Hmm, I might post something like this is in the forum and see where it gets me.

Dang! No-spec = no-site

Boo for the U.S only.

That’s so 1999. Lame! Almost makes me want to unsubscribe from this blog. I think you should have just linked to his blog rather than posting all the “Legal mumbo-jumbo” here and publicizing the contest. Knowing very well from your own freelance statistics report that 47.4 percent are NOT in the U.S.

Pathetic.

Can we just delete this post and pretend like it never happened?

I promise I’ll forget

Ouch ouch ouch, a major faux pas; I would never have expected FSw to tout spec work in the guise of a contest.

u oh! you’re in trouble!

Calm down. This has been an ongoing contest everywhere. And the design suits the book’s topic well.

@Skellie, we’re all very well aware that people have the choice not to enter John’s competition. That’s not the issue. What’s a stake here is FreelanceSwitch promoting spec work. And I believe you’re aware about how freelancers think about _that_ in general.

@ Tobie: I would disagree that it’s spec work, because it’s not a for-profit venture. It’s not exploitative. Jonathan’s publishing company would have paid for a professional cover designer without a grumble, but Jonathan decided to crowdsource it to his readers. From my point of view, it’s his attempt at sharing a fun project with the community (just in case there are any wannabe cover designers out there) and giving someone who would not have had the opportunity otherwise a chance to design a book cover for Random House. I just don’t think it’s anywhere near as sinister as it’s being made out to be.

I want to make it clear that I take a firm stand against spec work. I wouldn’t do it, have never done it, and wouldn’t recommend it. If it seemed even to the have the whiff of spec work about it to me, I wouldn’t have shared it with the community. Here are the reasons why I still don’t believe it is spec work:

Jonathan doesn’t stand to make a profit.
Jonathan’s publishing company doesn’t stand to make a profit.
Jonathan would have had access to tried and tested, world-class book cover designers. He could have had a say in what he wanted on the cover and exerted some control over the process — but he’s decided to open it up to the community and use the best design, irrespective of the designer’s portfolio or standing.
Jonathan is a genuinely nice guy and an experienced freelancer, and I can tell you that he would never for a second thought of this competition as spec work.

And I can only be honest about my own thought processes — I had no idea this post would cause a stir, and I had no idea certain people would interpret the competition as spec work.

I apologize to anyone offended, but I can only say that there are no sinister/exploitative or underhanded intentions here. I hope that is at least clear.

What the f*** is this? FSw asking for spec work, even defending it? For me, this could be the end of this site. Too bad.

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/position-spec-work

“AIGA believes that doing speculative work 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.”

@Skellie: Just to clarify, I’m not questioning the fact that Jonathan is a genuinely nice guy, nor implying that you had ill intentions when posting this.

However, unless Broadway Books Inc. is a non-profit organization, or there are clear plans to redistribute all the profits of the book to non-profit organizations, (neither of which I’ve seen mentioned so far, but I simply might have missed it) the “not for profit” argument doesn’t stand.

Furthermore, I doubt

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and concerns about my crowdsource the cover contest. As a freelancer, writer and designer, myself, my intention has always been to be respectful.

So, here are a few thoughts:

First, with regard to the contest being limited to the US, I wanted very much to open it up to everyone, but the publisher’s legal department said it needed to be limited to the U.S., because the laws about contest/drawings are different in every country and it would be nearly impossible to comply with all of them.

With regard to the notion that this contest somehow takes advantage of designers by asking them to work on spec, I have to tell you, I am blown away by this perception.

First, please understand, it has never been my intention to take advantage of anyone. In fact, quite the opposite. My publisher already has a very competent staff of designers who will already come up with different ideas and vie for the cover internally. The normal process would be to keep it in-house. To exclude everybody else. And that would be the end of it.

But, I also knew that getting the cover of a book from a big NY publisher offered a certain level of prestige. And, I knew that a lot of the people who read not only my personal blog, but my articles on FSw were designers who would love to have the chance to add a cover from a major publisher to their portfolio and would also benefit from added public exposure of their work, even if they didn’t land the cover.

So, I asked my publisher to allow me to open up the opportunity beyond their in-house designers to potentially give a relatively new designer not only the chance to win something but also give something to the bigger community in the form of a lot of public exposure to their work.

