So how do you feel today in light of all the new "crowdsourcing" agencies? Time for another No!SPEC?

i hate spec work too. Its like ugh. I wrote about it on my blog. That just really pisses me off.
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check out my design blog
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Every hour, more is starting to come in to use on the no spec site

THIS one cracked me up -->> http://www.fuckspecwork.com/

And no, we are not going to link it to our no spec site. We are trying to compile information to educate people not ... well ...

darn ...

"There are a couple posts here too you might want to check out"

These are excellent, thank-you. We*ll be putting together the No Spec site this weekend, so will include both of these.

Two of our members just submitted articles for Creative Latitude. I still have to fiddle with the code on one, but here they are

Design Contests Are Dangerous For Your Business
By Robert Wurth, Creative Director, Freshly Squeezed Design
http://www.creativelatitude.com/articles/article_200603_wurth.html

United Way and Speculative Work
By Art Javid
http://www.creativelatitude.com/articles/article_200603_javid.html

This is going to be one if the quickest sites I*ve ever put together (with a group of people helping) ...

thank-you everyone. It*s been a great help.

cat

It's your rant, with your username as a signoff, so we pretty much approve anything that isn't spam. Or totally off-topic. Which this isn't

Excellent. I'll get to it asap!

There are a couple posts here too you might want to check out

Who needs ad creatives?

and
Spec Sucks for Everyone

Rants are better than releases as I tend to have to edit the former - and once you hit the submit button all admins are notified via email. if it's on topic and doesn't break the posting advice (see faq) it'll be approved at once. It's your rant, with your username as a signoff, so we pretty much approve anything that isn't spam. Or totally off-topic. Which this isn't. ;)

Stuff we either edit away or decide not to approve a post on are things like affiliate links (sneaky), embedding content from other sources (who might not have approved . youtube and similar excluded of course since they are built for just that), posts that are word-by-word copies of posts elsewhere on the web - variation is better even if it is essentially the same post (this is f both posts are yours!). Oh and stuff that clearly breaches copyright like when people submit adweek articles copied to the dot.

Thanks. Ah, New Zealand. Lovely country. I spent part of my childhood in Blenheim.

I'm in Thailand, but do all my work off station (Brunei, the UK, etc). I know a LOT of spec work and contests go on in Thailand because there are posters everywhere advertising. I don't work on spec (who has the time?), but I know a number of designers in Brunei and SE Asia do.

But the United Way are putting forward a spec contest a country which has a strong design organisation, Canada. It's only one of two that has certification (the other being Switzerland).

So ... knowing that, why in the world did they choose this route? The last snafu was all over the papers, how could they have missed it?

When I wrote them they had a ready answer back, meaning they are solidly intrenched in spec contests. Well, perhaps we can change their tune.

Btw - how does this work? The last time I posted a press release direct and the editor thankfully took it right in. But this is not a press release, it's more of a rant. So, I wondering how things normally go. Is there a vote? A consensus?

Good on ya mate - I totally agree with you.

In my view it sits in the same camp as an invitation to pitch where the small print says that the company asking you to pitch retains the ideas of all pitch respondents no matter what the outcome - hhhmmm, Down here in NZ that happens a lot (especially government business). As for my agency, well, even if we initially wanted the business, when I see that line we just walk on by....... ideas are all we have to sell - in this industry IP has been commoditised for far too long.

All,

I've been in the design industry for over ten years now, and I'm pretty fed up with these so called 'logo' competitions which are merely a way of getting designers to work for free, while the companies get the most publicity possible for next to nothing.

There are ethical ways of running non-profit logo competitions and very easy to find - GAG rules for one, and the GCD (this is being held in Canada) recently changed their rules due to that 2010 spec contest for the Olympics.

Anyway, instead of posting this direct to adland, I wanted to run it by everyone here first to get comments.

http://www.designers-who-blog.com/index.php/archive/things-that-suck/

Btw - when the United Way came back to me their response was "One of the primary intentions of this contest was to engage the community at large"

My comment back? "If this excercise is to engage the community, I do believe you'll succeed, but not in a positive manner."

Sure, all non profits ask for probono work and I keep at least a probono a year on the books. But I do the work and get the credit, I do not work on spec with a chance of getting credit. Also, probono does NOT always mean for free. Do do they ask attorneys, accountants etc to join in on competitions to see if they like their work? Not on your life.

cat