So, as tempting as this may be, how is this type of contest good for the design profession?

This isn't work that would ordinarily be open to a pitch process. It's a magazine hiring a spot illustration. It's not corporate identity, where the relationship between client and designer is vital to the understanding of the project. So, in that sense, this isn't likely to contribute to a devaluing of work. Plus, the judges are the same people who would have hired out the illustration in the first place (plus those crafty Vits), not the general public.

This "competition" is spec work, promoted by... wait.. graphic designers?

You're encouraging this type of business from clients.

If lets say, there are 10 entries, that's $50 a mock up. That's just great. Great promotion of our trade guys.

Sigh. I knew this would come up... If anyone think this is spec or devaluing the profession, so be it, don't participate. I have no plans of changing anyone's mind and don't intend to get into any discussion about this – we've already done so many times here. So just to clarify our position:

High Priority – amongst graphic designers – is a well-known feature of New York magazine that we all enjoy because of its unbridled creativity and the fact that it is not attached to any given thing: It's simply a design expression. For those that don't know, Luke, Chris and John personally invite a designer every single week to create these feature. They have absolutely no shortage of persons to invite and there are designers and illustrators lining out the door waiting for the invitation to be part of this purely design- and information-based exercise. They wanted to extend an open invitation to designers through Speak Up and we were happy to give this opportunity to all of our readers. New York is not fishing for concepts nor hitching a free ride. Just like Word It, and the Speak Up poster and t-shirt contests, this is an opportunity for any and all designers to simply exercise what they do, and do it in good company.

Plus what JonSel said.

If you still feel you don't want to participate, that is completely fine. It's your decision. Others will make their own.

I'm actually ambivalent about the whole competition aspect of it (and may decide to enter) but thought I would raise the issue. My organization (the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington) once incurred the wrath of the local AIGA because something we did seemed like spec work to them and they were very adamant in their opposition. How would AIGA national view this?

By the way, the "you don't have to enter if you don't want to" argument is exactly what a client holding a competition would say.

The argument for it is that this opens the opportunity up to designers, like me, who wouldn't normally have the opportunity to be considered for such a high profile project.

> By the way, the "you don't have to enter if you don't want to" argument is exactly what a client holding a competition would say.

Doug, yes, you are correct. I used that line in the context of all of us being educated (and well-discussed) designers and knowing very well what constitutes spec and what doesn't and noticing the difference when a contest comes from a company looking to save money and take advantage of people and when it's coming from a community known for it's open collaborations and past history of doing things like this right. When I say people can choose not to participate, I say so because I assume designers will have strong convictions about not participating and, well, they have the right to choose not to.

> My organization (the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington) once incurred the wrath of the local AIGA because something we did seemed like spec work to them and they were very adamant in their opposition. How would AIGA national view this?

They have my e-mail, they'll let me know if they don't agree : )

I guess this is the sequal to Trees a Crowd, in Times Square only this time the beneficiary is New York Magazine Holdings LLC.

I smell a book release and some free publicity via Speak Up from New York Magazine. Luke, we go way back. You know better.

ps- where should I send my submission to?

Fuck it. I love a good competition. This isn't rebranding Citibank fer chrissakes. High Priority is a cultural institution. You should be proud to have an opportunity to submit.

I had too many coffees today and so not only do I think, at this moment, that I'll submit something knowing that, while it's good to attempt to walk one's talk now and then, especially when one knows one shall walk smack into a wall of failure, given the odds and one's talent, the height of the former and the utter depths of the latter (barely a step latter), I also reviewed the long list of ideas scribbled on my page and thought another thought, which is I should post the ideas I don't plan on using. After all, the problem with spec work and contests is the waste of effort, the vast wastelands of effort, the athleticism of the brain sweated upon a treadmill rather than on the road of the real, and so in keeping with this utter waste of so much well-meaning effort, I shall post the ideas I don't plan on pursuing. I should be building homes in New Orleans or, at the very least, spending time with my children, but, no, I am posting, thus far, the precipitation of my brainstorm as the droplets, the inky idea-lets, soak into the pavement of the page.
1. Subway map includes places and stops in addition to events.
2. Ticket stubs & receipts of each relevant event.
3. Design clip-out cards to be clipped out and put into wallet.
4. Bottom of shoe, text in gum or some candy wrapper stuck to shoe.
5. Newspaper event listing tossed into garbage.
6. It's December. Stuff 'em into a stocking or on a holiday card.
7. The 10 Commandments of the 5 High Priorities.
8. Students will be taking mid-term exams, so put the listings on an exam sheet.
9. Do a fake DVD Bonus Features screen, lighting up the five events.
10. List 'em on a toe tag of a corpse. High priorities? Too late.

I got a million of 'em. And you do, too. They could all work. And if you don't win the contest, which 99.9% of us won't, next week's designer could crib your idea. I better get back to work. We all have our priorities. And I have to nuke some vegetarian chik patties for my kids. Hey, maybe I could write letters with ketchup?

Interesting. I don't see this as spec work as much as I do a proposal. Sometimes when you vie for work you don't win the job... anyway, I don't question the integrity of Speak Up or the 'High Priority' feature of New Yorker.

I probably won't enter this contest for certain reasons, but it has nothing to do with this being spec work, because I don't think it is.

i've never posted a comment on here, but it's pretty damn funny to me that people are complaining about this being spec work. oh well. i think this is a fun opportunity.

PLEASE NOTE:

The submission file dimension has changed from 410 x 262 to:

820 pixels wide by 524 pixels high.

Apologies for the change.

Luke/ Armin/ Chris:

stop on by the party tonight. Hey! Thanks for the work! I had a great time and hope you did too. Please bring the $500 and any other free publicity I can muster for us.

Cool. I think its a great thing, and interesting that its open to non-NYC designers...pretty sweet opportunity if you ask me.

My ideas, your design. In basketball, they call it an “assist.” I pass. You shoot. Just remember: crowds love a two-handed slam.