So, we structured our cover-contest very intentionally as more of a “shared online gallery show,” where we’d select certain artists to be in the show, promote that show and get a lot of people through the doors of that online gallery to see all the different works on display, give a huge amount of exposure and publicity to everyone in the show and then even guarantee that one person would have a sale by the end of the show.

By doing it this way, at a very minimum, contributors would benefit from the broad public exposure we will create during the “gallery” phase.

The notion that submitting a design to this shared-gallery contest would be considered working on spec or abuse in any way actually never occurred to me. And, as both a designer and someone who has shared a lot of business advice right here on FSW, myself, I still don’t get the analogy.

Because, what we area actually doing is opening up the opportunity to participate in a process that is going to happen, whether we run the contest or not, but would traditionally have been closed to outside contribution. Indeed, that internal process will still happen, but I’ve convinced them to not only consider outside contribution, but honor and compensate the people who genuinely contribute through the vehicle of (1) substantial public exposure during the gallery phase and (2) monetary payment, for the winner.

As an example of how this can benefit all, I am also a copywriter. I recently submitted a sales letter to a competition, where the top 20 or so letters were publicly displayed and then reviewed on the way to announcing the winner. Knowing this was the process was the reason I chose to compete, because, even if I didn’t win, I believed the exposure was more than adequate payment. In fact, the exposure landed me connections, respect and potential revenue streams that, over the next year, will be huge for my career.

With the book cover contest, I wanted to find a way for everyone who cared to contribute to have the opportunity to experience a similar benefit, in addition to the potential benefit of actually winning.

It is my deepest desire to not only show respect for, but further the best interests of freelancers of all specialties, including designers. That’s’ why this promotion was crafted in this very specific way…to not only open up a previously closes process, but share a lot a benefit with all who participate, too.

I just want to sum up my position before I go to bed so I have said everything I want to say. I’d suggest all future contrarians read this if you want an insight on where I’m coming from here, but you’re still welcome to disagree with me afterwards.

1. “Today I think I’ll try to get all the freelancers at FSw to lose their senses and do spec work. Mwa ha haa.”

=

Not my motivation. At all.

2. It looked like a competition to design a book cover to me, not spec work — and still does. Maybe that’s because I know Jonathan, I’m aware of his values and his experience, and I know where he’s coming from. Maybe that’s because if this competition is spec work, then pretty much every competition is spec work. “What, you mean I have to draw a beautiful picture of Pixar’s latest movie character, then send it in to Cartoon Network HQ, and I might — *might* — win a Pixar Prize-pack? You want me to spend an hour drawing an ant in beautifully rendered 2D without a guaranteed toy reward? That’s exploitation!”

I remember entering a competition like the one above when I was a kid, and while I don’t remember much about it, I remember that I didn’t care much that I didn’t win. I had a whole lot of fun drawing. And I would have drawn anyway, so it was nice to have that extra thrill of maybe winning something, too. I’m unwilling to believe that adulthood means we never do things for the fun of it, without dollars and cents in our eyes.

I would suggest anyone who feels like designing a book cover is about as appealing as drawing in their own blood not force themselves to go through the torture in the hopes of maybe winning some money. Do I really need to tell people that?

In fact, I would only advocate entry to one kind of person — the person who read that and thought:

“Mmm… a neat excuse to practice those new Photoshop effects I’ve been messing around with, with Jonathan’s book as willing guinea pig. Eeeexcellent.”

Or…

“You know what, I’ve always wanted to have a go at designing a book cover. That’s a new one for me. I think it would be fun!”

In a community of 22,000+ freelancers, I find it impossible to believe that not one person had or will have either of the above reactions, and I think there are some freelancers amongst us who are going to have a lot of fun stretching their creative muscles on this one.

In my opinion the problem here is perspective. This issue is being defended from the perspective of the person offering the “opportunity”.

If I were to make a post on the forum saying:

“A company have asked me to submit design ideas, and if they like my design the best, i’ll get paid $1000… I know spec work is bad, but they assure me this is a great opportunity, one which i’m actually lucky to be getting as they say they know someone else who could do it!

Oh, whats more, even if they don’t like my design, and I don’t get paid, they still ‘own’ my work…. should I do it?”

