Focus on Benefits: Advocacy against Spec

The RGD Membership has its privileges! As co-chair of the Membership Committee, I want to share some of the amazing resources and benefits that Membership provides and encourage all RGD Members to take advantage of them. If you’re not an RGD Member yet, now’s the time to join! 

This particular benefit has reached beyond the RGD’s Members, but the RGD’s advocacy for our profession and its stance on spec work benefits all Members. Spec is short for speculative work. It usually takes the form of a contest or request for proposal (RFP) that requires designers to produce free work in hopes of getting chosen to work on the project or having a contest-winning design see the light of day as a logo or poster, app or website, etc., without payment.  

Often even the designs not chosen become the property of the organization that put out the RFP or contest. So, not only do designers put their time and talents in for no pay, but they also relinquish their intellectual property rights. A designer’s time has value, and none of us should dedicate time and hard work for zero remuneration or the chance of winning a project. A potential client should be able to judge whether a designer is a good fit by looking at their portfolio, reading a proposal and/or meeting with them. 

The RGD has a specific policy on spec work for its Members as part of its Code of Ethics. They have also created an excellent tool to decide whether an offer is considered speculative work or not called Free, fee or flee.

“It's alarming how frequently we encounter spec work requirements in RFPs. It's frustrating to invest hours into a proposal only to be shortlisted and then asked to provide spec work for the pitch, forcing us to withdraw. The RGD's advocacy raises awareness of these unethical requests made by reputable organizations and reinforces that this practice is unacceptable. When we, as an industry, collectively reject these requests, they will lose their effectiveness and eventually become obsolete.”

Beverly Hall RGD

The RGD has a history of contacting organizations with RFPs that have a spec requirement. The main goal is to educate the client on how spec work is unethical and not effective for getting the best work. In some cases, the organization takes the spec requirement out of the bidding process or contest. Hilary Ashworth, the Executive Director of the RGD, reached out to the City of Toronto about an RFP that included a spec work requirement. It took her following up after no initial response, but the success is outlined in this article: “The City of Toronto revised the RFP in early February, removing the requirement for speculative work and instead requesting past work samples to assess agency capabilities—a more ethical and professional approach.”

Another recent example of the RGD's advocacy work (which even made the news!) was when the City of Vancouver amended their FIFA 2026 World Cup poster contest.

We have a passion for what we do and may even come up with ideas in our sleep, but it is still work and we deserve to be paid for it. The RGD advocates on our behalf and gives us tools to communicate our worth to potential clients.