HOLIDAY
11. Text winding around candy canes
12. Naughty/Nice list
13. Red candles, black night
14. Ribbons: possibly tied into girl’s hair, twisting in wind
15. Lost-and-Found: text of events on winter clothes like hats, one mitten, a boot, a scarf in a lost-and-found box
16. Gift boxes
17. String the holiday lights of text in the NY trees
18. Cheesy holiday sweaters: reindeer on one, menorah on another, etc.
19. Old trains and tracks: text choo-chooing on tracks, or trains on text tracks
20. Chinese New Year Dragon
21. My favorite: Fake white Santa beards on event text in red.

URBAN/YOUTH
22. Hiphop Chains: loop text as if hanging from neck
23. Car rims: circle text and blur it as if spinning rims
24. Five cellphones with text messages
25. DJ turntables: the remix of your cultural life or, wait, scratch that

TOO NEW YORKER?
26. Text on dog sweaters on many dogs on a multi-leash
27. Financial graphs: business profit in red and black
28. Red snowblower blowing out lines of snowy text
29. American Flag, high priority text as stars, info as bars
30. Text stitched on winter hats of subway riders
31. Red Cross: high-priority bags infusing blood of culture into people of the city
32. Baby with red bottom powdered with talcum of High Priority

THE URBAN LITERAL
33. Parking meters with text where time goes, High Priority in place of red Expired
34. Text in shapes of bridges and/or tunnels of Manhattan & Boroughs
35. White chalk outlines and police no-crossing high-priority tape
36. Parodies of newstand mags with text on them instead
37. Construction cones and barriers
38. Stop signs with High Priority and text on red warning signs
39. Break glass in case of high priority
40. Dashboard meters
41. ATM: either screen or line of people behind it (what people do before going out)
42. Fire trucks with ladders of text
43. Fire extinguishers: text as foam or on instructions
44. Fire hydrants: dogs optional
45. Police car, black and white, with red siren and text as sound waves
46. Apartment nameplate with text and doorbell buttons
47. For-sale real-estate signs

DINING OUT OR IN
48. Chopsticks or Take-out Asian cartons
49. Pizza/pasta: pepperoni text or marina drips on tablecloth or shirtfront
50. Restaurant Menu: preferably a cheap diner with checkered tablecloth
51. Wine labels: this should’ve gone under “Too New Yorker?”
52. Food labels: boxes of cereal, nutrition facts
53. Text on cardboard coffeecup girdles
54. Recipe: add spices of 5 events, stir into pot of boring life
55. Red and black licorice, stacked, chewy text woven in strands

PARTY HARD
56. Red veins in bloodshot eyeballs, or eyedropper with “high priority” on it
57. Black tuxes, red dresses
58. Dance-step how-to diagram
59. Text in shapes of or as labels on contents of spilled purse
60. Matchbooks, opened to handwriting inside (red matchheads)
61. Full house in 5-card stud: red diamonds/hearts, black clubs/spades, full house also referring to, say, a packed theatre

GAMES
62. The old Nintendo video game or controller: beside High Priority, etc., include the secret codes in arrows: up up down left right up up.
63. Checkerboard: checker pieces in red and black, double jump, king me
64. Hockey sticks and pucks
65. Events on athletic uniforms, maybe High Priority on a Jumbotron
66. Text on red-and-white Daredevil fishing lures (culture baiting)
67. Firecrackers: Bang!

There is a big difference between a contest and spec work, and I don’t think we are in need to go deeper (as others have stated before me). This as with most things in life should be a personal decision. Do you wish to play and doodle with a goal that otherwise you might never get a chance to play with? Go ahead. If you don’t that’s ok too, go on to enjoy the show or move on to the next post. I am not trying to shun anyone here, but as we know, Speak Up (or anyone for that matter) will never be able to please every individual out there, nor do we aim to do so.

After all, the problem with spec work and contests is the waste of effort, the vast wastelands of effort, the athleticism of the brain sweated upon a treadmill rather than on the road of the real, and so in keeping with this utter waste of so much well-meaning effort, I shall post the ideas I don't plan on pursuing.

How about those who run the NYC marathon as well? Running for hours, for what? A waste of well-meaning effort?
Or the work students create for themselves as they push their projects beyond scope, only to practice and experiment more?
Each of us filling out our information and writing checks in order to participate in design competitions, along with several other thousand entries? What for?
How about the Speak Up poster contest? The t-shirt contest? How about leaving comments that could be selected for Stop Being Sheep? Or the Word Its we are publishing this spring?

Can someone explain to me what David Barringer is hoping to accomplish by posting his ideas here?

Hey, I wondered when the word its were coming out. Thanks Bryony.

I'd enter, but I think we all know Andreson's going to win. Pesky illustrators.

Yes, I have to ask the same as h.s.: what's up, David?

Mr. Barringer's barrage of ideas also leads me to ask the organizers: only one entry per contestant?

Ricardo (apologies for the bold-caps in advance): YES, ONLY ONE! As stated right below the submission e-mail.

For anyone sending more than one, we will only consider the first submission.

I'm having a D'OH! day today. So much for my being a careful reader. Thanks, Armin, and feel free to delete my post, as it might cause confusion.

Sorry,
R.

Can someone explain to me what David Barringer is hoping to accomplish by posting his ideas here?

The man's prolific. Nice going, DB.

............

Greg, My name is Andresen, not Andreson, but it's OK. It only matters on large checks. Besides, I thought illustrators are extinct according to Design Observer...

............

One more thing - Mr. Vit: THANKS FOR ALERTING US TO THE SIZE CHANGE JUST WHEN I FINISHED ONE. Now I know I'm gonna screw up something else and be disqualified ...the 150 kb file size or something...wish there was someone I could send this to to double check my adherance to the specs before I blow it altogether...

Pesky, David might be prolific, but in my humble opinion, by posting his ideas here, he is automatically making them unusable by anyone else... or maybe he is trying to force us to come up with different ideas... or maybe he is trying to start up a collaboration with someone... I dunno! David?

