Saying no to free design work is almost impossible when you’re desperate
- by gmashworth
- in Design
- posted June 6, 2021
Saying no to free design work is almost every professional designer’s mantra. I’ve never understood why graphic designers are disrespected in this way. It’s bad enough companies run competitions to source brand assets such as logos, but for people to expect graphic designers to work for free is on another level. Other specialised service providers aren’t expected to work for free, nor are their professions belittled and undermined by competitions.
When I lived and worked in the UK, I was employed full-time and on an average salary. Naturally, you get colleagues asking for design work for their own personal projects or for partners setting up businesses. If the expectation was for me to do them a favour and not charge, I could easily say no or ask a favour in return. Any work I did in my personal time was pocket money because I had a salary, I didn’t depend on any extra sources of income.
Now I live and work in Botswana and I’m self-employed as a freelance designer. I no longer have that safety net and security of a salary. One of the first things people need to understand about Botswana is the ‘who you know’ culture. The population is approximately 2.3 million, almost every generation went to the same schools and university. This is certainly the case for my generation and older and this is a generation of people in positions of power. In the UK, you are highly unlikely to know CEOs of major organisations or government MPs, but it’s not unusual in Botswana.
I came to Botswana in 2013 with my Motswana wife. She left Botswana in 2000 and during her time away, people she knew moved onwards and upwards. A network is vital in Botswana, without a network you are at a disadvantage. I won’t go into details about the culture here, but suffice to say, my wife quickly realised her old network hadn’t just moved onwards and upwards, they had moved on.
We started life in Botswana with nothing more than the few crates of belongings we shipped from the UK. We couldn’t afford to ship everything, so left a lot behind and came to Botswana with no furniture or appliances. But we weren’t too concerned because prior to leaving the UK, my wife was told she would easily find a job and that I wouldn’t struggle to find business. The reality was the complete opposite.
Botswana in fact has a high rate of unemployment, and finding a decent job here is extremely hard. More often than not, the only chance you have is to exploit your network and hope there’s a position out there somewhere, or maybe a position can be created for you. Graphic design (in my opinion) is one of the most exploited professions. Everyone here with access to YouTube tutorials and appropriate software is a graphic designer. There is a high number of agencies (big, medium and small), considering the small scale of businesses in the private sector. Most contracts are allegedly bought or tenders favour the larger players anyway.
We arrived with what we felt was enough money to keep us going comfortably for a few months. We had hoped to slowly ease ourselves out of holiday mode and spend a short period travelling, visiting relatives and sightseeing. But plans changed. My wife sent out countless CVs and applications, but couldn’t even get an interview. Due to the length of time it took for my residency permit to be processed, I couldn’t work and so neither of us earned a penny in over 12 months. The little money we came with had dwindled.
We were desperate and this leaves you vulnerable. Most of the people who showed interest in me sold the idea of exposure in return for free work. One prominent charity was the first to float the idea. This was in the beginning, but over the next 12 months more and more bad experiences followed. When your income is zero and someone comes along needing your services and promises exposure or favours in return, every bone in your body smells BS. You know it’s wrong, you know it’s a risk, but it’s difficult to turn the offer down. Options are limited and you start weighing up the potential gains hoping nepotism works in your favour. Desperation makes you do things you wouldn’t normally do, it actually makes you think working for free is a good idea.
For me, none of the free work I did lead to anything; no referrals and no tangible benefits (financial or otherwise). These days, if I do anything for free or for a heavily discounted price, I do it on my terms and for those who I feel deserve it. Saying no to free design work sounds easy, but it’s almost impossible when you’re in despair, and your next step is rock bottom. That elusive exposure or the empty promises of further engagement are like a dangling carrot, and the temptation is almost impossible to resist. I had never been self-employed, so I was a rookie in unfamiliar territory, while also adapting to a completely new environment. You worry that by saying no, they’ll walk away, never to be seen again. You say yes and maybe, just maybe it will lead to something and get you up and running.
Several years on and our circumstances are different, things did eventually improve. We’re not financially comfortable, we’re surviving, but I am getting regular paid work. I now see the younger generation of designers making the same decisions. People post requests for free work in Facebook groups, and a handful of designers accept those terms. Maybe for some, it will lead to something, but in all likeliness, it won’t.
I was lucky that one client gave me a chance, and that one job paid the rent. From thereon, I got repeat business, and that company is still a client today. In as much as I hated where I was back then, I learned from it. I’m fortunate to have made it this far. I realise I’ll never get rich from doing what I do, not in Botswana. But at least I’m being paid for my work.
The global design community quite rightly promotes the message of ‘no to free design work’. If a company truly values what you do, they will pay for it. Know your own value, exposure doesn’t pay the bills. It’s all true, but despair takes you in the wrong direction down a lonely road.
Another process in Botswana that falls into the same category as asking for free work are proposals. Some companies won’t hire based on your portfolio or experience alone, they want you to submit a proposal. If a company plans to launch some sort of marketing campaign, they want a creative to submit their ideas and quite often this includes actual artwork. Proposals are not protected and sadly there have been claims of companies stealing ideas and passing them onto other agencies.
These types of proposals are basically competitions. You spend days or weeks working on something and there’s more chance of it being rejected than accepted because you’re competing against other creatives. In my experience a proposal illustrates competence and ability to carry out the project in question. The potential client can see what you’ve done in the past and makes an informed decision.
They might not be outright asking for free work, but by submitting a proposal you are providing free work. When you’re starting out or you are desperate for work, you start to take these risks and willingly waste your time and energy. I’ve fallen into this trap more than once and I’ve had my work stolen. These days I ask the client to make a commitment; give me details I can provide a quote for, agree the cost, await the purchase order or make a downpayment.
I’m not desperate anymore, so if this is not agreeable then that’s fine. I always feel like turning the tables and asking this simple question. Imagine your boss expecting you to do your job on the basis he/she would assess your input at the end of the month and decide whether or not to pay you. Would you take that risk and accept those terms? Probably not, but what if you had no other job to go to, no other means of earning a living, what if you were desperate?