Looking for Graphic Designer to volunteer for free

[Munni]

LMAO :icon_lol:

Good on u guys!

Munni

[CasiusJ]

Oh man that writer had me on the floor. I've never seen it before but wow he just put everything in to perspective!

[demon]

Boss Hog, please can you explain to me why, if you and others find this type of thread so offensive, do you not screen/remove it quickly from the forum. It seems the only reason why you allow it to stay up is so you and others can come up with 'witty' responses, some of which seem to come under the 'vulgar' category that supposedly is frowned upon. I am sure the person who put up the original post didn't mean to offend, indeed she seemed to target students who might well be interested in this type of work. If she did mean to offend then surely the better response would have been to remove the post.

Just so you know, I am Creative Director for a London agency and understand full well the frustration of people expecting unpaid work. However as 'free' pitches are still very much part of our industry it will be something that will continue to frustrate for some time. A more mature response will do our industry far more than a sarcastic remark, and hopefully not scare off people looking to designers for help in the future. Rant over.

[socreative]

Boss Hog, please can you explain to me why, if you and others find this type of thread so offensive, do you not screen/remove it quickly from the forum. It seems the only reason why you allow it to stay up is so you and others can come up with 'witty' responses, some of which seem to come under the 'vulgar' category that supposedly is frowned upon. I am sure the person who put up the original post didn't mean to offend, indeed she seemed to target students who might well be interested in this type of work. If she did mean to offend then surely the better response would have been to remove the post.

Just so you know, I am Creative Director for a London agency and understand full well the frustration of people expecting unpaid work. However as 'free' pitches are still very much part of our industry it will be something that will continue to frustrate for some time. A more mature response will do our industry far more than a sarcastic remark, and hopefully not scare off people looking to designers for help in the future. Rant over.

there's always a READ BEFORE POSTING thread which these freebie hunters seem to ignore...

[Boss Hog]

Hi Demon

Welcome to the forums by the way.

Even though it clearly states that no free work requests are acceptable people still come along and choose to ignore this, deleting 1, 2, 3 of these requests is fine but to be honest I am deleting them all the time now.

I am sure the poster did not mean to offend but she clearly did from the response from the other members. I too find it really rude that a members first post is to ask for something for free and as a result this post was left up so that future posters understand what is and isn't acceptable in this part of the forum...and indeed our industry.

If this person had registered, contributed to the forum for a few weeks and got to know a few of us then I would have probably been a little more lenient and to be fair she may have got help from somebody, she didn't bother to do this or even take the time to introduce herself...her sole objective was to get something for nothing. As a result on this occasion as per the rules she has been banned and the post has been left for others to see why.

We are a friendly community and your views are appreciated and taken on board.

Hope you stick around.

[demon]

Hi Boss Hog,

Thanks for your reply. I agree with the sentiment, just not the manner in which the issue was dealt with. Free work/free pitching is an important issue to address and is a hot topic in our industry. The recent London brand pitch highlighted the need for intelligent discussion on the subject and good points were made both for and against such practice.

My issue with the responses to this post was that they were, in the main, very unhelpful in educating a potential client in why asking for free work is not the norm. Not only that, in the context of this particular request, it was obvious Elaine has little or no experience with dealing with designers. The feedback she got would probably put her off our industry for life and any future dealings she might have will be biased against giving designers a chance based on the personal attacks she received.

Had people responded in a more helpful way, or even if you had a ready made response to such requests that articulates the reason why such requests are not accepted, it would have been more beneficial than the comments she received. After all, one of the most frustrating aspects of design is being given feedback along the lines of 'I don't like that' with nothing constructive added.

I have followed this forum and others for a while, and in the main I think they are great for the industry, I just get very frustrated when designers alienate the people they should be helping.

[socreative]

would you go to car mechanics forum to get your car fixed for free because you don't have enough money?

[simon weeks]

Take pity on this child my brethren we are not dealing with the brightest tool in the box

[JMCDesigner]

I have followed this forum and others for a while, and in the main I think they are great for the industry, I just get very frustrated when designers alienate the people they should be helping.

This forum is the most helpful of all I visit. It really doesn't do a poster any favours when they come out of the blue asking for freebies. The same I'm sure is with all forums in all industries. Like bosshog said there are a lot of freeloaders and despite obvious polite guidelines available people disregard them and post anyway. She should have paid attention, its basic etiquette like in any social situation. In a way she is being given an education, perhaps some of the comments are uncalled for but people like this need to realise that Graphic Design isnt a nice little 'hobby' that can be done on the cheap or for free. The whole context of this forum doesn't come under 'hobbies and interests'. I doubt you will find this forum under that category in google. There is a misunderstanding with joe public, I'm sure you are well aware of, that there's no real value in this 'arty farty' stuff. If they don't bother reading guidelines then unfortunately things like this need to be allowed to be published sometimes, in order for them to learn what happens when guidelines aren't followed. There are some valuable posts here already that others can learn from, so it's not all malice.

The original poster should have had more thought put into her post. Her title "Looking for Graphic Designer to volunteer for free" really did not help her cause. She should have asked for advice in where to find a volunteer, rather than posting directly for a service requirement.

[bigdave]

The original poster should have had more thought put into her post. Her title "Looking for Graphic Designer to volunteer for free" really did not help her cause. She should have asked for advice in where to find a volunteer, rather than posting directly for a service requirement.

Had she asked for advice I'm sure all of us would have suggested she contact her local uni or art college but she didnt.... :icon_sneaky: