Again, don’t like this type of thing. Just don’t participate. But its here to stay. With the success of this one don’t you think its drawn the attention of tons of clients looking to get design work done?

Seems like a net win for graphic arts to me.

perhaps the most troubling part of the open letter, the comments from designers and the comments in the church marketing lab, is the arrogant attitude. some have suggested better ways rick could have done things, as if he needs to consult us.

the argument for contests like this devaluing work are shallow and short sighted. poetry writing contests do not devalue poets. preaching contests (yes, there are preaching contests) do not devalue preachers. battle of the band competitions do not devalue musicians.

if you don’t like spec work, then don’t participate. it’s really that simple. but whining and complaining about it really won’t do any good.

I see both sides of the issue. However, what the Church Marketing Sucks guys are missing in all this ironically is the “marketing”. No matter what side of the issue you are on as far as the “no-spec” is concerned, this is really great marketing. Look at the profile this is getting – for the designers and for Rick Warren. Not all PR has to be good. It’s how you manage and leverage it.

The same situation applies to marketing as it does for design. As a marketing guy, I have taken on submitting projects in contests too just to get the shot at having the “job” as part of my portfolio. Anyone who runs a small business or a freelance operation should do these type of things so they can take a shot at marketing themselves. I look at it as a way to invest in yourself from a marketing angle and if you”win” you get the payoff. If you don’t, you learn a lot in the process and it doesn’t cost you money…just time. I realize time is money, but it is a cheap way to promote yourself if you don’t have the “cash” to invest in marketing yourself.

I am a designer as well. And any freelance work I do does not come cheap. My time is valuable to me and I have to be very choosy about the projects I accept.

That being said, I love entering design contests. I know there is no guarantee that my design will be picked. I’ve designed a ton of stuff for both threadless and canvasthreads. I’ve had no winning designs at threadless and only one winning design at canvasthreads…and that’s okay. It was a chance for me to do something fun, to broaden my skills, and get a little exposure.

I think the post at churchmarketingsucks is way off. When I was a newb designer and trying to get business, often times I’d take initiative and find a business logo that I thought looked crappy and redesign it. Then, I’d contact the business and present it to them. Never got a single project. But it certainly wasn’t a waste of time. I learned a lot in those self-initiated projects.

If I’d had the chance back then to enter a contest for a book design for Rick Warren, I would have absolutely jumped at it. I would have been incredibly pumped about it. I would have researched – – strongly considered color, type, and graphics – looked at countless numbers of other book designs.

This contest is an incredible opportunity, and I guarantee you everyone who enters it will whole-heartedly disagree with churchmarketingsucks.

I labored for two years on a book project that I pitched to agents/publishers with no guarantee of pay. It turned out to be one of the smartest moves I ever made professionally. I got a book deal out of it .

This could end up being such a great opportunity for an up-and-coming designer. Seems like kind of a dumb thing to get worked up about.

If you’re a struggling designer, you absolutely must, are forced, to enter…if you want any chance to make the money offered. What you miss is that most of the specs (including the one you mentioned) have $0 even attached to it and are often excuses for cheap labor.

We should be above that.