Why Professionals Reject Spec Work in Design (And Why You Should Too)

Why Professionals Reject Spec Work in Design (And Why You Should Too)

Want to know the fastest way to guarantee you get mediocre design?

Ask for it for free.

This isn't a trick question. It's the premise of “spec work,” one of the creative industry's most misunderstood and damaging practices. It feels like a logical, risk-free way for business owners to find the right designer.

It’s not.

Spec work is a trap. It's a hidden tax on your time, budget, and brand's potential. It also costs the business owner and the designer far more than they realise.

This isn't a moral lecture on paying creatives. This is a cold, hard business calculation. We will dismantle the logic behind spec work and show you why it’s one of the worst procurement tools you can use if you’re serious about building a valuable brand.

What Exactly Is “Spec Work”? Let's Call It What It Is.

Spec work, short for “speculative work,” is any custom creative work a professional provides for free, hoping to win a paid project.

It’s an audition where the actors are asked to write and perform a new play, but only one gets paid for their script.

The Textbook Definition

At its core, spec work is the creation of new, bespoke assets for a specific client before a contract is signed or a payment is agreed upon. If the client doesn't like the work, the creator gets nothing for their time, expertise, or ideas.

The Different Flavours of Free

Spec work comes in a few common forms, some more obvious than others.

• Design Contests: This is the most infamous model, popularised by platforms like 99designs. A client posts a brief, and dozens (or even hundreds) of designers submit custom designs. The client picks a “winner,” who receives the prize money. Everyone else gets nothing. It's a lottery.
• The Unpaid Pitch: This happens in more traditional agency settings. A potential client asks several designers or firms to “show us a few ideas” for their new logo or website. They'll use these free concepts to decide who to hire for the project.
• The “Free Sample” Request: This is a common request from small businesses. Can you just design a quick logo concept for us so we can see your style?” It sounds reasonable, but it's still asking for custom work without payment.

Why It's Not the Same as a Portfolio Review

Let's be crystal clear. Asking a designer to see their portfolio is not spec work. A portfolio is a collection of past projects completed for past clients. It’s their resume, their proof of competence.

Reviewing a portfolio is smart due diligence.

Asking a designer to create new, custom work for your specific business for free is spec work. One shows you what they have done. The other asks them to do work now, for free.

The Client's Logic: Why Asking for Spec Feels So Smart

No business owner asks for spec work because they're a villain. They do it because, on the surface, it seems like an incredibly prudent business decision.

Let's imagine Sarah, a talented baker who has poured her life savings into opening “The Flour Pot Bakery.” Her budget is tight, and every penny counts. The idea of hiring a designer is terrifying.

Fear of the Unknown: “What if I hate it?”

Sarah's biggest fear is paying a designer £3,000 for a brand identity, only to be presented with something she absolutely despises. It feels like a massive gamble.

From her perspective, asking to see a concept first isn't about getting something for free. It’s about buying insurance. It seems the only way to mitigate the risk of making a costly mistake.

The Illusion of Choice: “More options must be better, right?”

The logic of a design contest is seductive. Why get three concepts from one designer when you can get 50 ideas from 50 designers for the same price?

More is always better, isn't it? It feels like you’re maximising your chances of finding that one perfect diamond in the rough. You’re running a comprehensive market search to ensure no stone is left unturned.

The “Try Before You Buy” Mentality

Sarah can sample a new batch of flour from a supplier. She can test drive a delivery van before she buys it. So why can't she “test drive” a logo?

This thinking comes from comparing design to a product—a commodity you can pick off a shelf. But design isn't a product. It's a service. It's a strategic process. You wouldn't ask a mechanic to fix your engine for free to see if he does well, or a solicitor to prepare a sample contract. You trust their expertise based on their track record.

The Designer's Dilemma: Why on Earth Would Anyone Agree to This?

If spec work is so problematic, why do thousands of designers do it daily? To understand that, let's meet Tom, a recent design graduate.

Tom is talented and ambitious, drowning in a sea of other talented, ambitious graduates. He's desperate to get his foot in the door.

The Hunger for a Portfolio

Tom knows he needs a killer portfolio to land a good job or high-paying clients. The problem? He has no clients. The “portfolio piece” argument is compelling. He tells himself that doing spec work, even if it doesn't pay, will give him real-world projects to showcase. It feels like a necessary evil to kickstart his career.

