• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:42
CEST 19:42
KST 02:42
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists14[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash10[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy21
Community News
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers11Maestros of the Game 2 announced32026 GSL Tour plans announced11Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1MaNa leaves Team Liquid21
StarCraft 2
General
MaNa leaves Team Liquid 2026 GSL Tour plans announced Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued
Tourneys
GSL CK: More events planned pending crowdfunding 2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) SEL Doubles (SC Evo Bimonthly)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 520 Moving Fees Mutation # 519 Inner Power
Brood War
General
ASL21 General Discussion Pros React To: Tulbo in Ro.16 Group A BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Data needed RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro16 Group A [ASL21] Ro16 Group B
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend? Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
[G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Reappraising The Situation T…
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2927 users

Designers - Don't get ripped off - Page 2

Blogs > thedeadhaji
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
thedeadhaji *
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
39489 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-20 07:43:53
October 20 2011 07:43 GMT
#21
On October 20 2011 16:19 ven wrote:
Yes it is quick and easy. And it's also effortless. It's all natural talent, no? You're either born an artist or not. Kind of greedy trying to exploit that or rather the ones without it. Shame on you.


Hmm not sure if you caught my sarcasm.
Treadmill
Profile Joined July 2010
Canada2833 Posts
October 20 2011 07:44 GMT
#22
This got me thinking in a wider context. There was a prominent article earlier this year (though I can't remember where exactly) talking about unpaid internships. When you mention the idea of designers being convinced to do work cheap because it would look good in your portfolio, it reminded me a lot of the notion of people in other fields doing unpaid internships because they'd "look good on your resume".

Our generation is expected to work for free and then people wonder why we don't have jobs or money. Sorry, thats a little political I guess but its where my mind goes thinking about this.
thedeadhaji *
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
39489 Posts
October 20 2011 07:49 GMT
#23
On October 20 2011 16:44 Treadmill wrote:
This got me thinking in a wider context. There was a prominent article earlier this year (though I can't remember where exactly) talking about unpaid internships. When you mention the idea of designers being convinced to do work cheap because it would look good in your portfolio, it reminded me a lot of the notion of people in other fields doing unpaid internships because they'd "look good on your resume".

Our generation is expected to work for free and then people wonder why we don't have jobs or money. Sorry, thats a little political I guess but its where my mind goes thinking about this.



We DEFINITELY read the same article at one point or another. I read it a few months ago via Hacker News.

(and I actually referred to it in a later post in this thread )

http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=277305#12

SO TRUE though that we all tend to undersell ourselves in tough times (and designers in general tend to have harder swings than most of us, so I guess they tend to be more prone to this behavior).

I guess I shouldn't really say "don't do it!", because I can totally understand the human nature of "why" they're doing it . Doing something for free for someone probably pads the self esteem more than doing, well, nothing, for nobody.

Do you think 99Designs can improve this whole situation by forcing businesses to make proper offers to designers?
Treadmill
Profile Joined July 2010
Canada2833 Posts
October 20 2011 08:14 GMT
#24
Sorry, I guess I must've missed that post. I haven't been able to find that article, though it doesnt really matter because the essence of it is "unpaid internships are bullshit and you shouldn't do them".

In most of the other "arts industries", unions came into existence specifically to try and prevent this kind of abuse. Musicians' unions, actors' unions, screenwriters' unions, and so on. I know a decent number of people who are actors (and a few classical musicians) and the rules are really strict, but noone really complains because they have to be. Eg, orchestras have a mandated amount of time between breaks and its often kept right to the second. I suppose that graphic designers never managed to unionize.