What do you think the advice i’d get back would be like?

I don’t think it was anyones intention to ‘exploit’ freelancers, but failure to see why people might have a problem with this demonstrates nothing but sheer ignorance, and telling people they’re wrong to be a little narked is even worse - especially when the only ones defending the post are the person who wrote it and the person its about.

@ Tobie - Glad you feel better about it and thanks for the opportunity to share more about how the idea came to life and for your well-wishes.

@ Mike - You’re right, if you came to this forum with the scenario you described, we’d all be pretty suspect. The details of the scenario you painted, though, are very different than the details of what I’ve offered. A quick read though both our comments reveals this. I’ll leave it there. Thanks, again, for sharing your thoughts, have a wonderful week ahead!

@ Justin - Agreed, happy Sunday!

Leave this stuff for craigslist or get the prize up!

Just put a job posting, and choose one designer from their portfolio.Then pay $1000.

If you want 100 designs to choose from then up the prize!

This is just depressing that the almost only website out there trying to “educate” freelancers would betray us for a $1000 dollars craigslist like contest, what can you get for a $1000? is money but not enough to exploit your brains out for a book that talks about money! $1000 dollars is just change not “making money”.

Irony, paradox? parody?

i feel like breaking up, maybe we need time, i need to see other websites.

Perhaps a post on the difference between a contest and spec work is in order? To me, it seems that a contest is spec work on a grander scale.

I’m just surprised that no one expected that this would be seen as spec work by many designers.

I’m sorry if I’m still not sold. The title of the post sparked my interest so I followed the link. When I read the first few lines my heart sank and I felt straight up betrayed.

“…but nobody is forcing anybody to enter.”
That is the favorite phrase of the guy on _______ looking for someone to do his ______ for free.

Actually, I think I would feel a lot better about this if there was no monetary compensation at all. If it’s really just for fun then let it be just for fun. Maybe surprise the winner after they have won, that way you know you had no people competing in hopes of receiving that thousand bucks, only people doing it for the pure enjoyment of doing it.

Is it industry-standard to request a “work-for-hire” design?

In the photographic world, giving up your copyright is extremely undesirable. I know the “no spec” arguments, but do designers often sell their designs instead of licensing them? Appropriate pricing when licensing photos often depends entirely on the use of the image that the client in requesting (i.e. a different licensing fee for a small-town newspaper and for a book released by a national publishing house).

You can make the argument that a photo can be used for a number of different purposes and a design for a specific purpose is only useful for that one job, but still it seems like selling the design outright limits you from future income if the book is reprinted or released on a wider scale.

I’d love to know what people outside of the photo world, think about the “work-for-hire” issue.

@ Justin: Congrats on the release of your book!

@ Skellie: I appreciate your work here and on your other blogs (which have been tremendously useful to me), even if I find this competition a bit unsavory.

Everyone here is acting like theres no place for real design competitions. It happens all the time for plenty of stuff.

Even the addys had a competition for the video they would play live during their award ceremony.

And Bern if you don’t want any compensation for the competition, I’ll forward you my address and you can send me the prize if you win.

My reactions after reading the post and all the comments:

1) It’s a great opportunity for somebody.
2) I’m extremely surprised to see it posted here.

While it might not be pure spec work, it does take advantage of plenty of free labor. Exposure is great…but it doesn’t seem like everybody will get it either. Whoever wins this competition will be very lucky, a few others will make great connections, and many others will have wasted their time.

This is insane. You’ve got Dickie advocating spec work on the podcast, and now this?

Thanks, Fsw. It’s been interesting, but I think it is time for me to move on. This site has some serious ethics issues.

@Jonathan Have you thought about asking your publisher if you could include the top 20 designs inside the cover with peoples names? I figured it might be a thought. I once saw it done for Guy Kawasaki in “The Art of Start”. He published all the other people’s work on the inside which I thought was really cool.

Johnathan and Skellie - I realize your intentions aren’t nefarious, but good intentions do not change the facts. It is what it is.

Johnathan - There are so many better ways you could have gone about this if you really wanted to help someone out who might otherwise not have had the opportunity. You could post asking people to send you portfolios and a short paragraph on why they should be the one to do your book cover, and then selected from them for the actual designer.

