I just discovered the sub r-slash-freedesign. Just thought I'd remind you that this a waste of your time, and to NEVER WORK FOR FREE.

This might be a shitpost. But I would really like you guys to hear this.

I'm irritated that there is such an unethical sub. I feel the duty to send this message to those who may consider doing this. Forgive me if it's been said before/said better/not interesting/completely off-base.

People- there is NO BENEFIT AT ALL creating a logo/website etc for free. Would you mow a lawn for free? Deliver a pizza? If you were a painter, would you paint their portrait for free? Imagine a photographer doing free weddings. This is what they're asking you to do. They're asking for hours or days of your time. Please don't agree to this, because it will probably get you nowhere, and because it cheapens the value of all our hard work.

Examples of the bollocks they will say to get you to work for free:

"It will be good exposure for you" - exposure to what? Your tiny company/startup/nonprofit hasn't even a few hundred dollars to pay a contractor but somehow is influential enough to raise my profile? It's a lie. Any company with that kind of brand awareness/influence PAYS their contractors. period.

"Could lead to paying work" - This is never, ever the case. if they can get you to work for free, why pay you next time?

"a chance to hone your skills" - we can do this on our own time, without the deadlines. It's kinda what we do, for every job.

"work in a professional environment" - There's nothing professional about not paying your workers.

Mind you, there are some innocent souls out there who mean well, maybe they need the help really bad... It's your call, always, but I can tell you from experience that even this kindhearted sort RARELY is worth your time either, for a variety of reasons.

I would also add- there are lots of exceptions, like internships, charity etc. I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about those bottom feeders on craigslist, and r-slash-freedesign, and those 'competition' websites that ostensibly are contests, but in reality are crowdsourcing free design work (i hate them the most).

TLDR : alternate handy flowchart available here (not my site)

Great design resource

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter) Submitted January 20, 2017 at 07:11AM by shmatt http://ift.tt/2k75ur4