I should probably keep my keyboard quiet, but what fun is that? If I can't prick the conscience, then why bother? To wit: the events page of New York magazine is not the New York marathon. I wouldn't think that would need clarification, but there and so. Reacting emotionally to spec work and contests is my right. I think a lot of effort is wasted, it's true. People can enter or not. Also true. People can hold different views. True, true, true.

But honestly, creatively typesetting "Shaun of the Dead" is just a design job, not the basis of a meaningful or even artistic contest. In a fiction contest, for example, I get a story out of my effort. Perhaps the contest inspires me in the first place. But surely I would only write a story featuring Absolut vodka if someone paid me (I'd probably only be paid if I were Jay McInerney, except he'd be writing about a nice burgundy). Typesetting "Shaun of the Dead" is something I believe just about any competent designer can do and be properly paid for. (Reassuring the entrants that they retain the rights to their submissions is rather a cruel joke, no? Is the Evanston Eccentric eagerly awaiting the titles of Broadway shows typeset against a Manhattan skyline?)

New York editors can collar any number of recent design grads or contact any number of designers online, many of whom would probably do several drafts of the work for free as long as they were rewarded with publication. I like the idea that New York opens its events page to designers, of course. Wish more periodicals were this open. And I don't begrudge the right of New York/SpeakUp to hold this contest. Go to it. Right on. And it's rather addicting, as you can see from my long litany of ideas.

But as that list also shows, it's really a rather easy assignment, yes? What's at stake? Not much. And who judges between potentially hundreds or thousands of good ideas well executed? Is there really a dearth of design ideas for this project such that a contest was deemed necessary? Are there so few competent designers out there that a contest was decided upon as the hound dog that would flush brilliant pheasants into the open field?

And if I chose to set these events as the type in an email to my cousin overseas in Iraq, undercutting the party tone with reference to the wider world, could I seriously expect it to be printed? ("Why don't you try and find out?" "Okay.")

My list of ideas is the tip of the iceberg, representing a mere cloud in the collective brainstorm set off by this contest. The satisfaction of entering this contest cannot be equated with the enormous pride of completing, let alone winning, the New York marathon. Your grandchildren will not be looking at your scrapbook and whistling at how well you stitched "High Priority" onto a red dog sweater (Magenta: 100/Yellow:90). It's just the execution of another design job, a particularly banal one at that, maybe not even something for the portfolio.

It is an exercise that does not feed the designers but instead flatters the palate of the judges with a surfeit of tasty design morsels.

Hold the contest, do. And ye entrants, enjoy, scribble, indulge. But neither mistake this fishing venture for honorable competition, nor congratulate yourselves upon your charitable works. If I spare no criticism of myself, I will spare none for Shaun of the Dead. So lighten up. Do not justify yourselves. There is no need. Only understand the basis of your judgment and its effects within the greater context.

And seriously, dear design entrants, if only one winner is to be chosen (why not five? ten? there are 52 weeks in the year, if I'm not mistaken), then save some of your effort and enjoy the benefits of my brainstorm. You can at least save yourself the trouble of considering the same cliches I did. And, hey, New York editors, if you're really struggling for cool ideas, don't pay for anything, for crying out loud. Steal a couple of my ideas and scatter them throughout the year. Design is concept, right? And no one can copyright ideas, only expressions. Enjoy the free buffet.

Oh, and that reminds me.

68. Set the text on bottles of antacids, aspirins, cough syrup, and other pharmaceuticals that help you recover from a long night on the town.

Hm.

I'll just be doing it for fun.

Sorry Marc. I wsa typnig too fsat. You'll have to forgive me. I know what's it's like to get my last name spelled wrong (no, there are NOT two p's. Yes, like the thing you use on your windshield when it's cold).

I don't know anything about the publishing industry, but having the words “design” and “contest” in the same sentence seems a little weird to me.

Design contest.

that hurt Mr Vit

Just being light-hearted…

Thank you for clarifying David. It just sounded weird that you were complaining about how it was wasting peoples' efforts but at the same time you were wasting yours by coming up with ideas. On top of that I felt like you ruined half the fun of entering these competitions, which is the satifaction of coming up with the ideas on our own. (ofcourse, we could've looked away).

Does anyone see a problem with the fact that we're simply given dummy text that is supposed to be replaced with some unknown text in the future?

> Does anyone see a problem with the fact that we're simply given dummy text that is supposed to be replaced with some unknown text in the future?

H.S., unless time travel were a reality, it is editorially, physically and chronologically impossible to determine the text that will be published a month -and-a-week from now. New York is published weekly – with content being written a few days (if not hours) before going to press – and the fact that the High Priority's have the most up-to-the-minute information is what makes them valuable. So, unfortunately, it's unavoidable.

I'll enter if Marian isn't allowed to enter. If she enters, what chance to the rest of us have? New York magazine should just pencil her in for a future issue and give us all a little better chance of winning.

What does Mr. Nussbaum have to say about this. (If he's even seen this.)

Remember the flap?

Respectfully,

I felt like you ruined half the fun of entering these competitions, which is the satisfaction of coming up with the ideas on our own (of course, we could've looked away).

At least h.s. feels the same way I do! Thanks, h.s. -- I haven't read all 68 of David's items for that very reason, although I am very tempted to! (Who could resist seeing another designer's mind at work?) I'm sure I'll cave in sooner than later. :-D

Firstly, David Barringer is a genius. Spot on, sir!

/admin/uploadImages.cfm

Secondly, I would like to take this time, before I send the bill, to say hello to my friend Luke Hayman @ New York - easily the best publication designer in these United States. I've worked side by side with Luke at Ogilvy years ago. He is real gentleman and to this day consider him a good friend. Hi Luke. (long time no see). Luke, I can't decide what hurts more:
A) never getting called to design your High Profile gig, or
b) never getting called to design the High Profile gig after having my work stolen from me by your staffers at New York Magazine (Sadly, it's true- this enclosed Starwood preferred guest icon was recently traced by a member of Luke's staff. Angered, I sent Luke a note. He appologised and offered payment to which I refused). We're friends, remember. Normally, friends don't bill friends.

