Some interesting new experiences over the last week. b5media started to look for a designer(s) to help us roll out some new blogs. Now to clarify this, this isn’t designing a new template work, that’s going to be happening next year, but it’s taking one of our existing templates (which I might add we have full copyright on) and adding colour and a header to it. Work which isn’t too hard, right?. Now we were talking fairly urgently about 20 odd layouts in a week, with somewhere between 30 to 100 after that. Potentially, particularly if the applicant was an individual, there was the consideration that we might even employ that person on a proper p/t or f/t basis as well if we were happy with their work and if they were interested.
So we advertise the role on Sitepoint, and get 20-25 odd applications. Most of them were embarassing. You know, you’d think if you were applying for work you’d include more than 1-2 lines or text, or on the other hand actually provide samples of your work, or links to your portfolio. Nope. Apparently it’s not the done thing in designer circles. Apparently some designers are too self important to indulge in actually trying to win a contract, after all, as the company owner we should know them by their reputation, right?
We’ll fast forward and I short list 6. Some of them I’ve never heard of before, having said that though, they were courteous enough to write a decent application and provide links to portfolios or sample of their work. So I send out an email, as advised to from a high, to the short listed applicants discussing where we are at, and asking them whether they could mock up, with some colours, a b5media template so I can get some idea who to pick. Not unreasonable, right? I was wary of the fact that designers are picky about doing so-called work for free, which is why I stated things in the email like it doesn’t have to be on a webpage for us to see, just a jpg or similar, after all, how the hell are we suppose to select a final designer? AND I’D NOTE, I”M NOT EVEN TALKING SCRIPTING EITHER. COLOURS AND A LOGO TO AN EXISTING TEMPLATE. They could claim copyright on the mock up all they wanted, I mean shit, it would have taken most of them 10 minutes in photoshop to take a jpg or png of the test site they were given, and inject some colour into it. Now remember this is thousands of dollars of work we’re talking about, potentially over the longer term tens of thousands, or even a p/t or f/t job for someone….so what happened next? one of the designers leaks to 9rules that apparently we’re trying to rip them off. To that designer, which ever of the 6 you are, if you’re reading this, have the guts to own up to who you are, then stick your application up your arse. If you had a problem with what I requested, you could have taken it up with me, indeed a simple email saying that you’d prefer to have not done so would have sufficed. Indeed we could have chatted on your “vision” as to how the template would have looked…anything alternatively that could have convinced me you wanted the work and were deserving of it…but so it would seem, the fact is that you’re probably too far up yourself anyway for us to want to hire you.
And here’s another thing, we got a pile of applications for web designers out of India and Eastern Europe, some with some pretty impressive portfolios. A couple were on the short list. Given what’s gone on here, is it little wonder that companies take their design work outside of North America? We’ll see how things go.
Update: we are now offering the shortlisted candidates reasonable compensation should they wish to mock up a template for us. Having said this though, is there any other job out there that you’d get paid for just to apply for? Go figure.
If you’re finding it hard to get decent designers at home then there’s nothing wrong going to India or anywhere else for that matter. In fact, many countries outside of the “west” have a much better work ethic or know the value of a job or contract such as this one.
There’s lots of talent out there and if those who are too snobby or up themselves to bother trying to sell themselves then screw them.
Forget for a second that I’m affiliated with 9rules since I’m about to put my designer hat on 🙂 🙂
Regardless of the time or effort it takes to put together a quickie sample, the point is that they’re still doing *some* amount of work for no expectation of payment. Although b5 is a stand-up group, I have seen companies gather some spec prototypes from a handful of designers, turn them all down, do the same thing from another handful of designers, and now they have 8-10 pieces of creative work that they can do whatever they want with without shelling out a cent.
One of the things that I and other designers have to constantly deal with is the concept of cost vs. value. A designer may only do one hour’s worth of work on a project, but in that hour they could redefine the brand of that company, giving it more recognition, add unmeasurable amounts of value, and in turn, raise the profits of this company manyfold. The designer may only charge $150 for that hour of work but the ROI from the company’s perspective could be hundreds of times that, or thousands.
