Will McNeilly

Grow – Why I’ll submit for consideration

Over the last few day’s there has been quite a bit of debate among final year IMD students about whether our Live Project is Speculative Work.  Module coordinator, Chris Murphy has given us the freedom to decide whether we submit our product for client consideration.

The talented Mr Shearer has put together a poll that highlights the proportion of students which will be submitting and those that won’t. At the time of writing, out of the total number of students that have taken part, approximately will not be submitting.

I just want to put down a few reasons why I don’t see this sort of  ‘spec work’ as a bad thing and why I’ll be submitting the finished product for client consideration. It may help those of you that are still on the fence.

‘Grow’ is a non-profit organisation.

A couple of years ago, I had a hand in founding, Glasgow PodcART a non-profit organisation set up to promote grass roots music. From that experience I know how difficult it is to secure funding for even day to day running. The fact is, many small non-profit organisations do not have budgets for extensive branding and web solutions. Many heavily rely upon donations and volunteers.

Would you be happy to donate to a charity if you found out they had used a substantial part of previous donations to pay a creative agency? I know I wouldn’t.

As designers I think it is our civic duty to use our talents for the ‘greater good’ from time to time. Think of your work as a donation.

It’s an Investment

In the current economic climate jobs for graduates in the design industry are few and far between. Often experience is worth a lot more than a first in a degree. Employers are looking for designers, this means they need to see not only how well you can communicate visually but how well you can work with a client.

It’s an open brief

From the first client meeting on Thursday it looks like we have a complete creative control over the branding and web solution. This clean slate gives us a great chance to showcase our talents, without the hassle of sticking to rigid ‘guidelines’. This is a very rare opportunity.

Competition is healthy

I’m a very competitive when it comes to things I enjoy doing. The fact we are all competing for consideration has made me think more deeply about my concepts. I’m being far more critical with concepts rejecting those outright that seem too obvious. I’m looking for something which is going to stand out against 80 other designer’s solutions. This so far has led to some great ideas.

I think it’s also important to remember that competition is a fact of life especially in the creative industry. We are hired and fired based on how well our work stands up against others.

Summing Up

In conclusion I just want to say that I’m against spec work but only up to a point. Each case has to be considered individually. If a multi-million dollar company issued a spec brief, it is unjust and wrong. For small not for profit organisations spec and pro bono work is the only option. It just matter of weighing up how much you believe in their cause.