What is spec work, and should you do it?
Spec work
Spec work is creative work done for free on speculation, such as a test logo or a pitch design, in the hope that the client will pay for it or hire the creator.
Spec work, short for speculative work, is work produced before anyone has agreed to pay for it. Design contests, unpaid test projects and pitches that ask for finished concepts are the common forms.
Clients ask for it to reduce their risk. For the creator the risk moves the other way: the work is usually unpaid, the ideas can be used without credit, and the time cannot be billed elsewhere. Professional design bodies such as AIGA advise against it.
A paid trial, or a portfolio that shows how you think, is not spec work. Saying no to spec work goes better with an alternative on offer: a short paid discovery phase, or past projects that answer the same question.
For example. A startup asks five designers for a free logo concept each and promises the project to the one it likes best.
Spec work on Yume
On Yume, a request for unpaid work can be one of your deal breakers: your agent declines it politely and notes why.