The Gambler's Fallacy: “But what if I win?”

When Tom sees a design contest for a cool new tech startup, his mind races. If he wins, he gets prize money, an extraordinary portfolio piece, and maybe even an ongoing relationship with the client.

The odds might be 1 in 100, but that feels better than his current 0 in 0. The slim chance of a big payoff is more appealing than the certainty of nothing happening. It’s the same logic that sells lottery tickets.

A Misunderstanding of Value

Like many new designers, Tom hasn't yet learned how to sell his thinking. He only knows how to sell a finished picture.

He doesn't have the confidence or the language to explain to a client that his value lies in his strategic process—the research, the discovery calls, the brand workshops. So, he defaults to the only thing he can offer as proof: a completed design. He gives away the thinking for free because he doesn't know how to charge for it yet.

The Brutal Reality: Why Spec Work Fails Everyone

This is where the logic of spec work completely falls apart. It’s not a harmless transaction. It’s a broken process that produces a bad outcome for everyone.

For the Client: You Get What You Don't Pay For

Sarah, our baker, thinks she's de-risking her investment. In reality, she's guaranteeing a subpar result. Here's why.

Problem 1: It Filters Out the Experts. This is the most critical point. The best, most experienced, and most in-demand designers do not do spec work. Their time is too valuable, and their process is their product. Their queue of clients is willing to pay them for their strategic guidance from day one.

When you ask for spec work, you signal to the market: “I am only looking to hire from the pool of designers who are desperate enough to work for free.” You immediately and completely remove the top 10-20% of talent from your search.

Problem 2: Zero Strategy, All Garnish. Great branding is not about a pretty picture. It's about solving a business problem. A professional design process starts with deep discovery: Who is your customer? What is your market position? What are your business goals for the next five years?

Spec work has none of this. The designer gets a short paragraph—a vague brief—and is asked to make a guess. The result is a collection of aesthetically pleasing but strategically empty decorations. You're not getting brand strategy; you're getting a beauty pageant of clichés.

Problem 3: The Risk of Plagiarism and IP Nightmares. In a contest with 100 entries, how can you be sure the “winning” logo wasn't just pulled from a stock vector site or subtly modified from another brand's identity? The designers are incentivised to work as quickly as possible, which often leads to shortcuts.

Furthermore, who owns the intellectual property of the 99 losing designs? If your “winning” design happens to look a lot like one of the losing concepts, you could be wading into a legal minefield. The AIGA, the professional association for design, explicitly warns against spec work for these ethical and legal reasons.

Problem 4: It Devalues the Partnership. Building a brand is a collaborative journey. You want a design partner invested in your success, who challenges you and acts as a trusted consultant.

Starting that relationship with the demand, “Compete for my business and work for free to prove you're worthy,” creates a terrible power dynamic. It frames the designer as a disposable vendor, not a strategic partner.

For the Designer: The True Cost of “Free”

For Tom, our graduate, spec work feels like an investment in his future. But the math tells a different story.

Cost 1: The Opportunity Cost is Massive. Let's say Tom spends 15 hours on a design contest that he doesn't win. What could he have done with those 15 hours instead?

• Spent 5 hours networking and talking to potential mentors.
• Spent 8 hours creating a stunning, self-initiated case study for his portfolio where he defines the strategy himself.
• Spent 2 hours landing one small, paid project for £300.

The free work isn't free. It costs him the opportunity to do things that actually build a career.

Cost 2: It Creates a Race to the Bottom. The more designers agree to work for free, the more clients expect it. The entire practice devalues the profession by teaching the market that creative thinking is a commodity that should be given away on demand. It reinforces the idea that the designer's time is worthless until a client subjectively “likes” the result.

Cost 3: The Work is Inherently Weak. The work produced is a hollow shell because there’s no client collaboration, feedback loop, or strategic brief. It can't be a strong portfolio piece because there's no story behind it. A case study that says “I entered a contest and lost” is far less powerful than one that says “I worked with a client to increase their sales by 20% through strategic rebranding.”

Cost 4: It's a Confidence Killer. Imagine spending your days working hard on projects only to be “rejected” 99% of the time. This is the reality of spec work. It's a brutal, demoralising grind that leads to burnout and a crippling sense of imposter syndrome. It's the fastest way to extinguish a young creative's passion.

A Better Way: How to Hire a Designer Without Playing the Lottery

So, if asking for spec work is a terrible idea, how can a cautious business owner like Sarah hire a designer with confidence?