But in this case I could use the money to pay for the time I want to waste doing a real High Profile gig. So here is my bill, Luke. Sorry to do this to you. But contests don't keep the lights on in Mapleweird. Once I get the check I'll be happy to steal one of David's brilliant ideas. Yours in the struggle, FS

Felix, getting your work traced and ripped-off is the 2nd best compliment we can get as a designers/illustrators. Places a close second to getting your posters stolen in public spaces.

Unfortunately, those type of compliments don't keep the lights on. ;)

Though this "contest" is for a great magazine it reaks of
this catastrophy which was lampooned right here on speak up a few months ago.

If that didn't teach us a lesson, last month INC magazine art director Lou Vega posted a weekly "competition" very similar to this in collaboration with i spot. And how did that go? Well, after the fury from Team Pay Us First the editors wisely cancelled the episode entirely.

sorry to get off topic, but...

Felix,
You're mistaken when you say 'Lou Vega posted a weekly "competition" very similar to this.' Lou's post on the iSpot was never billed as a competition or contest, and there was no winner or prize for participating. To mention his name here and misquote him to help teach your lesson is wrong.

Hi Felix,
Your I spot link didn't work.
Also, The word "competition" never appeared in the I-spot forum that you're referring to. I just re-read it. Not one mention of it.

So, Don't use my name and then use fabricated quote marks to support your argument. Thanks.

You'll be hearing from my attorney. Although, you have to give her some time, she's only two years old right now.

hilarious.

so, yes, my mistake. not a competition, a "contest".

whatever name it goes by doesnt change the fact that you (Lou) asked a professional body of illustrators to conjure up free ideas in the name of "fun". OK, maybe not "fun". Maybe "excitement". I don't want to mis quote anybody. The ispot editor (Jami Groinappolis) removed the topic, appologised and admitted it was wrong.

But I stand corrected. It was a great idea. You're right. I'm a total idiot.

I get a queasy feeling from these type of things. Not so much for this particular event/ bake off but the fear that this will become more and more a trend in the business. We have heard of advertising agencies slipping in that direction. Are we far off from just becoming like those web sites that bid off logo and illustration jobs to the lowest bidders with the most chops? If you have vision and respect creativity give the job to someone you respect or admire. Maybe it's the idea of this corner of magazine real estate being auctioned(an existing illustration job), if it was a unique thing like a poster maybe it would be different. I'm sure it's well intentioned.

I get a queasy feeling from these type of things. Not so much for this particular event/ bake off but the fear that this will become more and more a trend in the business. We have heard of advertising agencies slipping in that direction. Are we far off from just becoming like those web sites that bid off logo and illustration jobs to the lowest bidders with the most chops? If you have vision and respect creativity give the job to someone you respect or admire. Maybe it's the idea of this corner of magazine real estate being auctioned(an existing illustration job), if it was a unique thing like a poster maybe it would be different. I'm sure it's well intentioned.

Maybe it's the idea of this corner of magazine real estate being auctioned(an existing illustration job)
I don't know how much you read into the actual stoy, but that is essentially what they do every week by CHOOSING a designer/illustrator to complete the job - it's not like someone at New York magazine is designing it every week. I agree with the comments before that this is simply an opportunity some of us might never have to design for a high profile job. So instead of asking one specific person, the editors have asked a specific group of people to design it... BIG DEAL! We should embrace this opportunity, and as said before, if you don't want it, just don't participate.

Recently I completed a set of designs for a project, only to find out that seven - S-E-V-E-N - other desigers were working on the same thing. Talk about feeling used like a cheap whore...

Mine wasn't chosen even though it was really brilliant - which was par for the course - but it was the feeling that I was decieved by not being informed. At least here we are told it's an open race. I can accept that, but I don't really like it. Why is our effort cheaper than cake icing?

That queasy feeling: No one asks plumbers or lawyers or doctors to all work on a single problem and then a single selection is made.

But designers? We run like greyhounds once the bell goes off. How long ya gonna be used as if it's a privilege to participate when publications have bucks in their pockets and you don't? Because they think artwork ought to be cheap, that's why. They spend that much on coffee, ciggies and a croissant.

I can see why some here feel a bitter taste about it, but on the other hand, we all have a sense of competition too. Gets us everytime.....

I confess that like Felixxx (no offense, sport), I'm a total idiot and I'll make something up....

BIG DEAL! We should embrace this opportunity, and as said before, if you don't want it, just don't participate.

You're exactly right. But while it looks like euphoria to you, some of us actually make a living from these token $500 jobs. As Barringer said, is it really beneficial?

Do me a favor. Go to Riccardo's site. The man is an unbelievable artist/ illustrator (and I'm lucky to call him a friend). Last year New York magazine had the balls to ask Riccardo to do a portrait for $200. Think about it. For the price of dinner and drinks out with your girl (in NYC) you could've had one of the best talents in the country do your portrait. You may as well give him a chair on 43rd street for Christ's sake!

Granted, falling ilustration prices aren't NY mag's problem, but they exacerbate it on a weekly basis with their quick xeroxed "phototrations" ala John Ritter, John McCabe, etc. Is it technique "innovative". Maybe its neccessary? I don't know. Thats another worthy topic for discussion.

We're graphic designers.

We're corporate whores.

We all hate spec work.

Except when the whore is really really good looking.

No one asks plumbers or lawyers or doctors to all work on a single problem and then a single selection is made.

Point of fact: Plumbing contractors do what graphic designers do. They spend a lot of time figuring out a problem and solutions and then agree to do the work for a set price knowing that others are doing the same thing so that it is likely that they will not get to do the work. They charge nothing for this service despite the value given through their insights. This, like the similar work done by graphic designers, is, indeed, speculative work. (Any bid is speculative work so clearly it is not spec work per se that is the problem.)

