So, what do you do when you’re an internationally recognized, successful band with millions of dollars in CD and concert ticket sales? If you’re the Barenaked Ladies, you slap an industry in the face by running an unethical, exploitive contest, that’s what.

The details of this contest are glaring examples of the problems this trend creates within the design community. The fact that it comes from a representative of the music industry, an industry very vocal in the protection of artist’s rights, makes it all the more disturbing.

To read the rest of Robert’s post, go to Freshly Squeezed Design, Barenaked Exploitation.

March/April of this year saw the launch of the NO!SPEC campaign. Since then I’ve come across a range of confusing posts, some even using open source interchangeably with spec. To clarify the spirit of the campaign I’ve put together a short rundown on what working on spec is, and isn’t. What the NO!SPEC campaign is, and isn’t.

Spec is not:
ProBono
Open Source
Industry Awards Contests

Spec is:
Working on the SPECulation of getting something of value in return.

The NO!SPEC campaign is not about:
Taking the fun away from what we do.

The NO!SPEC campaign is about:
Educating designers so they can make educated choices.

The NO!SPEC campaign is not about:
Coming up with a lot of tight rules to stifle the client / designer relationship.

The NO!SPEC campaign is about:
Educating the public on ethical business practices.

Still confused? Then please stroll through the roundup of the latest blog posts and articles I’ve compilied at NO!SPEC Campaign: Rundown and Roundup.

Creativity Awards closes book on cover “contest” by Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

I’ve always been a huge fan of the design competitions conducted by David E. Carter, resulting in books such as the American Corporate Identity, The Big Book of Logos, and Creativity series.

Last Thursday, I was somewhat stunned when opening an email with the subject line “Design the Creativity Cover” to find that a “contest” was being conducted to select the cover of the upcoming Creativity 36 volume. The email had the headline “Be the first on your block to design Creativity’s cover.”

For me, the distinction between “design competition” and such “contests” is very simple. “Competitions” are conducted to evaluate and select graphic work already completed by a designer. Most so-called “contests” are requests for the creation of new work for possible review and selection - and that is “spec,” or speculative, work. No designer should be asked to work for free as a condition for the chance of being selected as the “winner” or possibly being hired for future work.

Today I was surprised to receive an email from Tim Moran, the Director of Marketing for the Creativity Annual Awards. The subject line read “Creativity Cancels Cover Contest.”

Visit Jeff’s blog for the rest of Creativity Awards closes book on cover “contest”