Working For Free – Is It Ever a Good Idea?
Nobody likes working for peanuts… Image from iStockPhoto No Spec recently published an article berating individuals who ask struggling creatives to work for free, and billing it as a ‘great opportunity’. While I could not agree more with the article, it led me to consider if it is ever advisable to work for free.
As an enthusiastic and green graphic design student, I did a couple of free projects with mixed results. From these experiences I came to the conclusion that as a student it can be a great opportunity to work for free with the right people. It can also be an infuriating and upsetting experience to work with the wrong ones. Here are some rules to live by when considering doing freebie projects:
As a general rule, if they are going to make money out of work you are doing for free, steer clear!
I still come across this all the time as a seasoned designer. An acquaintance will ask you to design their new business logo/website/promotional materials at serious mates rates or even for free. Now, I don’t know about you, but the idea of me working for free so somebody else can make money seems a little unfair. I’ve learned from years of experience that most people in non-creative industries don’t seem to see it that way. Best thing you can do is explain this perspective in your sweetest tones, then send them over a quote of how much this work would cost them. That generally gets the point across, and fingers crossed they’ll pay you or someone else properly to do their job.
I would also steer well clear of free pitching, unless that pitch would be a huge asset to your portfolio. I agreed to do some free rendering for a promotions company so they could see if ‘we’d mesh together’. Twenty hours of work later I rocked up, handed in the work and waited expectantly for the phone to ring. It never did. As much as you’d like to think that a business wouldn’t take advantage of a kid, unfortunately there are those people in the world who believe that all’s fair in business. I’m sure karma will catch up with this type of person eventually, but I would have much rather not worked for free in the first place!
No Spec’s article wisely pointed out that free pitching can be a ruse to get some free ideas. Luckily this has never happened to me, but a colleague free pitched to a company once. She didn’t get the job, but found out a few months later they’d pinched her design and hired a cheaper designer.
One of the unpleasant realities of being a creative is that people think your job is easy. Or because you do something you love you should be happy to work for free. Or that there are lots of creatives out there who can’t get work so you should be jumping to work with them. Do us all a favour – do not let them get away with it! The sooner it becomes impossible for these people to get free talent, the sooner we can all avoid their annoying requests (and make the money we deserve)!
Having said that, there are always some occasions when money is not the only form of payment…
Some jobs are just great for a struggling designers portfolio (and the right contacts can be gold)
We all know the design market is a competitive place for a freshly graduated designer to make their mark. In my case what differentiated me and helped me land that first job were the real world projects in my portfolio. In case you’re wondering, my new employers had no interest in the free renderings I did for the shonky promotions company, but rather in the two arty collaborations I ended up getting my hands on. These were well worth my while for a few reasons.
The first project was for a street magazine called Jet. These guys had no budget but were offering something every young designer needs – a very broad brief. This was a dream for me because I basically got to put whatever I wanted on the cover of a magazine with a circulation of 50,000. I got to collaborate with cool older kids, my work got seen, and best of all I was in print – the best possible asset for my portfolio.
What surprised me is that this magazine was having problems getting good creative on their cover. Yes they weren’t offering any money, but for me the contacts and real world experience more than made up for it. They asked me to do more covers which suited me fine.
A week after my first cover hit the streets, I got an email from Warner Music. As you can imagine, I did a jig, called my pops and went out for a night on the town. It turns out the editor of the magazine I had been working with knew a guy at Warner. He was starting his own indie label with no capital and wanted some free artwork for an album. Once again I got to do some mighty creative work, and for a golden period got every album my heart desired. Yes I was working for free, but it was great work for my portfolio, and a man working at Warner is a good man to know. He and I became fast friends and when he was promoted to A&R manager and I was starting my fledgling design agency he knew who should be handling his creative.
In cases like this, there were some significant incentives outside of cold hard cash. I could see that the exposure and connections were more than enough to make up for not getting paid.