Surgeons regularly consult on the diagnoses of other doctors. This is often (but not always) paid work but their comments affect whether they will be selected to do the part we narrowly think of as the real work.

It would be interesting to know if this Speak Up / New York co-opt was engineered for quantitative/ traffic purposes or for quality measures. Q: Think you'll get the big names to compete? A: No. They've already high prioritised. "Enjoy your Colbert bump" Stephen would say to his candidate nubians. Everyone wins, especially those who participate. Be totally inclusive! Just go with it!! While we're on the slope, lets hold a redesign contest for New York Magazine and let the public decide who wins. A You Design Tube if you will. Give real people a voice here. It's a win/ win/ win, right?

I don't know why I'm so saddened from all these harmless contests. Its all in the name of good fun. But, (and theres always a but) something in the back of my head hears and publisher's voice slumped over his/ her desk crunching numbers in anticipation of Speak Up's "bump".

full disclosure: years ago I collaborated on the icon redesign of New York Magazine with art director David Matt. My chore: the 15-20 category icons in the back of the magazine. usage: full buyout, forever. My proposed fee, hood-winked via telephone @ 12-20k, respectively. After finished the editors (bad cops) and Mr Matt (good cop) renigged on the offering. (and dumbass had nothing signed). My invoice for $2,700 was paid 3 months late.

Welcome to New York! If you can fake it here you can make it anywhere. Its up to you Speak Up!... New York!

Enjoy your bump everyone.

Gunnar:

There's a difference between giving a proposal to someone vs. doing the work for someone. Also, plenty of plumbers will charge you just for having them show up to tell you what needs to be done.

But does that difference matter? Probably not. People will do what they want. We've all entered design contests. Many of us have been burned. For some insane reason, many of us will again enter design contests...

Also, out of curiosity, I'd love to see Doug's question answered (the first post):

"how is this type of contest good for the design profession?"

Not to KNOCK the contest, I don't really care if people enter or not...but it is an interesting question.

> "how is this type of contest good for the design profession?"

The contest is not set up to be "good for the profession", it has no ulterior motive for the betterment of our ilk. It is what it is: An opportunity to exercise creativity with a pre-defined brief and set of rules that are interesting, with the predisposal that if it's something good/cool/smart enough it will be rewarded with $500 and publishing in a high-circulation magazine that has a good reputation in said profession. Trying to make it more or less than that is up to each one of us.

> It would be interesting to know if this Speak Up / New York co-opt was engineered for quantitative/ traffic purposes or for quality measures.

Felix, it was done because we both thought it would be fun. Both Speak Up and New York recognize each other's "quantitative/traffic/quality" and are both going into it for no other reason than we can and we want to.

Felix, I hate to say it, but the more you post on this discussion and the more full disclosures you give, it is becoming grudgingly apparent that you have personal problems with New York and its staff over the years. Have you thought about publishing a memoir?

Have you thought about publishing a memoir?

Funny you ask. I was posed the same question from an excellent publisher a few days ago. Of course, I went into one of my terriblly not funny shame spirals and blew it.

I don't have time for a book. I live here as a professional bad-mouther. Sincerely, I hope something good comes from the contest, unfortunately, my baggage is too heavy to lift.

I think it would behoove everyone here to realize that there are two sides to this argument, and that the proprietors of Speak Up have made neither.

Side 1: It's a contest for work. Everyone submits their work, and only one person gets paid for it, and not particularly well. The essence of spec. It's degrading as a practice.

Side 2: It's an opportunity to open the closed-door mentality of the "by invitation only" set of designers. New York magazine wasn't going to ask me to do this work; therefore, getting to submit at all is more than I should expect.

Speak Up: It's a contest. It's for fun. There's a carrot at the end of this stick. So what? Think of it as a word it with a cash prize.

I align with Speak Up on this one.

Apologies in advance for galloping into the Not-OK Corral once again. I try to stay away, I really do. I have mowed the lawn, and I have baked bread. I have written an article, and I have leafed through 100-year-old books looking for moldy ornaments to scan. It is only my affection for SpeakUp and for the young designers out there who are not afraid of ezines and blogs and online comments that inspires my participation in the great mad messiness of democratic discussion. So forgive my literary flights of fancy, my high-minded pranksterism, my occasionally legalistic rhetorical flourishes: it is all in the spirit of prompting deeper discussion on subjects that might go unremarked. Giddy-up.

In the beginning, I struggled with the competing moods this contest drew from me, and now, after all, let me attempt to isolate and encapsulate a single criticism. Forget spec work. Forget NY magazines. Forget contests. I think what prompted both my lusty interest and my morning-after second-thoughts was the same thing: SpeakUp's involvement.

I don't care what New York magazine does. If it were their contest alone, if they'd dropped a call-for-entries slug at the bottom of their page, then big deal. No comment. I wouldn't have known about it, let alone indulged a brainstorm. But that's not the case. The case is that SpeakUp's a co-sponsor. Why should that matter? Because it lends the contest the imprimatur of a representative of a segment of the design community. Just because it's online, just because it's light-hearted, just because there's so little money involved, well, it still exists, and therefore, it still means something. But what?

SpeakUp depends on the unpaid contributions of its staff and its readers/followers. Articles, Word Its, comments, feedback: so many people paying attention and working for free. It's quite amazing, honestly, all of it for the good of an online design community. No one contributes to SpeakUp out of greed. There is no profit here, no lapel pins for the collar of your reputation. This is less like a business group and more like a social club. Anyone getting rich from sharing and caring? Nope. But we do it anyway.

And witness the good will accruing to the SpeakUp brand, if I may use that word. It is a testament to the good faith of the SpeakUp participants.

