Steve Flinter’s blog

I came across this article from Adam Howell by way of Daring Fireball. In essence, the post is saying that Pixish, the target of Adam’s ire, is a glorified forum for spec work, which apparently is a bad thing. To quote:

AIGA believes that doing speculative work seriously compromises the quality of work that clients are entitled to and also violates a tacit, long-standing ethical standard in the communication design profession worldwide.

And it probably causes cancer too.

This argument is very similar post I read a year or two ago (which unfortunately Google can’t seem to find for me) arguing that the bargin stock photo sites (e.g. iStockphoto) are killing the professional
stock photography market, by letting amateurs sell their work for a fraction of the price that the pros can or will.

In both cases, you have to just say boo-hoo. This the is the free market in operation. If you don’t like it, tough – find another line of work. Marketplaces such as iStockphoto, Pixish and many, many others allow pros and amateurs to compete for work and income on a level playing field. If the amateurs can’t deliver the goods, then the marketplace will seek out the pros, and pay pro-level prices. These websites would ultimately end up as failures. But the success of iStockphoto, Elance and the like demonstrates that there’s a huge market for such services. Buyers want them, and pros and amateurs alike are happy to meet that demand.

The net changes everything, and professionals who were comfortable and cozy in their own environment now find that they’re competing against the rest of the world, and don’t like the experience.

In his recent post, Derek Powazek gives the most appropriate response:

…if you think an assignment isn’t worth your time, don’t do it!

Tags: 2 Comments