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Spec work (short for speculative) is any job for which the client expects to see examples or a finished product before agreeing to pay a fee.

This type of work is widely considered undesirable and immoral by the web design and graphic design community, as it requires the designer, or developer, to commit time and resources to a project with the chance of getting nothing in return. While a client may feel they don’t want to invest money until seeing some work, designers should not have to prove their worth to get a job. Instead, clients should choose a designer based on their portfolio and experience and commit to building a working relationship with him or her. Only then will both the client and designer see the best results.

Imagine these scenarios:

• - You visit a restaurant and tell the waiter “I don’t know what I want, but I’ll know it when I taste it. Bring me half a dozen dishes and I’ll pay for the one I liked.”
• - You take your car to the mechanic and say “my car needs 4 new tyres but I only have enough money for 2, I need you to throw in the other 2.
• - You ask a painter to paint your house for free, but you promise to add the fee onto the next time you need your house painted.
• - on and on the list goes…

Obviously you would never ask any of the above questions, even more obvious is that the answer from any of the above service provides would be no. These kind of requests are almost exclusive to the web and graphic design industry for some reason, despite design being a business like any other.

Why Spec is Bad for the Client, Too

Spec work doesn’t just hurt the designer. If potential clients are asking one or several designers to show work, they are immediately establishing a negative relationship. Instead of building a long lasting relationship with a single designer, they are often asking several to submit work with little contact, taking a chance that the right design will be presented.

Design requires time, equipment and most importantly skill and knowledge, for what reasons other than these do you approach a designer?