I would advise considering working for free in this type of scenario because some jobs can be solid investments in your future.
So in a nutshell:
- If they are making or will be making money, you should be too (yes – even if they are your friend).
- The right job that shows off your creative genius is worth doing – but stick to groups that are similar in age group and experience to you. As a general rule, if the people you’re working with are doing it for the love of it rather than the money, you’re in good shape.
- If you do choose to work for free, make sure they know that they are lucky (because they are), and how much you would normally charge for your work. I’m not suggesting you be cocky, but rather subtly ensure that they know you’re on an equal footing to them. Using the word ‘collaborating’, can be especially useful in driving this home. Remember though, the goal is to win friends and influence people. And once you’ve got your foot in the door, wiggle it around so you get some standing room!
- Know how to pick a winner. If you see a young Donald Trump who wants to form a bond, by golly build your bridges.
Unfortunately when you start working, whether paid or unpaid, you’ll more than likely learn some lessons the hard way. But if you follow this advice, hopefully you’ll come out with some good experiences, some contacts, and a great portfolio.
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Wow, this site is off to a great start, really good first post.
Yeah everyone makes some mistakes working for the wrong people when they start out, guess its all par for the course. I hope this helps other people starting out tho!
Following on from point 3 – you must ensure the client you are doing the free or discounted work for understands the value of your time and expertise. A clear way to demonstrate this is on your invoice and/or quote.
If you are charging reduced rates show exactly how many hours you have worked, your standard rate and the discount that has been applied.
Similarly, you can provide a quote with the same details before starting the job.
Even if you are doing the work for free you can still issue a quote and invoice (with no amount payable or quoted).
I think number 3 above is the most important thing. If you set the wrong expectations, clients will want you to work for free over and over again. It’s pretty hard to disentangle yourself gracefully from that sort of situation.
I totally agree about the importance of letting the client know how much the work *should* be costing. We’ve gone as far as to issue quotes to our charity clients before commencing work.
We do this because there seem to be so many people out there who don’t understand the value of creative. We figure that a lot of the people who currently work/volunteer for charities will at some stage need a similar service for-profit – and they need to know that this stuff doesn’t come for free! It seems to be a better system when working with charities…
“is it ever advisable to work for free”
I’m a firm believer in picking one non-profit project a year to donate my skills to. Depending, sometimes not all, maybe just a percentage of the total costs.
I treat it exactly like a real job – project proposals with responsibilities and timelines clearly laid out, contract, invoices, etc.
Only, they bend my way. If there are meetings, they come to me. If there are rush elements to the project, they pay over-charges (common sense really, as time doesn’t bend and we do have a life. And when there are the possibilities of paying client getting bumped back a bit, money should come into it).
NO!SPEC has a few articles on working pro bono (just check in the sidebar). Creative Business even donated ‘Pro Bono work: When does it make sense?’
Great post, i have just began my free lance carrier and have had already my ups and many downs. But always worth learning. The site will be a great source of help to me.
Well, like said “If they are making money, Then you should too”
Do you think that your client’s would ever give you money for free… Doubt it. Please let me know if you want to work for free, I will surely give you a great brief..
I’ve learned the hard way, when taking on a free assignment or pro bono work, to always provide a detailed brief and quote in advance. Without these things, it’s just too easy for the scope of the job to expand way beyond what you were originally prepared to contribute, but are in the awkward position of now having to say “sorry, no, I won’t do any more work on this for free.”
Project creep is enough of a problem with paid gigs, but it’s a virtual certainty with free jobs. A quote ahead of time, with an explanation of how out-of-scope work will be handled, can save a lot of frustration and/or hard feelings later. Helps insure you’ll be treated as a professional through the process too.
PAul
Hi Collis!
Thanks for sharing your experience! Loved it!
I translated this article to Persian and posted it in my new blog…
You probably won’t be able to read it anyhow!
I am both thanking you for sharing and requesting your permission to post it.
Btw, I love this site!
