The following unedited* email exchange between the editor of StopWorkForHire and the president of the Graphic Artists Guild pretty much sums up my feelings on this issue. (*Names have been changed out of courtesy).
Mr. Smith,
My name is Editor and I own and operate
A man walks into a fine men’s clothier to get a custom tailored suit. The tailor politely asks him to step up to the mirror so he can take all his measurements. After doing this, the man and the tailor discuss what style of suit would be most flattering on the
The expectation that freelancers and small firms WILL include source files for ALL jobs is one that is becoming pervasive in the industry as a result of freelancers and small firms believing that "the more we give this client, the more likely we will retain them as
As a graphic and web designer, I have run into numerous requests for spec work in my career. My last article for the Professional Artists League covered some of these experiences. Several colleagues have voiced their opinions that they never do spec work, and they
I received an excellent comment from our post Defending Work-For-Hire and found myself writing a rather lengthy response, so instead of extending the comments I decided to write a follow-up to the first article.
It’s about turf; it is critical to avoid freelancers
I recently had a colleague who owns a local marketing firm put forth a mild defense of work-for-hire by stating, "there's a good reason why companies would use Work-For-Hire."
The most common defense of work-for-hire boils down to "they have a right to protect their
One thing that I’ve been trying to do here at Pixels and Code is run as close to paper-free as possible. For a few years now, my wife and I have shredded and recycled all of our waste paper. I’ve simply transferred that thinking to my office space.
I do print things
In twelve years, our intrepid editor has only come across two legitimate Spec jobs. But in that same time, Work-For-Hire has been an omnipresent shadow. In fact, in the past two years alone, we have seen an incredible increase in the number of local companies, ad
In essence, Stop Work-For-Hire is attempting to bring professional artists together in an effort to create a sense of "team" in an increasingly hostile business environment. How does one create a groundswell of support among cliques of small studios and independent
Please visit the link below, sign the petition, and help us get the word out; STOP WORK-FOR-HIRE.
Over the past several years, there has been a disturbing increase in the number of companies and creative agencies mandating work-for-hire for all of their freelance
At 16toads, we often receive referrals from other small business owners who have a colleague in dire need of a web site or a “fix”. Often times, the individual who was referred has already gone the through the web design process with another company. All too often,
The past six years of the Bush administration have changed the way business is done. We have watched as scandal after scandal has blasted open the doors of greed and shown us entrepreneurs how businesses are run. We have watched the trickle-down theory of “getting