You do it by changing what you're evaluating. Stop evaluating a designer's ability to guess and assess their ability to think.

Step 1: Look at Their Past, Not a Hypothetical Future

A designer's portfolio is the single best predictor of their future performance. Scrutinise it.

• Do you like the general aesthetic of their work?
• More importantly, read their case studies. Do they explain the client's problem and how their design solved it?
• Do they show their work in context—on websites, packaging, and marketing materials?

A strong portfolio proves they can do the work.

Step 2: Have a Real Conversation (The Chemistry Check)

Select your top 2-3 designers based on their portfolios and schedule a call. This is not a sales pitch; it's a chemistry check.

The best designers will ask more questions than they answer. They will ask about your business, customers, competitors, and goals. They are trying to diagnose your problem. A designer who only talks about fonts and colours is a decorator. A designer who discusses customer acquisition and market share is a business partner.

Step 3: Ask About Their Process

Ask them: “Can you walk me through your typical process for a project like mine?”

A professional will have a transparent, step-by-step methodology. It will involve discovery, strategy, mood boarding, concept development, refinement, and delivery. This process is what you are actually buying. The system is designed to eliminate risk and deliver a beautiful and practical result. A designer without a transparent process is just winging it.

For a concrete example, a professional approach to creating a brand identity is a structured journey. You can see what a professional brand identity process looks like to understand the difference. It’s about building a foundation, not just picking a colour.

Step 4: Start with a Paid Discovery Phase (The “Roadmap”)

This is the ultimate alternative to spec work. If you're nervous about committing to a complete £10,000 project, ask the designer if they offer a paid, standalone “Discovery” or “Roadmapping” session.

For a smaller fee (e.g., £500 – £1,000), the designer will conduct a 2-3 hour workshop with you to define your brand strategy, target audience, and project goals. You walk away with an incredibly valuable strategy document. This is a low-risk way to work together and see if you're a good fit. It provides immense value and a solid foundation for the whole project.

For Designers: How to Say No to Spec and Still Win Work

If you're a designer like Tom, you must learn how to politely and effectively refuse spec work. It’s about shifting the client’s focus from a free sample to a valuable process.

Reframe the Conversation from “Art” to “Investment”

When a client asks for a spec, don't just say no. Explain why it's against their best interests.

You can say:

“I understand the desire to see concepts upfront to reduce risk. However, my experience has shown that designing without a strategic foundation leads to ineffective work that doesn't meet business goals. My process is designed to prevent that. We start with a deep dive into your business to ensure the concepts we develop are aimed squarely at your target.”

Offer the Paid Discovery Session

This is your most powerful tool. Pivot from their request for free work to your offer of a high-value, low-risk paid engagement.

“While I don't provide speculative concepts, I offer a Brand Strategy session. We'll create a comprehensive project roadmap for a small investment. You'll walk away with a clear strategic direction, allowing us both to see if we're a good fit before committing to the full project.”

Build Case Studies, Not Just a Gallery

Stop thinking of your portfolio as a gallery of images. Start thinking of it as a collection of success stories. For every project, write a short case study.

• The Problem: What was the client struggling with?
• The Process: What steps did you take to understand and solve the problem?
• The Solution: Show the final design and explain how it addresses the initial problem.
• The Result: If you can, include a client testimonial or a metric (e.g., “25% increase in web conversions”). This sells your thinking, not just your software skills.

The Final Calculation

For the business owner, the equation is simple.

Spec work is not free. It costs you the expertise of the industry's best talent. It costs you the opportunity to build a brand on a solid strategic foundation. It costs you countless hours sifting through dozens of irrelevant, amateur concepts.

The real risk in branding is not paying a good designer for a professional process. The real risk is paying the long-term price for a weak brand built on guesswork. You will pay for good design one way or another—either upfront to a professional, or later in lost sales, market confusion, and the eventual cost of a total rebrand.

The next time you're tempted to ask for a free sample, ask yourself a different question: “Am I looking for a lucky guess, or am I looking for a business partner?”

Your brand's future depends on the answer.

Ready to build your brand the right way, without the guesswork? Understanding what goes into a professional project is the first step. See the structured, strategic approach behind our brand identity services. If you already have a project in mind and want a partner, not a contestant, let's talk about the specifics.

Frequently Asked Questions about Spec Work