For example, I took on a web application design project for approximately $5,000 and while I was on the plane flying out to meet the client I put together the entire design for the app while in mid-air, in my seat, on my laptop. When I got to the client’s offices I showed the team my progress and they immediately loved it, signed off on it, and after another hour or two of work the entire project was completed and everyone was ecstatic. The application went on to launch to great reviews from mainstream media, netting them a veritable pile of new companies who wanted to purchase the product. The total amount of time I spent on the project was about 5-6 hours, so the whole project ended up working out to about $1,000/hr on my end. When you go to the doctor’s office you’re not paying a few hundred dollars (or thousand) for the 15 minutes he talks to you, you’re paying that money for the 15 years of training and experience needed to know what to do in that 15 minutes 🙂
Spec work is still a major problem for large ad agencies and design firms with big clients, because Nike or Subway want to know that their 7 figure contract is going to the design firm most able to do the work. One of the compromises I hear most about is that the client will pay an hourly rate for an initial piece of creative work, and then if it’s selected, they’ll go on to pay for the entire project. I think this is a great compromise because now the design firm is fairly compensated for the work that they’re doing (however insignificant it may be) and everybody’s happy.
As for snooty designers who may feel ‘above’ a client’s request for a new project, I think that there’s no point in being an ass about it. The vast majority of projects I get pitched I turn down for various reasons, but I’m never an ass about it, I never make the client feel like their project is unimportant like it sounds some designers from Sitepoint did. Although many of the best and brightest designers are all booked up now, like Martin said there is still a lot of talent outside the U.S. if you’re willing to look a bit more and investigate. One of the world’s best corporate branding firms is located in Romania: Grapefruit.ro.
Sorry for blowing up your comments Duncan, huge props to you guys for compensating the final 6 on their preliminary design work. Not many companies would do something like that so it’s cool to see.
Hmm. I should have applied too! I made my first header last week for CFS Squared. 😀 Nothing fancy, but pretty darn good for me!
Haha.
i would’ve easily fit into this job but getting sick of job market in aus i moved to canada for better 🙂
bhupinder
we’re actually based in Canada, so if you’re interested, ping me. Having said that, people think the Australian taxation system is bad…you should check out the Canadian taxation system, I’ll never, ever think badly of our taxation system again.
The U.S. tax system has got to be worse. We get taxed on worldwide income! I haven’t lived in the U.S. since 1998. Argh.
Actually Hsien,
depends on the country you live in. Most Western countries have tax treaties, and thankfully Canada and Australia do, so the good side is I don’t have to pay Australian tax on my b5 salary. Having said this however, people say the Australian taxation system is complicated…they haven’t seen the Canadian tax system yet…we’ve got such a simple tax system 1 on 1. For ecample there are something like 15 tax brackets in Ontario..nuts, given there ate like 4-5 in Australia.And indeed, the ATO (Australian Tax Office) provides an online tax calculator…which might I add I’ve used as far back as 98 when I was in a job where I had to pay tax for employees….today, do you think there is an equivalent Canadian site? no such luck, we would have got Ernst Young at the best should we want an immediate ansewer, but their tax system has Federal and State taxes…how f*cked up is that!
Having said this though, is there any other job out there that you?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢d get paid for just to apply for? Go figure.
Payed pitches is somewhat common for major accounts in the advertising industry. Benefits both the agency and the client.
I’ve seen people get squiffy about having to do a sample communications strategy when applying for a communications job. It’s a combination of being annoyed that their (fill in the blank) years in the business aren’t enough evidence of their qualifications, and suspicion that the company is just using the hiring process as a cheap way of generating good ideas.
(Not sure anyone in their right mind would hold a hiring process for anything other than hiring someone.)
I think the designers have the right to feel nervous about someone asking for free designs. Offering to pay a fee is a sign of good faith on your part. But I also understand your point that the potential value of getting the gig far outweighs the commercial value of any mock-up they might make to convince you they’re the right person for the task.