So let us ask again what it means for SpeakUp to co-sponsor this contest with New York magazine. I don't mean to answer for anyone in particular. I just mean to impress upon readers the legitimacy of that question itself. Design is about form and concept, about meaning and context, about communication and connection. It is art in the service of business. It is personal and enterpreneurial. It is vocation and avocation. It is more than just a job, and it is more than just fun. You can't take your hands off the steering wheel at selective times, hoping no one's looking and that everything will be fine. There are always consequences. You cannot abdicate your duty to make a judgment. You can learn from your decisions, but you cannot wish them away.

And so if you don't want to listen to me anymore, stop now. But here is a question that I have strung together in my mind, while mowing the lawn, while baking bread, while talking to myself as I wait for the computer to boot up. And it is this:

Why should SpeakUp leverage the good will of its brand and the good faith of its community not to showcase the power of visual thinking on a substantive issue like, say, Iraq or New Orleans, but rather to marshal the considerable brain trust of its followers on nothing more than a top-five list in the back of a regional magazine?

I imagine that the SpeakUp guardians never asked themselves this question precisely because the contest in question appears, at first blush, to be so harmless, so much like a lark, and to have so little at stake. And yet that very presumption itself begs the question: why get involved? Why not let New York magazine run its own little celebrity contests? Why not reserve SpeakUp's imprimatur for events that connect with real issues and larger segments of the public? Why not expect more, not less, from SpeakUp than from other design magazines and institutions?

The horse I am on is really quite high, and so I must take care with the dismount. Actually, it appears that I am only midstream and the current is strong. I'll just let myself fall into the river: hat, chaps, six-shooters, and all.

Felix asked me to weigh in so...
It would be easier to do the contest than read all the comments so forgive me if I am repeating someones remarks. I'm a believer if you don't like it don't do it. I also think it's tricky to say 'in the spirit of fun' and mix in a little commerce. Don't think it will bury the industry though. It'll dig in all by itself.

If publicity is the ambition goal, one has to consider if it's actually easier (with better odds) to submit a fresh new design to New York than to prepare (and pay for) the submissions to CA, American Illustration, SOI, etc. I'd say the odds are also better in New York mag (and no hanging fees).

Lastly, I would suggest that they change the theme to High Priority in Washington and watch the designers (Felix first) come flocking to it like flies to the Oval office.

Why should Speak Up leverage the good will of its brand and the good faith of its community not to showcase the power of visual thinking on a substantive issue like, say, Iraq or New Orleans, but rather to marshal the considerable brain trust of its followers on nothing more than a top-five list in the back of a regional magazine?

David, I fear that you're implying Speak Up should adopt a quasi-sociopolitical direction. It does not purport to do so. It presents itself only as a forum for passionate dialogue. Lofty concerns or trivial concerns... that's really up to we the dialoguers, not up to Speak Up the forum.

Therefore, Speak Up is still well within its stated mission by offering cute little inconsequential contests for regional magazines. I suspect your discomfort with this comes from that undeniable truth that occasionally the graphic design profession does shamelessly involve itself with cute little inconsequential contests, even when the visual communication in our fingertips can have more consequence than that. Of course it can. And if some publication or organization wanted to have a "Bring the Troops Home" or "Sustainable Energy" or "Clean Water for Africa" contest, I'm sure Speak Up would be first in line to co-host that contest, too.

However, it seems you're condemning Speak Up's role as a merely neutral forum. You seem to condemn its embrace of such a wide spectrum of substance. You seem to wonder whether a more discerning policy might not elevate Speak Up's brand, and thereby the industry's brand as a whole.

But here you're making a subjective judgment about what is worthy of our profession's focus and concern. This is a qualitative assessment that cannot and, dare I say, should not be imposed on the entire industry, even if it means the "Graphic Design brand" can never unite under a banner of social, environmental, political, cultural, or moral significance. (Such a unity, I assume, is an underlying goal of your sentiments.)

This "high horse" you admit to riding, it's been around the track before. It reminds me of Emigre's First Things First Manifesto 2000. That manifesto also made presumptions about our industry that left a similarly bad taste in my mouth. For some reason, people keep thinking that Graphic Design is obligated to stand only for "worthy" matters of social significance at every opportunity. Sure, fine, why not. But who it fit to judge what is worthy? Sometimes, a regional magazine just needs a cute little Top-5 list, and I refuse to lose sleep over the hour I spent on that instead of on my "Curing Breast Cancer" poster.

Our industry cannot have a cause.

It would go against the very nature of the beautiful diversity of what we do. The high and the low.

Craig is still wincing from the beating his office took last tuesday.

Rick,

However, it seems you're condemning Speak Up's role as a merely neutral forum.

I hope someone has time to parse “merely” and “neutral” in that sentence.

That manifesto also made presumptions about our industry that left a similarly bad taste in my mouth.

Please note that he did not claim that our industry needed a cause or that certain areas of work were below our collective dignity (as First Things First seemed to imply.) He was not talking about what an entire industry or any individual should do. He was questioning what a volunteer group should do with the power of the group members’ collective work.

I share some of your misgivings about the tendency to try to invest graphic design with lofty status through prescribed subject matter but whether we agree or not, Mr. Barringer has taken the time to lay out a well-considered argument and we owe him the courtesy of engaging his actual arguments rather than merely exhibiting symptoms of acroequinophobia.

Per Gunnar's wise suggestion...

> Why should SpeakUp leverage the good will of its brand and the good faith of its community not to showcase the power of visual thinking on a substantive issue like, say, Iraq or New Orleans, but rather to marshal the considerable brain trust of its followers on nothing more than a top-five list in the back of a regional magazine?

David, I don't think there is a simple way of addressing your concern. A big part of it is understanding the context (as you said, this is a community where we all talk and share out of our free will), the audience (designers who have work to do, things to tend to and worry about) and the environment (a relaxed web site where we can indulge in design obsesiveness that is, in a way, a relief from the day-to-day stuff). Speak Up is meant to offer a respite, an escape that is sometimes challenging, sometimes goofy, sometimes dumb, sometimes engaging, etc. Aligning with a contest that is, as you put it, "nothing more than a top-five list in the back of a regional magazine" is reacting to these characteristics and making sure that Speak Up is offering a relevant contest that aligns with the mood and dynamic of the blog – I, of course, see it more optimistically than your description and I have already explained why we chose to run this contest and put it in the hands of our community. We don't talk much about social or political issues so it doesn't make as much sense to do posters on Iraq or New Orleans.

