Posted by Carrie in • Carrie Cantwell
Posted on 07/01/08 at 07:49 AM

How I Exposed a Scam Disguised as Spec Work and Actually Got the Perpetrator in Trouble.

In late 2007, as a freelance web and graphic designer, I occasionally perused craigslist for project and job postings. I have since become all-too-familiar with what I now call the curse of craigslist - 99% of craigslist posts are posted by the devil, are complete rubbish and are designed to completely screw whoever answers the ad. I will go into more detail on my craigslist adventures in an upcoming article.

I answered a vague ad on craigslist, an ad looking for a creative and motivated web and graphic designer. Through this ad I encountered a potential client, an up-and-coming company comprised of a couple web developers looking for a creative person with web knowledge to join their team and help get them off the ground.

For the sake of protecting identities, this company will henceforth be known as "Company X."

I answered Company X's ad, and they explained that their first project was for me to redesign their current website, which looked like a joke. They indicated (and I verified) that they needed a total design solution complete with color palette, look-and-feel, design, navigation, layout etc. for their business. They explained that they were just a couple of back-end programmer types with no creative skills and thus needed me to be the front-end, design element of their company. The services they offered were programming solutions to small businesses, but they needed an attractive web presence. They even mentioned a possible buy-in where I would be invested in the company on down the road and would be a full partner should things go well.

I came up with a proposal for them with an estimate of hours for the work and an up-front deposit.

I then received an response from them that said, in a nutshell, that this entire website redesign they required of me was a one to two day job at best (which it wasn't by any means) and that my deposit was half of what they would charge a client for a complete design package (so now all of a sudden they do complete DESIGN packages?). Then, they asked what exactly they would be getting for all these hours of my work. I thought it was obvious - they would be getting a website design solution. They had already openly asked for and agreed to this.

Company X pulled the all-too-familiar card that they were expecting to see some complete design mock-ups from me before proceeding, which I am sure most of you designers are familiar with. I was disappointed and disgusted but honestly not surprised. Asking a designer to create complete design mock-ups, including layout, navigation schemes and color palette, before s/he is paid and before contracts are signed is not a new phenomenon in this industry.

I was ready to cut my losses and walk away. However, Company X made one fatal mistake: They used a world-renowned designer's name as a manipulative bit of leverage. For the sake of protecting this designer's identity, this designer will henceforth be known as "Jane Doe." They stated that many of the top designers like Jane Doe don't even ask for an up-front deposit, so therefore, by me asking for one I was not only asking too much, but was also not following the industry standard.

Being the diligent person that I am, I first contacted four of my colleagues in the industry and asked them what they thought about this whole business. They all agreed that my proposal was reasonable and that it was highly unprofessional and just plain stupid for Company X to use someone else's name and reputation for what was tantamount to a guilt trip.

I decided to look up Jane Doe and found her online. She is an internationally known, talented and highly sought-after web and graphic designer located in Europe. I was genuinely curious whether it was indeed the industry standard not to ask for an up-front fee for what would result in a significant number of hours of work. Since they directly mentioned Jane Doe by name, I figured I would get an answer straight from the horse's mouth. Just as I had suspected, after asking Jane Doe if she ever charges an up-front deposit, I found out that she ALWAYS charges at least 50% (with no exceptions) before beginning any significant work.

I had mentioned in my email to Jane Doe that I was asking because a potential client refused to pay any up-front cost and used her name as leverage, stating that she never charged one. This ended up infuriating her, and she asked me for the name of the person who was spreading these unfounded statements about her business practices. Of course, I was more than happy to oblige.

Imagine how incredibly gratifying it was for me when I was BCCed on an angry email from Jane Doe to Company X calling them out on their lie, berating them for using her good name in order to squeeze what was tantamount to hours of free work out of designers, and demanding that Company X make a public apology to both Jane and me on their website and blog.

Maybe next time Company X will think about what they put in writing before they do so. Maybe they won't underestimate the determination and intelligence of their potential designers. Maybe they should think about paying people before they ask them to do dozens of hours of work. What was satisfying to me was that Company X obviously had a lot of respect for Jane Doe and may have even considered hiring her in the future for design work or, at the very least, tried to open a dialogue with her as a colleague. Company X dashed those possibilities on the rocks by putting its foot in its mouth, and I was the vehicle.

This whole thing had honestly started out as me just trying to gain more knowledge about what is common practice in cases like this. What resulted was probably the most satisfying outcome to one of the many instances where I have been taken advantage of as a designer and made to feel guilty for asking to be paid for the work I do. I felt justice had finally been served.

This story is not to say that all free work requests from potential clients are veiled attempts at getting work out of you with no possibility of future compensation. There are a few situations when spec work is kosher if you're up for it. In a situation where you have actively pursued a potential client in order to participate in a specific project, the bidding (often known as an RFP or Request for Proposal) process often involves doing some unpaid work to prove your skills and ability to solve the problems presented in that project. When applying for a job, the employer will often require a similar test, requesting designs for a typical project to see if you can handle doing what they would need you to accomplish on a day-to-day basis. Also, I have often done pro bono work for causes I care about (I recently did a poster for a breast cancer benefit) and that's totally up to you and what you're comfortable with.

However, as many of you have probably experienced, there are many instances where this is not the case. It can be tricky, and you want to make sure you don't just go around giving out your talents to everyone for nothing. A lot of the time you have to just go with your gut - which is what I did in this situation - and it turned out to be correct. Some key words and behaviors to look out for include "contests" for designs, which is usually a telltale sign that a client is trying not only to get design solutions for their project, but also to collect as many free ideas out of as many designers as possible. Of course, I am not including AIGA or other legitimate organizations in this contest category. I submitted a poster for AIGA's 2004 Get Out the Vote Initiative and I was interviewed on NPR's "All Things Considered" because of it. I wasn't paid for this, but I got great exposure as a designer. Also, be careful when someone asks you to do a large amount of work and provide a complete design scheme before paying you or signing anything. Concept work in and of itself is almost always the meat and potatoes of an entire project. In that case you're just designing the whole solution for free, and people pay big bucks for that kind of work.

AIGA can help provide some guidelines for ethical design practices and what to watch out for. Some great resources to check out for further advice on this include:

Articles on professional practices

Information on design business and ethics

Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services