A look from the other side of the fence…
Saw an animated piece today that sparked this post…I link to it at the end…..
If you guys havn’t figured out yet, I’m a graphic designer by trade. What? You really thought I was a pro-podcaster? Well I’m sorry to bust your bubble on that one. ;) Anyway, from time-to-time, as a designer, I, well I should say we, designers collectively, get asked by people we know or are aquainted with or by someone one of our aquaintences knows, to work on a design project for free. I have a passion for creativity and quite often I am quick to say “yes” to something, just so I can do something cool, new and creative…that’s one of my bad traits….I say yes to quick…I think I’d be alot more successful, and by successful I mean have more MONEY, if I’d just carry an invoice book around with me in life. I can’t tell you how many times in my young freelance life I was burned for decent sums by scumbags who didn’t pay me. Sometimes saying NO is not the way to spread “the word” or keep up “good PR” or “build a brand”, but other times, in fact most times…asking for monetary compensation is the DAMN right thing to do. Nothing in this world is for “free” and I shouldn’t be giving away my services for free either.
Now, there are some exceptions to this rule, barter is always nice, it shouldn’t be an all-the-time-thing, but it can be useful, the services must match in value though…and simple web plugs or word of mouth advertising sometimes aren’t worth the pixels or air molecules they are projected with. Designers will get duped into that easy-way-out barter quite often. Also for family and good friends, there’s not too much I would turn down, those are good “yeses” in most cases. But like I said, I say “yes” very often to people and businesses that I KNOW HAVE A BUDGET. Over the years its gotten less and less, a mortgage, car payments, day care and looming college funds will do that to a bitch. 
Now I’m not sure of the thought process of people who ask creatives to do free work, whether the idea of creative design in any form, print, web, fine art etc. just seems like an “art” or a “craft” or something that “seems easy enough, I can’t possibly pay for something I could surely do myself if I had time”…whatever the idea is, but I’ve often wanted to say what this lil’ animation does so well. I don’t mean to offend with this post, merely educate or wake up a bit.
