Design & Business

AIGA position on spec work

AIGA, the professional association for design, believes that professional designers should be compensated fairly for the value of their work and should negotiate the ownership or use rights of their intellectual and creative property through an engagement with clients.

AIGA acknowledges that speculative work—that is, work done prior to engagement with a client in anticipation of being paid—occurs among clients and designers. Instead of working speculatively, AIGA strongly encourages designers to enter into projects with full engagement to continue to show the value of their creative endeavor. Designers and clients should be aware of all potential risks before entering into speculative work.

AIGA is committed to informing designers, students, educators, clients and the general public on the risks of compromising the design process though information, materials and services that can help in forging a healthy working relationship between designers and their clients.

Background, resources and our thinking

Uncompensated design is not the same as spec work

Speculative work—work done without compensation in the hope of being compensated, for the client’s speculation—takes a number of forms in communication design. There are five general situations in which some designers may work, by choice, without compensation:

  • Speculative or “spec” work: work done for free, in hopes of getting paid for it
  • Competitions: work done in the hopes of winning a prize—in whatever form that might take
  • Volunteer work: work done as a favor or for the experience, without the expectation of being paid
  • Internships: a form of volunteer work that involves educational gain
  • Pro bono work: volunteer work done “for the public good”

For students and professionals, there may be a different line drawn on which of these constitute unacceptable practices. In each case, however, the designer and client make the decision and must accept the relevant risks. Most designers would consider the first two types to be unacceptable.

In certain design disciplines, such as architecture, advertising and broadcast design, business practices differ and professionals have been expected to participate in speculative work. This usually occurs in fields where the initial design is not the final product, but is followed by extended financial engagement to refine or execute a design. In communications design, this is often not the case. The design submitted “on spec” is all that the client is seeking.

Spec work presents risks to both the client and the designer

Clients and designers knowingly engaged in spec work share an equal responsibility to understand the potential risks and rewards:

  • Clients risk compromised quality as little time, energy and thought can go into speculative work, which precludes the most important element of most design projects—the research, thoughtful consideration of alternatives, and development and testing of prototype designs.
  • Designers risk being taken advantage of as some clients may see this as a way to get free work; it also diminishes the true economic value of the contribution designers make toward client’s objectives.
  • There are legal risks for both parties should aspects of intellectual property, trademark and trade-dress infringements become a factor.

History of restrictions and policy

The historic prohibitions on speculative work by graphic designers appear to have emerged from the guilds of Europe. The reasons to avoid situations that call for speculative work are sound—and professionals and educational institutions have promoted these restrictions as ethical standards. Yet, in the 1990s, the Federal Trade Commission declared that AIGA could not make a prohibition of work for free as part of its statement of ethics for it was a restraint of trade (or price fixing)—in other words, it prevented designers from being free to charge whatever they wanted, including nothing, for their work. In some ways, that ruling anticipated the issues raised in this era of liberalization of the market place through technical innovation. (For reference, we have preserved the previous version of AIGA’s position on spec work as an archive.)

Sample letter for designers and firms (revised May 2009)

Clients may, at times, request that you or your firm compete for an engagement on the basis of spec work. While it is up to each designer to make the choice of whether to engage on this level, this sample letter is intended to serve as a resource if you choose to communicate with these clients to explain why speculative proposals compromise the profession and the resultant work. You should modify it based on the needs of your particular situation.

 

Comments

To add your voice to the spec work discussion, please comment on the related AIGA Insight article.