Cameron Booth

Or, sometimes 140 characters simply isn’t enough to express views properly.

Before we begin, let me unequivocably apologize for expressing the opinion in an earlier tweet to Guy that one of the final covers in his design contest was plagiarized from another source. This is not true, as the icon in question is in fact released under an open source license. However, whether it was ethical or proper of the designer to use this icon in said contest is something I’ll address later.

So, Guy Kawasaki has held his cover design competition and in a few days, the one lucky winner will be awarded $1000. Guy’s certainly done well out of this in terms of Twitter chatter and “influence” – he even noted in a tweet just after the contest began that the ruckus over spec/nospec had catapulted him to the top of some “most influential” list or other. He may talk about how crowdsourcing gives him fresh ideas (apparently, people like me are “in a rut”), but I’m not totally convinced by that point of view.

So, 760 entries in Guy’s “little” contest. Let’s do some simple mathematics with that number. Let’s pretend that each entry took two hours to design (and really, that’s an incredibly conservative estimate). So, that’s 760 multiplied by 2, which makes 1520 hours spent on concept work. Out of all these hours and concepts, Guy chooses one winner and awards them $1000. In effect, that means Guy has paid out for all the concept work done for him by his eager army of designers at an meagre $0.6579 per hour (That’s 1520 hours divided by the $1000 prize). The phrase “sweat shop” comes to mind. Or you could say he got 1518 hours for free and paid the winning designer $500/hr if that makes you feel better.

Let’s put this into a little perspective, shall we? When I last freelanced as a graphic designer, I earned $35/hour. This was a just figure, taking into account my 15 years of design experience, skills and qualifications. If I had spent 1520 working hours coming up with multitudes of concepts for Guy, he’d now owe me a cool $53,200. Ad agencies and design studios that I’ve worked for have billed at $150/hour, which would leave Guy with a back-breaking bill of $228,000. Bear in mind that these numbers for illustrative purposes only, as no ad agency would ever spend 1500 man hours on concept work for one job: meaning Guy has got more from his contest than he should have for far, far less.

I’ve heard people say that the winner gets more than just the prize money, that they also get to put on their resume that they won this contest and use it in their portfolio. To which I say, “so what”?

I’ve hired designers and I always consider a portfolio as a whole. One prize-winning piece does not make a portfolio, and I am rarely impressed by who the work is for. I need to see a strong sense of design across a range of different projects and disciplines: I especially like to see work that has been executed as a long-term campaign or series. Guy’s cover does not give the opportunity for that, as it is simply a one-off project with no little to no chance for repeat work.

Ad agencies often do creative work for free. Sometimes it is pro bono work for charitable or non-profit organisations, but most often it is pitch work. Pitch work is not spec work. By submitting a pitch, an agency wishes to convince a potential client of their creative and strategic prowess, and as a result, enter into a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with that client. A successful pitch can be worth huge sums of money, and gives the agency the chance to develop creative work for a client for many years. Guy’s contest offers none of this: once the $1000 is awarded, that’s the end of it all: thank you, goodnight. Even some agencies decry the “traditional” free pitch. Erik Spiekermann’s agency, Eden Spiekermann, has a manifesto that simply states:

“Our strategic and creative resources are our most valuable assets. We cannot afford to give them away for free.

We also know (from decades of experience) that the best work happens in a committed relationship. We therefore do no longer take part in unpaid pitches. For paid pitches we have a set of guidelines that we’re happy to share.”

I couldn’t agree more. Graphic designers are highly skilled and highly trained professionals who provide a valuable service. People who provide a service deserve to be paid fairly for the time they spend. In this day and age, everyone with a computer and a pirated copy of InDesign or Photoshop can claim they are a designer. They are not. A designer does not ape fashion or follow trends: they observe and create, based on strategy, instinct and talent. Just as not everyone can be a professional golfer or hockey player, not everyone can be a designer, no matter their desire to be so.

A final word on the icon used in one of the final designs in Guy’s competition. While not expressly plagiarized, I still take serious issue with its use on a couple of points:

It is not original. The icon was originally designed for use as signage on hospitals and public buildings – not as artwork for a book cover. The designer of this cover has downloaded a vector EPS of this icon and simply colored and placed it on his cover design.If I ever did that and my art director found out, I’d probably be fired on the spot. Guy sees it as “inspiration from outside the usual”, I see it as laziness at best and unethical at worst. If nothing else, if this design wins, it means Guy has shelled out $1000 for what amounts to clip art. How can it possibly be perceived as “creative” to slap someone else’s logo (designed for an entirely different purpose) on your own design?

It is not the designer’s own work. And this is the kicker, Guy. Because even if you choose to dismiss everything else I’ve said (and you probably will), you can’t ignore this. You took me to task for not checking the facts before accusing a designer of plagiarism: now I take you to task for not reading the rules of entry to your own competition, which can be seen here.

Expressly, Paragraph 2. Representations, which states:

“Creative represents that, except for materials given to Creative by Buyer, Creative is the sole author of the Work and all of Creative’s services are original and not copied in whole or in part from any other work; that the Work does not violate the patent, copyright, trade secret or other property right of any person, firm or entity.”

Not copied in whole or in any part from any other work: it’s there in black and white. And as you’ve ever so helpfully pointed out the original “other work” to me, Guy, I guess you really should do the right thing and remove that entry from the competition.

Yours creatively,

Cameron Booth
Graphic Designer