In any case, this sort of thing does not belong on any credible freelance resource/community. And responding to the concerned members here with “no one is forcing you to do this” just really misses the point. You ask us to understand your motivations and intentions, but it appears you’re unwilling to reciprocate. I know it’s easy to dismiss an accusation if it doesn’t “fit”, but when you have this many people pointing out to you that it does, you might want to take another look.

This is most decidedly spec work, regardless of your intentions. It’s a crying shame that the no-spec site is down right now, because that is where a lot of us would normally point people to in a situation like this. They’ve done a great job of explaining why contests such as this are spec, why they are exploitative and why they harm the industry. And frankly it seems incredible to me that neither of you can plainly see that this is spec, and that it is exploitative. Take a look at the “legal mumbo-jumbo” and think long and hard about whether you honestly think it’s fair to the contributor.

Freelance Switch can be great at times, and there’s an excellent community and some great information sharing. However, from time to time something like this is posted to remind me that there are some serious flaws in this site and the attitudes behind it. Promoting spec work (and free work, and template farming) just really damages the credibility of what could otherwise have been the best freelance resource on the net.It really is a genuine shame.

Check out this website for comments about this type of contest: http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/03/07/common-design-scams/

Everything I design gets me exposure, it doesn’t mean I’ll do it for free just in case I may get a grand. No matter how you look at it, it *is* a form of Spec work.

Regardless if it is a simple 1 hour design or an intense 40 hour design, doing it for free with the *potential* to gain monetarily… whether or not anyone is making profit, it is Spec work.

If you want this to be “just for fun” then scratch the dough, or better yet, make it a charitable contest where the winner gets to say which charity gets the $1K.

I was so excited to ‘help Jonathan’ until I’ve read the rules
Imagine, his book could go global attracting the worldwide freelance designer individual/community even before he released it. And there’s nothing more exciting than seeing submitting ideas coming from all corners of the world.

In a way I respected his decision and wishing him all the best.
Looking forward for the book via amazon (and such like).

.m/ malaysia

Hey guys, this has been a difficult day for me…

I have just suspended the cover contest, here is a copy of the post I just put up explaining why…

“This contest had been suspended, please do not submit designs. Here is why…

My sole goal in creating this contest was to take a creative process that was usually reserved for a small number of in-house designers and open it up to anyone else who wanted an opportunity to let their creative talents be considered for the cover of a book. And, I wanted people to be able to have a voice in then choosing what covers most appealed to them.

I genuinely thought it was a nice thing. Designers would get exposure through the public display and voting process and everyone could have a voice.

I was blown away by the response, though. Many people e-mailed excited about the opportunity, but then a post on a design website about the contest revealed something that, honestly, horrified me.

It seems there is a practice in the design niche for certain entities to run contests that, though they are dissimilar in many ways from what I was doing, are designed largely as a means to exploit designers, take the work product from large numbers of people and use all the creations in many different ways without having to pay for any of it.

I was mortified, especially to think that what I was doing could be in any way construed as exploitation. That is so very far from what my intention was. I shared how I believed what I was doing was different in the comments on that blog as well as below.

But, here’s the deal…I do not want to be associated with even the “perception” of exploitation, especially because I am a creative professional, myself.

Respecting those with whom I work and associate is critically important to me. It’s been a touchstone of everything I do.

So, I am discontinuing this contest, effective immediately, in an effort to demonstrate my sincerity and strong desire to distant myself from the practice of exploitation. I thank all those who’ve shared their voices on the topic and engaged me in conversation, without jumping to any conclusions about who I was.

And, of course, I apologize for any discontent or unease this has caused anyone. And, I thank everyone for understanding what began as a good-intentioned attempt to let people have a voice, but went astray.

Wishing you all, as always, a wonderful week ahead”

Jonathan,

I apologize for my postings.

The real issue is that people like me who try to make a living out of graphic design as freelancers have found great relief and an awesome source of happiness out of this website.

We are tired of contests in craigslist an stuff like that.

Just make it a regular job where people can apply, choose one out of the best portfolios and get to work, knowing that your work is being paid, so busting your brains out has a monetary compensation for sure.

Also the client’s feedback is important, so when you hire somebody you kinda work together to achieve the best results.

Again, my apologies.