Now, that doesn't mean that a contest like that is something that we would never do... We would do it, but we would do it through UnderConsideration, under a guise separate of Speak Up – it would be its own initiative. And that is not because we don't believe in the power of our community (we sure as hell do and are consistently surprised by their willingness, smarts and passion). It is about acknowledging how to set up things to succeed and keep with the "brand" as you say. A poster contest for Iraq or New Orleans requires a different environment and a different frame of mind that everybody here is capable of switching to, but that Speak Up might not be the best environment to foster the best results.

> Why not let New York magazine run its own little celebrity contests?

This is not a celebrity contest. If New York wanted to run a "celebrity" contest they would ask AIGA National to muster their reputation and get Sagmeister, Chermayeff, Rigsby, Doyle, Vanderbyl, etc. to sumbit. New York chose Speak Up because it represents designers, plain and simple. People who are great with type, image and ideas and make work every single day (I hope!).

> Why not reserve SpeakUp's imprimatur for events that connect with real issues and larger segments of the public?

We are open for ideas. And if they align and mean something and make sense we will be more than happy to engage in these "real issues".

> Why not expect more, not less, from SpeakUp than from other design magazines and institutions?

I don't know how this contest means "less"... This is where the argument gets subjective and the horses get higher. David, thanks for raising the questions.

Dateline: December 20th, 2022

Who would have thought it would come to this! The USA has a new flag.

SpeakUp's co-sponsorship involvement in the redesign contest of the new American flag had been greeted with fierce criticism over the last months. Still, over 35,000 designs were submitted by SpeakUppers, as they are affectionately called. Over 10,000 submissions by famous antediluvian designer Felix Sockwell alone.

Degrading Spec work! An insult to the prestige of the profession! The fury of designers everywhere has yet to simmer down. The primary objection being a mere contest for such an important national symbol.

The brief: to create a new American flag design has met with both opposition and involvement. America had seen great changes to the states: losing the entire Southwestern region to annexation to Mexico, the disappearance of the Deep South to severe floods and , most tragically, California's slide into the sea in the great earthquake of '19. The US government - specifically, President Chelsea Clinton - had requested that a new American flag be designed with fewer stars, no bars and perhaps a change of color. A new flag for a newly reconfigured country.

The venerable and semi-retired Armin Vit, had offered the design industries help wih one of his famous contests. The debate raged on as the entries piled up.

But complications developed early in the judging phase. The winner, Marian Bajantes, an aged Canadian designer, with her intricately sinuous "Don't Tread On Me" snake image was declared the winner, but objections to her non-American status disqualified her in a messy dispute. The second place winner, Las Vegas University Dean, Gunnar Swanson, with his black on white generic stick figure couple was chosen instead to howls of protest. Flag burnings were forbidden in the draconian measures of the president, but they occured nevertheless.

"Never let it be said that we didn't serve our country - when she requested a design contest." said Speak Up.

deet deet deet....

this just in... Luke Hayman joins Pentagram as partner.

Congrads Luke!

I read with appreciation the comments from Rick, Gunnar, Armin and especially Pesky Illustrator, who has responded in kind with creative design writing.

By the way, I didn't mean to imply that bleeding-heart liberal sociopolitical causes are the only content open to designers after, of course, top-five lists (as I’m sure no one else meant to imply that literal-minded designers are incapable of conceiving of any other “real issues” in the world today beyond Iraq, New Orleans, and the New York top-five list). While I'm concerned that anyone would cordon off "real issues" with quotation marks, as if content were a mud puddle formalistic designers might accidentally step in, I, more importantly, don't care what your positions are, politically or otherwise (although I'd be tickled to see a pro-animal-rights campaign among designers, maybe a "Fur Things First Manifesto"?).

Allow me to avoid cataloguing the inconsistencies in testimony and instead observe that the improvisation of rationalizations is symptomatic, it would seem, of a resistance to clear thinking when clear thinking might result in painful conclusions. I never called for a cause. I never insisted on a SpeakUp manifesto, heaven forbid. I asked a question, but I never actually insisted that SpeakUp defend its decision. SpeakUp can be as freaky as they want to, that's their business, but it is the business of designers to reflect on the big picture, on what the SU decision means to them, and so I'm not interested in putting Armin on the defensive, I'm way more interested in what other designers think. Anyway, I also never criticized New York magazine for trying to get theirs (Adam Moss, doing a bang-up job, my man).

Oh, and let me interrupt my blathering on to award this year’s Woodward & Bernstein 50/50 polyblend T-shirt to Felix for digging up LukeGate. Will someone tell Felix that a conflict of interest in the business world is more politely referred to as “networking”?

Oh, and please no one take me to task for even bringing up the phrase "conflict of interest." I know damn well what it means, and as long as no one with ties to either organization enters this contest, then SpeakUp/New York have already been forthcoming about their affiliation, and critics can cite them for nothing more than we (okay, me) have been chiding them for already.

However.

Felix’s discovery does bring up a far more urgent question, familiar to any child whose parents have gone on vacation to the Bahamas. You hired New York, and all we got was a top-five list?

Luke Hayman joins Pentagram
and the plot thickens...

Pesky - you should enter a short story competition

Re: Luke joining Pentagram and Felix's "discovery". The news was openly broadcast in yesterday's Quipsologies.

Sorry Arm. My bad. I should read all the articles on Speak Up!

Dateline: December 21st, 2044

Who would thought it would come to this! Speak Up has a new president. After the reign of Sir Armin I, Armyony (the transgender) now controller of the media conglomerate once known as New York Magazine Holding, LLC/ Armyony,LLC.