I recently did a job for free and I was pretty sure it would be worthwhile for me for the exposure (and maybe the connection). Unfortunately, the name in my byline was egregiously mistyped. I’m hoping something may still come of the contact, but for now, lesson learned…
I agree completely with the responder Cat about picking one non-profit (I chose one permanent non-profit, not one a year) and donating services to them.
Prior to graduating, I selected a charity group that raised money for UNICEF. While the work I did with them didn’t stay in my portfolio for long, the experience was incredible (and seeing the money they did make on the work going straight to charity prevented me from ever feeling ripped off).
i found doing free/token payment work absolutely vital for building up a portfolio and learning on the job as i am completely self taught. however this year i made a no freebies vow as i kept foolishly agreeing to favour jobs for friends when i really should be concentrating on my paying client list.
the project creep thing is so true – some of my most frustrating, pained moments have been with free jobs.
have to cheer to the idea of not-for-profit work, as opposed to ‘freebies’. It’s a great way to give back to the community using your skills which directly benefit and if you want to look at it this way also, it is good kudos on the cv/creds…Also agree that doing work for free can lose respect unless of course you are at internship stage where you are willing to take on a nominal fee to get your foot in the door…
oops trigger happy…what I meat to say was….
have to cheer to the idea of not-for-profit work, as opposed to ‘freebies’. It’s a great way to give back to the community using your skills, which directly benefit the cause. And, if you want to look at it this way, it is also good kudos for the cv/creds…Also agree that doing work for free can lose respect unless of course you are at internship stage where you are willing to take on a nominal fee to get your foot in the door…
I have had mixed results working for free. I spent a long time on a design of a new website for a famous guitar player and with encouragement from the project lead I was told it was great and we were tweaking things here and there then suddenly, they stopped contacting me.
The site was never developed and I had done all this work for nothing. The flip side if it was to have worked out is I would have had exposure to a huge audience.
I have also been asked to do landing pages for friends small businesses. Although I didn’t mind as it was a friend, it was work I didn’t want or have time to do properly so just used templates.
The only free work I can see that is worth doing is your own personal projects.
I just want to leave my thoughts on the whole concept of working for free. This idea is totally illogical and a waste of time. “One works to earn money, not lose money; in turn the money is used to pay for bills and purchase goods”.
I have a question. What if you are with a company designing publications and the company switches over from a publishing company to a business consulting but doesn’t want to pay for the logo, biz card, brochure and letterhead designs, they want to include it in my salary. I think it should be extra, what should I do?
I have recently been offered a position to work for an interior designer for free. (if it works out, I could be hired as her assistant with pay) As I am freshly out of school, I feel it is a great opportunity for “Real World” experience, which can never be taught in a classroom. Being that most designers will not hire you unless you have worked in a paint store, furniture store ect., I thought this could be a great way for me to acquire the knowledge I need to move up, or possibly start my own business…any suggestions?
@MC i agree
I was looking for a placement as a year out from university and was even considering working for free or for a charity just to get the experience. It’s vital these days – Graduates who partake in a placement get more job offers. FACT
Great article! I know this is something that is debated and many designers look down upon those who do free work. Personally, working for free has been rewarding! I got to work on a project, that otherwise, I might not have been able to. It was one of the first projects I did as a freelancer and helped me build my portfolio. I did a complete re-brand project for an animal shelter.
My tips on accepting free work:
1 – Don’t let the prospect tell you “it’s a great opportunity” or “it will help build your portfolio” — YOU decide what is a great opportunity and what will help build your portfolio. If it is and it does, then great!
2 – Always have them sign a contract that specifies the scope of work and put the normal cost of the project in the contract. This will help them realize that you are a business, so they won’t take advantage of your free services.
3 – Treat the project like you would anything else. Don’t skip deadlines, don’t give slipshod work, be respectful, etc. Word of mouth is amazing; you wouldn’t want to jeopardize it!
I’m in no way an expert, but this has been my experience!