Camilo

@MattT

Thanks man, and you are right, art can be a job.

I am glad to see that this was in fact, canceled.

I think people are being petty about this. FreelanceSwitch has been a great resource for me. From what I’ve read in comments and the forum FSw has been a great resource for others as well.

Maybe because I’m not a designer, I don’t understand the scope of contests to designers. However, a contest on a freelance website is, in my opinion, a contest of peers to showcase the creme de la creme. Plus there is $1000 as a prize, plus the exposure for having won a contest. If you want to enter, enter. If you don’t, don’t.

Also, the winner would have a great opportunity for a press release/ blog post. You’re a designer who won a contest over a lot of very talented people, plus you’re going to have your work on the front of a book.

ZM

hi Jonathan.
regardless of whether the contest was the “right” thing to do or not, it’s great to see you were willing to cancel it for the reasons you did. I had been pondering the idea of whether or not i agreed with the contest since i read the RSS feed, and had no idea such a debate was already going on.

much respect for your actions.

cheers.

Fsw - you just lost another loyal follower

I believe most of the people who promote “contests” honestly think this is a win-win proposition and probably don’t intend to take advantage. But they do, and it’s one of the ironies of our profession. How is it that we, who are professional communicators, still haven’t managed to communicate to the world that is is NOT a win-win proposition? It’s a point well illustrated by the series of cartoons on this site by NC Winters.

I suggest that those of us who have been in this business for a long time commit ourselves to education of the public and more importantly, our fellows who are new to the business. It’s just human nature to respond with disdain, but it doesn’t promote our cause as well as it could. The old adage “admonish him (or her) like a brother” is good to remember in situations like this. Sure, ignorance is no excuse, but no one else is going to help, so we must.

Consider helping the people coming up in the business. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for a few seasoned professionals that taught me about professional practices and ethics. Yes, I grew up to be a direct competitor, and that’s to their credit. They knew it was the right thing to do and I committed myself to making their time teaching me a worthwhile investment. It still is and we should follow suit. I still speak with some of them often and am forever thankful for their help.

We know that contests and speculative work set the value of our work at exactly zero, but we have to consider the question of why? Everyone has their own answer. Take some time to solidify yours and teach it.

Regards, Chuck Vosburgh, ACE

I hardly post on this site, but I’ve been a reader of the blog for a long time now.

There’s pros and cons to this type of thread.

Pros:

* If you win you can market yourself and use the fact that you competed against 100s or 1000s of other designers. Money can’t buy that kind of publicity and accredentials. The fact of it being $1,000 or $10,000 is meaningless - money is not everything - remember this!

Cons

* You invest your time that could resort to failure.

Conclusion…

If you want a shot at ‘being better than x=designers’ do it for fun. If you don’t want to do it, simply do not do it.

My ethics on this are as follows, to avoid confusion…

I charge my clients 50% desposit before I even ‘put pen to paper’ and they don’t even receive their finished product before I get the total sat nicely in my business bank account. If anyone came to ME asking ME to pitch I would slam my door in their face.

However, and this is important. If you want to become a better freelancer don’t let money guide you forward. There are some opportunities out there that lead to bigger horizons and open more doors. Some of the best ways to market yourself is to enter design competitions and if you win one you can use this fact when marketing yourself to those bigger companies who are harder to impress with just flashy graphics. The big boys like to see some dedication, they like to see awards and they like to see that you love what you’re doing and that you can generate winning results.

Example…I enter design competitions for fun. If I’m busy with work, I let them slide, as clients are your focal point - they are your bread and butter. But if you do not have any work on, or you have some free time, instead of spending it spamming forums and blogs *gasp* enter a design competition. You can even use the occasion to practise new skills and techniques and if you win you win and if you lose you lose nothing.

I’ve entered and won various design competitions, ranging from local industrial health & safety awards storyboards, to HMV record label distributed album cover and shop promos. I didn’t enter them for money, simply due to the fact that if I won them, I could use the fact I beat other designers and my work got displayed in places it wouldn’t if I didn’t enter them. From about a few hours on each competition, I was able to bring in 10x more cash from the clients I won over by my competiton work, after they found out about the fact that I won such competitions with them. Companies like winners and they like to see dedication.