The problem is that when people get involved in something not because it pays well but because its what they want to do (which is almost universally true for the arts) its really easy to accept a shitty deal as being better than nothing, or to accept abuse etc. The same applies for internships too, they're generally in fields where people go because its what they're interested in (I have a friend who interned in the Canadian embassy in Latvia; he wasn't paid but this was, of course, justified by being such a great "opportunity". Actually I think he had to pay to get into the program he was doing).
thedeadhaji *
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
39489 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-20 08:23:04
October 20 2011 08:20 GMT
#25
"Calling Bullshit on Unpaid Internships"

http://www.irishstu.com/stublog/2011/06/30/calling-bullshit-on-unpaid-interships/

I didn't know the history about artists and unionization. That makes sense though. In general I'm not a fan of unions but in this case it's honestly hard to object to their purpose.

Graphic designers (particularly digital) are such a new incarnation that perhaps they really haven't gained enough momentum to unionize. I'm not sure if it's practical or beneficial, but it is surprising that we don't hear anything about it.
d3_crescentia
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States4054 Posts
October 20 2011 08:35 GMT
#26
What about doing free shit for ESPORTS?
once, not long ago, there was a moon here
Bloodash
Profile Joined April 2010
Netherlands1384 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-20 11:01:41
October 20 2011 10:17 GMT
#27
this reminds me of the worst comments thread over on cgtalk:
this thread is so full of earthshakingly bad stories it boggles the mind;
(not necessarily about ripped off designers but just bad encounters with customers/ clueless people)

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=2&t=43177&highlight=worst comments

Example:
+ Show Spoiler +
The very first freelance job me and my partner ever took on, the one which lured us to leave our jobs and go freelance in the first place.

The brief is for us to work for 4 weeks to make some short animation clips of 3 hospital rooms, about 10 seconds each, to run as part of a presentation for cds they send out and for their sales guy to use on the projector. In short they want a hospital reception, stock room and operating theatre to show some key bits of new technology.

So, based on this request we leave our jobs...

The first problem is that they say they want us to work at their site, even though its entirely doable from our home studio, but they insist, so we get them to book us a hotel room. Then the problems start, the only machines they have are 300MHz 128 meg ram G3 macs, this was just as the G5's were coming out by the way, so they were a piece of shit even back then.

We tell the boss its impossible to get what they want on these piss poor excuses for computers, theyll have to get us something remotely modern if they want the job doing; so with this, they go out to a pc store and buy two craptastic machines which arent that much better than what they had. ie. it was an onboard intel gfx card.

After telling them these suck too, we basically inform them we're returning home to finish the project, because otherwise its not going to happen. At this point the boss goes on holiday for 2 weeks but refuses to give any member of his company permission to help us with the project, at this stage we still havent been given the mockups, storyboard etc, we have no idea what they actually want to happen 1 week into the 4 weeks.

This is where the fun begins, we get the storyboards through...

They want half a dozen modelled, rigged, animated surgeons accurately reproducing what happens in a medical video they have... Yes, they just threw character animation into the middle of an internal architecture job with just 1 week left to go.

So, my partner manages to hack some poser models into some surgeons outfits somehow and we make it to the end, having technically given them what they asked for. Naturally they didnt like it and then decided we should give them every single scene file and project file so they can fix everything themselves (on their G3's naturally)

We tell them if they want project files it'll cost them a lot extra, they threaten to not pay us. In the end we say screw it, subdivided every scene up to 10 million polys, saved every texture as a 0% quality jpg and slapped it on a cd and sent it off.

Took the money, never spoke to them again, nor would we wish to.
I'll bite this hand that feeds me, and take it for my own!
Grettin
Profile Joined April 2010
42384 Posts
October 20 2011 10:20 GMT
#28
Damn thats a ridiculous offer. Glad he stood up (as everyone should in this case) and made an counteroffer.
"If I had force-fields in Brood War, I'd never lose." -Bisu
ironchef
Profile Blog Joined August 2004
Canada1350 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-20 10:41:16
October 20 2011 10:39 GMT
#29
Yup, this is a disturbing thing that goes on in freelance art industries (probably others too). There's a gross lack of appreciation how much time/effort/expertise goes into designs and illustrations that is ingrained in public opinion. Even the Obama campaign is resorting to spec work (ironically for a jobs poster)

It's going to be a tough battle given: 1)the prevalent undervaluing and 2) artists arent in the driver seat and too often settle. I've seen industry veterans quote what they consider fair figures, and I'd imagine they are way higher than what most people feel they should pay, and what most artists would be comfortable asking for. (One Example)

I was looking through Craigslist and it is funny how many jobs asking for illustrations and designs flat out say they wont pay anything(or much) on a for profit project... AND always add in the classic guilt lines like "only people passionate about art pls". None of those fake artists that want to eat or had to pay for schooling.

