to not take them seriously and see them as people who can be taken advantage of. It could give the name of graphic design a bad connotation. That is why most designers that consider themselves professional designers have a tendency to back away from this type of work. I think it is mostly less skilled designers that tend to lean towards spec work or students that are getting out of college and haven’t found a career yet.

Even though it may be hard to stop a lot of spec work, professional designers can help curb it by telling their clients what they expect from them, and by not taking clients who expect so little of them as to do free work. However, this doesn’t stop less qualified designers from doing it or the sites online that promote it. Spec work will probably never totally stop, and it could possibly only increase in times that the economy is bad. So it’s not really of matter of trying to stop it, but it’s a matter of whether a designer wants to engage themselves in that type of work since they already know of the possible situations that could come from such work and the negative association it could give them and other designers.