Working for Free?

Throughout the years, the question 'Should Graphic Designers ever work for free?' has been thrown around many times and lots of mixed reviews. From doing a brand identity for a family members business to entering a competition to win a cash prize. It's a topic that isn't taken lightly.  One side of you wants to earn money for their hard work and the other side of you just wants to be noticed whether you get money or not. At the end of the day, it's up to the designer.

The 10 Commandments of Working for Free as a Graphic Designer

​https://www.companyfolders.com/blog/10-commandments-of-working-for-free-as-a-graphic-designer

Examples of Working for Free and Why It's Good.

Entering Competitions: Entering competitions can be a great way of gaining exposure and building up your confidence when it comes to design. Plus, there's almost always a cash prize or a chance to work for a Graphic Design company. Even if you don't win, the company or judges have seen your work so either way, you've gained exposure!
​Designing For a Close Family Member: Knowing you have a Graphic Designer in the family is always a good thing and beneficial. Especially if you have your own business. Doing the odd design here and there for family members isn't a bad thing. Especially if it's relatively easy or quick. Asking said family member to show off your work and get people talking about it can feel even better than getting money for it. You also gain a good reputation for yourself and your design career.
Designing for a Charitable Organisation: Contributing to charitable organisations by using your graphic designer skills may be beneficial to your career in the long run. But it's also good to make sure that you stand to gain something such as experience that'll become useful in the future, access to other professional designers or referrals to paying clients.

Spec Work

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