As a side note, obviously there are exceptions where its ok to work for free- namely non-profit projects, trades/ favours etc- but in practice, a lot of the situations are just straight out exploiting people that are in a vulnerable position.
“Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.” - Marcus Aurelius
Boblion
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
France8043 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-20 11:25:51
October 20 2011 11:16 GMT
#30
On October 20 2011 14:39 thedeadhaji wrote:
Free lance programmers seem to be at least decently compensated, but for some reason designers are shit on so constantly that I wanted to remind everyone to avoid the shit at all costs!

I think it is because they really like what they do and they have more freedom in their work. Hence they don't feel the need to be paid as much. There are also more "designers" available than competent programmers. I mean programmers or a devs aren't artists, they have to make a good software or site or application for his client and that's it. They are more of the builder type.

It reminds me a bit of low level equestrian jobs, where people work a lot but are paid like shit. Why ? Because they all love horses and many would do to the work for free if they had no other choices lol.
Artists still make drawings even if they don't get a designer job.

On October 20 2011 17:14 Treadmill wrote:
The same applies for internships too, they're generally in fields where people go because its what they're interested in (I have a friend who interned in the Canadian embassy in Latvia; he wasn't paid but this was, of course, justified by being such a great "opportunity". Actually I think he had to pay to get into the program he was doing).

I completly disagree with your opinion about internships, at least in Europe. People are expected to work for free here because:
- They have thousands of others students available and the employment rate is terrible.
- You, as a student have absolutly no experience and you NEED to put things on your resume if you want to get a proper job.

Many people don't really enjoy it. But again we are not talking of artists here. They are not creative minds ( usually ).
fuck all those elitists brb watching streams of elite players.
ven
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Germany332 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-20 11:41:15
October 20 2011 11:38 GMT
#31
What I find regretful about all this is that it forces a lof of artists into protecting the value of their work and having a lot less freedom when it comes to hobby projects.

On October 20 2011 16:43 thedeadhaji wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 20 2011 16:19 ven wrote:
Yes it is quick and easy. And it's also effortless. It's all natural talent, no? You're either born an artist or not. Kind of greedy trying to exploit that or rather the ones without it. Shame on you.


Hmm not sure if you caught my sarcasm.

That's sarcasm again, isn't it? See, I'm good at it after all. Sorry for the confusion. For being rude, too.
You can reach the rainbow. I'll be there to help.
haduken
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Australia8267 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-20 11:49:27
October 20 2011 11:48 GMT
#32
I think any designer/programmers smart enough or being doing it long enough knows about this type of things.

The bottom line is, real clients understand the cost. So effectively you have

New Clients who have no clue and go around shopping for cheapest but get burned in the long run. Cheap work means no support or expensive support.

Clients that understands the cost but decides to low ball you. Well... lose the client I'd say. Not some one worth keeping.

This is of course assuming that you are good enough to have that position. Not so easy in this economy.
Rillanon.au
thedeadhaji *
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
39489 Posts
October 20 2011 16:13 GMT
#33
On October 20 2011 20:38 ven wrote:
What I find regretful about all this is that it forces a lof of artists into protecting the value of their work and having a lot less freedom when it comes to hobby projects.

Show nested quote +
On October 20 2011 16:43 thedeadhaji wrote:
On October 20 2011 16:19 ven wrote:
Yes it is quick and easy. And it's also effortless. It's all natural talent, no? You're either born an artist or not. Kind of greedy trying to exploit that or rather the ones without it. Shame on you.


