Ah, spec work. The bane of every creative professional’s existence. It’s a highly debated topic within many creative fields, from graphic design and illustration to music and voiceover work.
Spec work, aka speculative work, is unpaid work that gets produced for a potential client or employer. With spec, there is no guarantee of payment for the hours or resources spent on the project. Clients often frame spec work as a “design test” or a “sample”, to see if they like your work. While spec can take many different forms, this type is the form that this article will focus on. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll also refer to every type of creative as a “designer”.
So why is spec so bad?
Spec causes the creative professional to lose money or potential work.
If a graphic designer chooses to put hours into an unpaid spec project, they are blocking off time on their calendar that could be put towards completing working for paying clients, nurturing leads (aka paying clients), or building their business and brand content (aka attracting leads). In the corporate world, if a job seeker is spending time completing “design tests”, that’s time that could be put towards applying for other jobs where a creative worker’s time is valued. Either way, the creative completing the spec work loses the potential for more income.
Spec does not involve a full creative process.
Spec work often involves only a very brief creative brief (ha, wordplay) and minimal detail. Rarely in a professional environment does a project contain such minimal details. Whether freelancing or working in-house, creatives rarely work in a silo and work alongside their creative directors and the stakeholders who are requesting the assets. The opportunity for stakeholder interviews or collaboration with the rest of the creative team isn’t possible during the spec process. Therefore, it’s not possible for the designer to produce their best work.
Spec doesn’t harm only the creator, but the client as well.
It’s impossible for a client to truly get a feel for what it’s like to work with a creative unless they’re working through the full creative process with them. When a client chooses to work with a designer based solely on the work produced during the spec review, the price tag attached to the full project is often larger than what they would’ve paid if just paying the designer’s hourly rate for the “sample”.
What are the alternatives to unpaid spec work?
When proposed with the facts of spec work, people usually become defensive and will protest, “But how else am I supposed to know if I will like the work?”. Here are some options:
- Trust the professional. A professional designer comes with a great portfolio and references. Any designer worth their salt has an up-to-date portfolio that shows off their best and favorite work. If a designer refuses to provide references to previous clients or employers, consider it a red flag. The best professional creatives are able to work within the brand style guides that you provide them, or you can seek out a designer whose personal style is the solution to the problem you’re seeking to solve. Talk to a designer’s references and get feedback on their collaboration style.
- Still not 100% sure? Hire the designer for a smaller project. Rather than asking for an unpaid sample of the designer’s work, hire them for a smaller project that would be a smaller investment on your part. It will give you an idea of the designer’s working style and you don’t put as much upfront investment – and you still get a product that was paid for.
Food for thought: you wouldn’t go to a restaurant and ask to eat the food before agreeing to pay the bill. You trust that the professionals in the kitchen, who were trained using completely different sets of ingredients and recipes, are capable of creating the dishes that are on the menu. With completely different ingredients than what they were provided in culinary school.
Additional resources on the topic:
- https://www.nospec.com/
- Jessica Hische provides a guide on how to reply to spec requests
- AIGA’s Stance on the Matter
