Speccing, specced out

Lately we've been having a bit of an internal debate at designdaku- To spec or not to spec. Now I realise that this is a debate that's been going on for a while now; for as long as there's been young designers trying to make their own against established journeymen and masters, to be precise.

For those not in the know, spec work (or speculation work, to use the more descriptive term) is work done without the promise of financial remuneration.

The pros and cons are obvious- for a young designer, just starting out on his/ her career path, spec work signifies an opportunity to work with clients, big names who would otherwise have nothing to do with an alleged novice, and build up a solid portfolio; at least in the short term. For the established designer, however, spec work is, usually, more akin to that dull throb at the back of your head that's not quite a full blown headache but refuses to go away and stops you from getting any useful work done. It represents the apprentice's chance at getting away with the one-upmanship game.

To me, though, there's something more fundamental at play. In India, where most clients have to be educated about design and what it can bring to a business, the only commodity I can realistically charge the client for is my time. The time I spend devoting my mental faculties towards the solution/ resolution of the said client's problem. How, then, can my time be available without a cost attached to it if, in more cases than I'd like to count out, the only contribution to a project a client recognises is my time?

Doctors charge you to tell you what's wrong with you. Regardless of whether you choose to play along with their prescribed remedy. Service technicians charge you to tell you what's wrong with your mp3 player. Regardless of whether you'd like them to actually fix it for you. Every consultant I know, around the world, charges clients for their time.

I think its more than a little preposterous, then, for creative consultants to be asked to not charge for their time. I think its more than a little demeaning, for the design community, when designers fail to recognise this obvious fundamental and choose to sign away their right to charge the client to tell him what's wrong with his/ her business, or product, or service.

The single most worrying long term implication of spec work is the genuine danger of the client accepting it as the de-facto way of getting work done- a perfectly acceptable industry norm, so to speak. After all every novice, if he/ she sticks at it long enough, gets to be a journeyman and has to wear that dull throb that refuses to go away as some sort of initiation robe!