The DC Water and Sewer Authority recently put out a call to designers to enter a logo contest for their new identity - a practice very much frowned upon by the design community. The following is a formal response to DC WASA from the American Institute of Graphic Designers.
February 16, 2010
Dear Director of Public Affairs,
As a local chapter among the largest and oldest professional association representing the communication design profession in the United States, we would like to express our disappointment over the public art contest to rebrand the DC Water and Sewer Authority. Your call for logos includes a solicitation of design concepts to be produced on a speculative basis. This type of competition runs against the global professional standards and practices for graphic design and we believe that it is both unfortunate and inappropriate that the DC WASA would be pursuing this practice.
There are acceptable ways of engaging a broad range of designers in pursuit of creative graphic solutions, however the approach you are pursuing is one that seriously compromises the quality of work you are entitled to and also violates a tacit ethical standard that has long standing in the communication design professions worldwide.
AIGA DC, the 5th largest chapter among the nation¹s largest and oldest professional association for design, strongly discourages the practice of requesting that design work be produced and submitted on a speculative basis in order to win a $2,000 cash prize if selected.
There are several reasons for this position.
First, to assure each client receives the most appropriate and responsive work. Successful design work results from a collaborative process between a client and the designer, developing a clear sense of the client¹s objectives, competitive situation, and needs. Speculative design competitions result in a superficial assessment of the problem and can only result in a design that is judged on a superficial basis. Design creates value for clients as a result of the approach designers take in addressing the problems or needs of the client and only at the end of that process is a design created. Speculative or open competitions for work based on aperfunctory problem statement will not result in the kind of work a client deserves.
Second, capable and professional designers do not work for free. While there will always be some designers who are willing to create designs in response to an open call for work, without any assurance of compensation, the buyer immediately relegates his or her choices among those designers who are least likely to be experienced, knowledgeable designers who are in demand among clients and who work according to the professional standards of the profession. Often it results in a client eventually having to bring a more experienced designer onto a project in order to execute it.
Finally, requesting work for free reflects a lack of understanding and respect for the value of effective design as well as the time of the professionals who are asked to provide it. This approach reflects on your practices and standards.
There are few professions where you ask all possible candidates to do the work first and then you will choose which one to pay, but those are mostly ones like advertising and architecture where the billings are substantial and continuous after you make a selection of a firm and the work presented in the competition is often conceptual, so that you are not receiving the final outcome (the advertising campaign or the building) free up front as you would be in receiving a communication design solution.
There is an appropriate way to explore the work of various designers.
You could ask designers to submit examples of their work from previous assignments as well as a statement of how they would approach your project. You can then judge the quality of the designer¹s previous work and way of thinking about your concerns. When you select a designer, they can begin to work on your project and design solutions to your needs while under contract to you, without having to work free on speculation up front. An RFQ process, rather than an RFP process, would be appropriate in the case of communication design.
If you would like us to work with you in developing a process that will benefit you most and maintain the professional standards we would expect of the DC WASA, please do not hesitate to contact me. There are many local designers who can provide you with solutions that will far exceed your expectations with respect for an appropriate budget and schedule.
Sincerely,
Jill Spaeth
President, AIGA DC
jill@aigadc.org
http://www.aigadc.org
Posted on
Thursday, February 18, 2010
by Thomas Frank