I woke up this morning to a bit of a surprise. As I usually do, I checked the trackbacks and pings to Daily Cup of Tech. In the comments, I found a comment “Logo contests are spec work… ” from Consumer Thoughts. I wondered what this was all about so I went over to the website to see what was up.
I was a bit shocked to read the following in the very first paragraph:
I usually like Daily Cup of Tech, but Tim, the blogger, is having a logo contest, and didn’t seem interested in publishing my comment with a link to No-Spec.
My first reaction was “Huh?! I don’t recall seeing any comment about No-Spec!” I assumed that the comment got caught in he spam filter.
I read a bit of her blog post which, I think (it’s hard to tell with all the open and close quotes), pulls a large portion of its content from a website called No-Spec and specifically an article called Design Contests.
The blog author also followed up her post with an e-mail to me. Here is that e-mail exactly as I received it:
Dear Tim,
I see that you are encouraging speculative work through a “design a logo contest.”
Are you aware how damaging these types of contests are to the graphic design industry?
I highly recommend contacting International Council of Graphic Design Associations, AIGA, GAG, Society of Graphic Designers of Canada or any other professional graphic design association/organization about what is acceptable for a design contest. Your contest as it is now is considered a spec contest (working on the speculation of getting a return).
Ask yourself, would you offer a spec contest for legal advice, tax services, computer services, building repair, or any other professional service? No, you wouldn’t. Because their time has value. The same as ours.
Please consider a different route to promote Daily Cup of Tech, one that everyone can be supporting of.
Regards,
Kathryn
So, Kathryn brings up a number of points and asks some direct questions. I would like to take this opportunity to respond to these.
“Are you aware how damaging these types of contests are to the graphic design industry?”
The short answer is no. I may be ignorant or naive, but I was completely 100% unaware that there was a huge issue around this. In fact, I didn’t even know what “spec” work was until I went to the the No-Spec website:
“Spec” has become the short form for any work done on a speculative basis. In other words, any requested work for which a fair and reasonable fee has not been agreed upon, preferably in writing.
Apparently, it seems that there are a lot of companies that are getting work done for free by graphic artists by holding a contest. A prime example of this is would be the logo design for the 2010 Olympics.
This is all news to me.
“Your contest as it is now is considered a spec contest”
I guess I should rectify that issue right now.
If you are currently putting in time and effort designing a logo for the Daily Cup of Tech logo contest in the hopes that you will receive some type of money or work from Daily Cup of Tech at a later date, then stop working on the art immediately! Do not perform any more work on the speculation that you will receive some form of compensation.
If you are working on a logo for the contest because you think it is a fun contest, you don’t really care about the prizes, and you think this is a good way to help out Daily Cup of Tech then by all means, keep working and submit your logo!
Now, I’m not even certain that this could be considered a spec contest because it has a lot of things in common with a contest that the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (mentioned in the letter) was supporting. One Good Idea asked:
companies to share their good idea with us. Your good idea can be a product or service (even one that currently exists) that reminds people that even small steps can contribute to massive change. We’re putting our money where our mouth is and are offering $ 25,000 in strategy and creative services to the idea with the most merit.
In order to apply for this contest, you needed to provide:
- Corporate background, including: year of incorporation, corporate overview and management structure, number of staff.
- One Good Idea™ proposal – tell us your pitch and why your One Good Idea™ is the best, most interesting and most sustainable idea that simply must get out there.
- Implementation plan – give us an idea on how you would implement the idea and what you would look to Ion Design to produce using the prize value.
- An explanation of how you would provide recognition for Ion Design.
- And, finally, a single sentence that summarises your pitch.
- Proposals should not exceed ten (10) typeset pages. Submissions will be accepted only via email and formatted only as a PDF.
So, to enter this contest, I need to come up with a creative idea, write up a proposal, plan out its execution and then give the prize money back to the sponsoring company so that they can implement it! Not only does that sound like spec work, it is cheating the winners out of their prize money because the company can change the winners full cost but the actual cost to the design company is before markup! So the $25,000 prize may only cost the “sponsor” $12,000!
I do not think that any organization that can support a contest like this could have anything against my little contest!
“Ask yourself, would you offer a spec contest for legal advice, tax services, computer services, building repair, or any other professional service? No, you wouldn’t. Because their time has value. The same as ours.“
I can’t talk to the other professions because I am computer services but in this industry, this happens all the time. It’s called a request for proposal!
In the same vein, people do not hesitate to ask for advice or favours from computer people. You would not imagine how many times I get asked at work to help someone to fix their home computer. In fact, it is presently an issue that has gotten to management. But this is considered acceptable.
The Bottom Line
In my mind, this all comes back to expectations. I do not expect people to do something that they don’t want to do. If they are spending time working on this logo contest when they could be doing other things that are more important, then they should not work on the logo. Are they counting on the gift certificate, t-shirt, and coffee mug to help feed and provide for their family? Then they should probably refocus their efforts.
I am not some large company that is trying to get something for nothing so that I can keep the money for meals in my private jet. Rather, I am a little blogger who is trying to create a community.
In a community, there is give and take. I do not think there is any question who does most of the giving in the Daily Cup of Tech community. If someone wants to give something to me out of appreciation for what I have done, I will accept it. This includes donations, post ideas, and, yes, entries to the logo contest.
Your Say
But, this is all my opinion. I want to hear from you:
Does the DCoT Logo Contest Steal From The Designers?
Got more to say? Put it in the comments!
If you found this post useful, why don't you buy me a cup of coffee to show your gratitude?
I’m going to file this under “F” for Failure.
Thanks to everyone who contributed their time, effort, and talent to the 
