Doing a job for free?
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- cannonball19780
I don't do shit for friends and family. Ever.
- MrT0
I don't mind the odd freebie for a friend, I've just swapped a logo + business card for a year's garden maintenance. Trade swaps yeah.
- anthonyzinonos0
good friends and family only!!
bands are cheeky bastards and so are those writers that email you wanting to 'collaborate'..... "i wrote this and was wondering if you could do some illustrations for it, it will be great exposure!"
i wonder if any illustrators ever send a few jepgs to a writer saying ' here are some illustrations i did, i was wondering if you could write a book for them, it'll be great exposure!!'
- Miguex0
I have to agree on it being up to you, I'm sorry to hear that for some people it didn't worked out, but my story is the complete opposite.
I've done a couple of projects for free, (I still do), but after I decide when it's right after evaluating pros and cons. Most of the times is me approaching another person, or if a good friend ask me and the time has to be right, I will use that project to experiment, learn something new, and (in the long run) drive my career to a new area.
If you only think of it as 'a free logo' then nothing will come out of it. If your approach takes in consideration that this could be an opening to practice new skill and add a portfolio piece that will let you (not the client) show it to potencial customers, then I'm all for it.
Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't but you will never find out if you don't take a risk.
- eflips0
I do probono work a few times a year for charities that I like. It’s much more gratifying than corporate work, it actually makes a difference in people’s lives, and it’s important for me to cultivate generosity in my life.
- cannonball19780
The only three reasons you would work for free is:
A) You want to see someone else's something a certain way really bad.
B) You still need to prove to other people you can work for other people.
C) For some illogical reason it makes you feel like a good person.
- moldero0
when I have down time (not getting paid)
Ill do shit for free, but only for stuff I like to do and it has to be cool and it has to be my concept, and im not taking direction from no mother fucker.
paid work usually sucks, but its money, and we have to survive financially, but I need a creativity fix, this is 1/2 the reason I got into this biz.
- monospaced0
I do wedding invitations for free for my closest friends, but they appreciate what they're getting and they try (tentatively) to respect that I'm doing them a favor and that my services are, in fact, their wedding gift. Payment comes in gratitude from their guests and their families.
- qTime0
The problem is the more people work for free the more clients will expect it.
Basically as someone mentioned above, if you work for free you should demand total control.
- dibec0
no.
- scarabin0
if it's something you believe in i don't see any issue with lending your skills to the cause as long as you don't give the impression that your work isn't valuable.
i designed an album cover for a rising DJ i dig, and a logo for another. both knew it was a gift and understand its value
- set0
New rule:
Never
- mekk0
'free' means no money, but I always want something in return for my work.
And I never, really NEVER work for friends or family, or their friends etc. there is always too much room for a lot of trouble I don't want.
- SimonFFM0
If they promise, it'll be a very very big thing and will give you a lot of follow up work... don't do it.
- ideaist0
FREElance
- monospaced0
Girlfriend was putting together a "spa" day at her work for the assistants at her company and asked me to put together a flyer/email invitation. I considered just tossing in a warped, low-res, watermarked photo of some bamboo and using Papyrus to create it (because that's what people like this actually expect), but instead I "designed" it really nice. I even did it in PowerPoint because that's what they understand and use. I did it for free because, what the hell, what's an hour for some design good, right?
Three picky revisions later I send it over, done. They started changing it, they didn't understand it and ended up rejecting it altogether. No joke, they ended up using a stretched photo of bamboo and Papyrus. I don't even know why I bother if I'm not getting paid.
- Come on, pics of your original design. We all wanna see! Name and shamepig
- the first conversation has to be "if I work for free, I have total creative FREEDOM, NO REVISIONS":... good luck!vaxorcist
- LOL, it was my girlfriend, and I DID say that, but even then...monospaced
- Don't make fun, I was just fucking around in PPT. Mine and theirs:
http://www.benwexlar…
http://www.benwexlar…monospaced - Theirs:
http://f.cl.ly/items…monospaced - "Put a bird on it!"monospaced
- oh shit - they're making bath salts!bulletfactory
- hehehe, right?monospaced
- vaxorcist0
years ago, I worked for a smart creative agency that did some pro bono work. It seemed our criteria for choosing a pro bono client was...
1. Creative freedom and "can we win an award with this?"
(we did win some Cannes awards for pro bono work)2. If it's a nonprofit, is there a board of directors who we might meet after showing some work that will get us other clients through connection networking?
3. is it something bizarre and amazing ..can we can use it as a feather in our cap to get other business and massive PR, something like... "bollywood bungee jumping"
4. Can we do it in a day or so? in between other work? only a small number of meetings? only ONE decision maker who is a very good friend willing to let us do whatever we want?
- d_rek0
If it's not for family/fun then it's not for free.
The work I do for friends' bands is infrequent at best and usually takes up less than a full-working day of my time when all is said and done (maybe a band logo + poster).
Anything else that's for a legitimate business enterprise needs to be paid for.
- hellobotto0
I regularly donate time/ability to clients/causes. In the past, I've also discounted rates for companies/organizations who were just starting out and/or could offer back something that I determined has value to me and/or my business interests.
In both cases, I established a threshold of time/talent. Once the threshold was crossed the project would be wound down. By doing this, you won't ever see the person as being "cheap" because you've taken measures to protect yourself.
Non-paying clients are just like paying clients in that they both reside on one's schedule. If someone can afford to allow non-paying clients to consume the majority of that schedule because their paying clients demand little time for large reward, then brilliant. But if those same non-paying clients are allowed to negatively impact a balance sheet at each month's end, then the issue might not be "cheap clients." It may the designer who allowed their P&L to go upside-down.