Spec work. There is article after article about this subject. And for good reason! Spec work, design contests, and crowdsourcing are a huge problem in the design industry, and when it happens in our communities, it hits us a little harder.
What exactly is spec work? Spec work is work done for free in hopes to get paid for it. Spec work comes in different forms with a couple variations being design contests or a crowdsourcing effort. You’ll see them posted on Craigslist, 99Designs, or other design/logo mills, with a business or organization calling out to designers and artists to compete with each other to design a winning piece for this company. They choose a winner and pay that winner with exposure and $100 (or some typically small given dollar amount, or a product prize).
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