Comments on: Spec Work is Evil. Apparently, So Are It’s Defenders.

By: Arlo

Arlo — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:00:57 +0000

Are you suggesting that a legitimate graphic designer is incapable of working within a client’s budget? That’s bullshit.

Websites like yours are devaluing good design, and it is a proven fact that investment in design has a higher ROI than advertising does. Read “A Designer’s Guide to Research” by Jenn and Ken Visocky O’Grady to learn about everything that the designers on your site are NOT doing.

By the way, shopfordesigns.com is hideous. You must have crowdsourced it.

By: graphic design crowdsourcing

graphic design crowdsourcing — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:00:43 +0000

But the problem is that where will a startup or a new restaurant get so much money to hire a professional graphic designer who will do the logo?

I have never seen a company growing into a multi million dollar industry just because of its brand identity…

Its service that matters…

By: ARLOdesign® » BLOG › Bookmarklet to Search Current Website for PDFs

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:23:02 +0000

[...] I hate spec work, but it pays my [...]

By: Amanda Perry

Amanda Perry — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:48:31 +0000

I work in a print shop (http://drgraphx.com). Just in the past three years I have seen a tremendous jump in clients coming to me either expecting us to do basic typesetting/layout for free or next to nothing, or coming in with a file that a designer they probably found on craigslist did for them that was created at 72dpi, no crop marks, neon colors, fonts not outlined… everyone complains when I say I want to charge them more then what they paid for the design, just to fix it. Not only does spec work devalue the work that we do, I think it’s also lowering standards.

By: Arlo

Arlo — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:19:26 +0000

Thanks, Shawn. I think the true sign of evilness, though, is how good 99designs makes people feel. The greatest trick the Devil ever played was to convince people he doesn’t exist.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:21:58 +0000

Hey Arlo, nice post. I just recently found 99designs and it made me feel dirty and fraudulent. Is that a sign of evilness?

By: Spec work is evil and unethical… no way! | Josh Mullineaux dot Com

Spec work is evil and unethical… no way! | Josh Mullineaux dot Com — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:05:48 +0000

[...] There are a lot of designers out there whom I respect tremendously. Some of those same designers are completely against doing spec work, and I can definitely see their point of view. I am referring to Andrew Hyde and Arlo Bryan… [...]

By: Arlo

Arlo — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:09:49 +0000

Is that partial prototype a usable piece of software when it’s done? I write proposals all the time and present complete ideas of how I will research and execute a project, but it’s not the actual project. Spec work asks for the actual project before you’re paid for it. If someone asks you for the entire software application custom made for them before they pay for it, you’d laugh in their face.

By: Scott Allen

Scott Allen — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:22:34 +0000

Having done enterprise software sales, in which we often had to do extensive RFP’s, customized demos and even partial prototypes as part of the sales process, I fail to see how spec work is significantly different.

By: Arlo

Arlo — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:33:36 +0000

I only meant to say that the panelists were being disingenuous with how this panel (which is going on as I type this) was presented. It’s not a debate of spec work — it’s an advertisement for their services.