If you are struggling for clients, have a lot of free time, or want to broaden your horizons, increase your profile and your portfolio, entering a competition like this isn’t the end of the world.

I hope this gives people something to consider. Just remember, money isn’t everything. Time is key. If you have the time, consider other ways to boost your marketing appeal and design contests have been very good to me and have helped me win a lot of clients I couldn’t of won without the ‘fame factor’, a lot of clients like.

Hey Guys,

As a writer for FS, I just wanted to add my two bit.

I get where many of you are coming from. There are a lot of scammers out there trying to make a buck from freelancers. Frankly-it sucks.

But, I also met Jonathan Fields the day before this article went up. His eyes lit up when he talked about how cool of an opportunity this might be for someone. He is genuine to the core and proposed this idea to his publishers himself. He was NOT in it for the money.

Anyways, I know he pulled the contest because his intentions were misunderstood. But I just wanted to make it clear that Jonathan is not one to take advantage of anyone. He truly had his heart in the right place.

I can’t beleive the amount of whining on this page. If you don’t feel the contest is fair because its spec-work then dont enter. It’s great that you have built up enoough of a clientele that you do not need to waste your time with contests. On the otherhand there are new freelancers starting out everyday and they have plenty of spare time to create a new portfolio piece which might also win them some recognition (and $1000 which is a lot of money to many people).

So your offended that this guy decided to have a contest? It offends your sensabilities as a designer? Give me a freaking break. I started freelancing over 14 years ago and when I was starting out I did a ton of pro-bono and horribly underpaid jobs in order to build up a portfolio, its called paying your dues. So you already have a nice portfolio and your art degree or whatever other credentials have brought you to the point to where you do not have to do spec work, well congratulations. Guess what, there are a lot of people who aren’t there yet, and they don’t have a stream of clients that they can demand $100/hour from, they are hungry and desparate to build a portfolio and get some experience under their belt. A design contest is a good way to do it.

Myself, I haven’t freelanced in years, and I certainly wouldn’t do spec work or enter a contest, my time is too valuable. I also wouldn’t condem another person or website just because they decided to hold a contest.

And let me tell you something else, you better get used to the fact that its not going away. There are a couple billion people who do not enjoy the economic status of the first world but have just as much talent to offer. The difference is that they can feed their family for 3 months on $1000.

They are already here and more are coming. Everyday they are gainnig skills and experience that will put them on par with the best designers in the US and Europe and they will do it for 1/4 the price or less. Trying to make sites stop these contest isnt going to stop globablization and thats exactly what this thread is really about. They will do spec work, they will do it all night and day on the off chance that they can sell one out of ten designs. All the complaining in the world isnt going to stop them so you better come up with a better plan than whining and boycotting design contests.

I make a living off the backs of those in countries where work is undervalued?

You must be kidding. You should try backing up your statements before you go throwing accusations around mave.I have never hired an offshore developer or designer to do any work, ever.

I created an open market place where clients can get several proposals from multiple designers. This is what is expected in a free market economy. I do not discriminate against anyone just because they are from a poor country, we let everyone bid on projects. Many clients will not even accept proposals from desigenrs outside their country, or outside their local metro area, we allow them to decide who they want to work with.

We even suggest proper rates for levels of skill and experience and turn away several clients if their budgets are too low. As its a free market, no one is forced to bid on projects that are asking for too much work, and several designers exercise this right.

There are good clients and there are bad clients, a lot of these clients want a lot of work for very little money because they are trying to start a business with little or no capital. These people should not be allowed to get the work they want done? They don’t have much money so they have to settle for a student or an offshore developer that doesn’t have the skills of a high-paid freelancer - but you are effectively saying that these people should not be able to get service because of their lack of funds, even though there are people in worse circumstances than you that are happy to provide (albeit lower quality) this service at a discount.

How does this translate into me making money off the backs of people in those countries?

We offer a simple service, we deliver sales leads so designers can concentrate on design instead of marketing. Unlike many other sites like elance or GAF we don’t encourage bidding wars and keep designers bids private so they arent trying to underbid eachother. Once a designers gets a client, they have direct communication so they can keep the client for years without paying us another cent.

So again I ask you - how am I making a living off the backs of people in countries where work is undervalued? You think I am doing something un