After 2023's hostile takeover breach and subsequent intellectual property filings, Armyony LLC, sold full ownership to Andressen, INC- once the largest private holdings corporation in America, and is slated to sell all of it's inteliectual property rights (Word It Bibles, apparel, poster collections, crystal shot glasses, and embroidered Wal-Mart teddy bears) to Barringer, INC, now operating safely from a barge in the neutral waters off southern Mexico (once OHiO).

Former Andressen CEO "Pesky", heilcoptered in off a shrimp boat in the main delta notes "Looking back, I only have one regret. I should've entered design contests earlier than Felix did. Especially ones that had to do with listing services in regional magazines. I arrived late to Speak Up, New York and all I became was the richest man in the history of time. Felix entered early and left the planet somewhere around 2007. Damn him! Damn Felix Sockwell!"

A brown wave or tar slowly engulfed the shores near the headquarters of Pesky, INC as David Barringer creaky barge lifted anchor and drifted slowly into the green sunset below Mount Doom. His rocketship to planet PussyWillow was said to have been spotted errantly by Elian Gonzales, president elect to Brazil (once Cuba). This article is published property of Barriger, INC. Any translation into Spanish stricly prohibited under copyright laws oof code 3.00342 section 2007,® USA (now USSR)

Off your meds again, Felix? (just joking, my friend...)

I wasn't intending on making anything other than a absurdist "what if" scenerio out of an innocent contest. So sorry it's gotten the high horses all confused... must be one of those resistance to clear thinking when clear thinking might result in painful conclusions. But I can't figure out WHICH painful conclusion that is.

I wasn't intending on making anything other than a absurdist "what if" scenerio...

Hey, me neither, buddy! I can barely afford health care much less street "meds". My horse is Wilber's retarded cousin.

71) red ribbon bumber magnet with white High Priority in place of troops set on black background. Fake bullet holes abound.

"Never let it be said that we didn't serve our country." said Speak Up

Some Painful Conclusions:

-- The broad variety of needs for graphic design in the world inherently prevents the industry as a whole from ever being able to collectively prioritize certain pursuits as worthier of our talents than others.

-- This prioritization may also be impossible even for the industry's representative organizations and forums.

-- My need to look up the meaning of "acroequinophobia" makes me insecure that I don't remember enough from Latin class to function well at a cocktail party.

-- By 2044, we'll all be genderless digital beings uploaded into a Matrix-like pixelscape.

-- Things like LukeGate demonstrate how awesome it would be to have a gossip tabloid rag about the graphic design community on the newsstands. Keep those design celebs on their toes. You just know some of them are having affairs at the conferences, and I wanna know who. HOW never has the good dirt.

-- I have spent more time on my High Priority Contest comments than on my contest entry.

Normal job: you get 3 sketches for $500 bucks.

This job: you get 5000 sketches for $500 bucks and top designer to pick from to promote brand.

Not doing it: PRICELESS

You guys worry about this stuff more than you need to. 71 comments, many emotional comments, on the fact that you can take part in a blown up version of a Word It and maybe get chosen as a winner?

Get some perspective!

What is spec work? I'd define it as spec only if the underlying intention is to get something for nothing, and with the credentials of NY Magazine and SpeakUp underlying this 'competition', what's all the fuss about?

Get some perspective.

And make that 72.

Here here, Andy.

After all, it's not as though NY Magazine is starved and desperate for some free spec work from us; they've never had trouble finding contributors before. This contest isn't doing them some huge favor. It's just supposed to be something fun, really for us more than for them, I'd say.

I just found about this CONTEST today.

Haven visited Speak Up much with the launch of Brand New.

Interesting Comments to say the least from all.

What I find MOST interesting that People Automatically think MARIAN, PESKY or FELIX would win. All Good Artist and Illustrators in their own Right, if Rendering Imagery was the Criteria. All three have very known and Highly Identifiable Styles. Which is as much a Liability as it is an Asset

No Disrespect intended, MARIAN did enter the First Speak Up Poster Contest and did not win.

Need I remind everyone that JEFF GILL a very Gifted Designer / Illustrator won that Contest.

How Quickly they forget???!!!

Winner of this Contest is OPEN TO ANYONE!!!!

The New Yorker Priority Contest is in two colors a Duotone which is extremely difficult. Very similar to an Identity in limitation of color and/or Poster where you have Thirty Seconds (30) to get your message across and Capture the Hearts and Minds of your Public.

Spot Illustration is an exercise in Originality, Visual Impact, and Uniqueness similar to Identity. Has nothing to do with Drawing Skills and Rendering which the aforementioned names excel.

If it were the Cover of New York Magazine and Five Thousand Dollars ($5000.00) instead of Five Hundred ($500.00) I'd kick everybody's Ass and Win.

Honey, where's my Devilbiss Aerograph 63 and Silent Compressor. No Hon, that's the noisy one I use to Drive the Neighbors Crazy.

Looking for my Windsor and Newton Lamp Black and Permanent Red Gouache.

I'm out of Bainbridge and Crescent Illustration Board. See if I have any Large Sheets of Acetate
in my drawer, I can paint on that.

Is the waxer working? There should be a couple cans of Rubber Cement, thinner is in the same place as I recall.

Look in the type draw where I have my composing stick with Letterpress Fonts from the California Job Case. See if I have an Dummy Press Type left. If not, I'll have to Greek my type with a Chisel Point Pencil. Show those Damn Kids a thing or two about Design from my era.

Doing a job with a publisher that Really, Really understand the Dynamics of Design. Dummy Type, I'm in HEAVEN.

Happy Thanksgiving you MUGGS.

I love all of ya???!!!

DM

If time is money, and we're all worried about getting paid, why are we spending so much time babbling here?

Participants got to exercise their noodles, and there was nothing at stake. So what?

Remember when you used to draw comics in your basement and couldn't wait to share them with your friends? So now we're all growed up and don't do anything for the joy of it?

Oh, the humanity. ;)