I will now open a can of worms.

Having run a design agency in the past I’ve been guilty of doing work on spec, or work that you do in hopes that a formal — and paying — agreement will come about. There is not only the risk that your work will be used even if you have not been paid, spec work is also usually disrespectful of your time. Often the “client” in these situations undervalues design work and, therefore, does not understand or appreciate the amount of time involved with doing quality work. Therefore, even if they don’t use your work without paying you, work on spec increases the likelihood that they are not serious about the project at all and that they are unlikely to ever pursue it, regardless of how strong your design is. The classic example is client that has a “great idea”, no financing, but promises a cut when and if they become profitable. I’ve not heard one case of this ending well. Not one.

There are lots of perspectives on spec work however. Consider a site like Fotolia.com or other microstock agencies. This is technically spec, because the work is out there and the artist has not been paid. It’s non-commissioned. But anyone stealing one of the super low-res preview images that might be grabbed from the website of a stock site is not a serious client anyway and would not pay a designer for the work. A counter argument might be that this type of prospective client (the one that steals images from the web) simply needs to be educated about good design and ethical business relationships. There is some truth to that. And does the lower price of microstock open up a much, much larger commercial audience for photographers or does it lower the overall price of commercial photography? I would say it does both.

So, is there a place in a designer’s career for work on Spec?

These guys think not: http://www.no-spec.com

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