What I normally say it FREE work doesn’t comply with minimum wage, my clients can view my portfolio online and see a full range of my work. If they can’t see my style suiting there need then I am the wrong choice.

It really annoys me how people do this, I have been in this situation far to often and I am like “WTF am I doing here listening to a guy trying to con me”

I work in photography which has different models. One of the models is that customers pay a relatively low “sitting” fee and the actual images are expensive. So the better the images, the more money you make. I don’t know if that will work in design, but designers should look at models in other industries to see if they could work.

Finally, I think designers need to do more than just yell “no spec”. They should come up with creative ways to solve the customer’s dilemma: “I have a budget, I like her portfolio, but how do I know that she’ll make something that’s perfect for us?” Provide a different way than spec work to answer their insecurities and you might win them. Offer them paid consultancy to help them with their design brief and allow them to use it however they want to. I know, I’m just rambling but I truly believe there should be more than no!spec.

That’s what a portfolio/body of work is for. A portfolio of work illustrates a designer’s ability to visually arrange information/message in a meaningful way over a variety of projects and goals. It shows prospective clients what a specific designer is capable of, and, perhaps more importantly, requires a designer to explain exactly what solutions were used for certain design problems.

If a client believes that design is somehow “only graphics” it means the client doesn’t understand what it is they need and what graphic design is for. We, as designers, need to educate at that point.

Spec work simply means working for nothing with no promise of any future work. Never done it myself. I far prefer someone to hire me to do their design work and create a solutions that gets their message out. Plus 1/3 up front, 1/3 on approved design, and 1/3 when delivered is always nice too.

Note: I believe that “spec” work where you are paid a fair amount for the work you do is another thing altogether.

“Hell No”