By: Dan Lewis

Dan Lewis — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 19:19:41 +0000

Never free pitches!!!!!!!!

By: Mike Dempsey

Mike Dempsey — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 16:18:30 +0000

Like other professionals, we deserve to be valued for our skills and expertise. We graphic designers should NEVER undertake free pitches. It undermines our worth and the value of our work. Creative problem-solving requires time and effort. We invest countless hours developing unique concepts for our client’s needs. By accepting free pitches, designers essentially give away their time and talent, diminishing the value of their expertise. Free pitches also devalue the worth of our entire design industry. It perpetuates the notion that creative work is not worthy of compensation. In my whole professional life, I have not taken on an unpaid pitch. I have done pro bono jobs for charities I wanted to support or in helping a friend, but that’s it. I will call them out when I can show evidence of a potential client asking me to free pitch. DW may recall several years back; I shared emails that I’d had from a museum asking me to submit a free creative pitch. Ironically, I later learned that an exceptionally well-known design consultancy did a free pitch on that project. When designers accept such requests, it sets a precedent for future clients to expect free work. Ultimately, it diminishes the professional standards of our industry, making it harder for designers to negotiate fair compensation in the future. My advice is DON’T DO IT.

Comments on: Should designers still be creative pitching?

By: Dan Lewis

By: Mike Dempsey