United Way spec logo competition

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

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?

"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