Hmm not sure if you caught my sarcasm.

That's sarcasm again, isn't it? See, I'm good at it after all. Sorry for the confusion. For being rude, too.


haha np I wasn't sure if it was sarcasm
Probe1
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States17920 Posts
October 20 2011 16:27 GMT
#34
Thanks for discussing this. I learned a lot in this blog.
우정호 KT_VIOLET 1988 - 2012 While we are postponing, life speeds by
SpoR
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States1542 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-20 20:54:01
October 20 2011 20:53 GMT
#35
Well the shitty thing too is that in this economy people aren't spending money on frivolous things like artwork or whatever. So You're normal painting that would sell for say 200$ won't sell unless you shortchange yourself by a lot. Same kinda concept here with Graphic designers
A man is what he thinks about all day long.
thedeadhaji *
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
39489 Posts
October 22 2011 23:38 GMT
#36
Found a compelling link for why photographers 'cannot' (and should not) work for free

http://photoprofessionals.wordpress.com/
UltimateHurl
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Ireland591 Posts
October 22 2011 23:46 GMT
#37
My girlfriend is a graphic designer and it really annoys me that they would be short-changed. I remember reading that Irish Stu link you posted and it rings true. Graphic design is much different to things like freelance programming, with graphic design so much of the work is obtuse and present in work the client doesn't see, so clients often don't understand, while thinking 'I could learn photoshop on youtube!' so they think it's easy. Clientsfromhell.com features many examples.

A great talk on this is called 'F*ck you, pay me.' by an American graphic designer, it's for graphic designers but is interesting: http://vimeo.com/22053820?ab
HardMacro
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Canada361 Posts
October 23 2011 01:16 GMT
#38
...

Market demand price = (forced) equal supply price = equilibrium

Problem?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ saving this here because I use it, don't know how to make it, and don't know it's name
Count9
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
China10928 Posts
October 23 2011 01:36 GMT
#39
Yeah, being freelance also means knowing how much you're worth. I've seen people who get depressed not getting a job for a couple months and then accept ridiculously bad contracts just to have something.
thedeadhaji *
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
39489 Posts
October 23 2011 02:06 GMT
#40
Yet another example of screwing over designers, but of a more concealed nature.

Worst of all, it's by Moleskine, the darling of any designer.

http://antispec.com/hq/moleskine
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
IPSL
16:00
Ro24 Group C
WolFix vs nOmaD
dxtr13 vs Razz
Liquipedia
SC Evo League
13:30
SEL Doubles #2
SteadfastSC517
BRAT_OK 41
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SteadfastSC 517
mouzHeroMarine 434
Hui .274
Railgan 73
BRAT_OK 41
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 21273
Calm 4404
Mini 567
firebathero 252
actioN 200
ggaemo 149
EffOrt 121
Dewaltoss 105
Mind 101
Pusan 58
[ Show more ]
Sexy 56
Rock 39
910 38
Dota 2
Gorgc7076
qojqva1801
League of Legends
Reynor54
Counter-Strike
fl0m4009
olofmeister1859
byalli745
shahzam334
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King119
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor365
MindelVK7
Other Games
Grubby2705
FrodaN1275
Beastyqt732
B2W.Neo570
Mlord523
Liquid`Hasu263
DeMusliM175
KnowMe121
QueenE54
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream7110
PGL Dota 2 - Secondary Stream5601
Other Games
BasetradeTV521
gamesdonequick493
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 24 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 64
• printf 50
• Adnapsc2 9
• Response 4
• OhrlRock 2
• Migwel
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• IndyKCrew
• intothetv
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
• Airneanach75
• FirePhoenix12
• RayReign 10
• 80smullet 9
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 1032
League of Legends
• Jankos2020
• TFBlade1347
Other Games
• imaqtpie697
• Shiphtur169
Upcoming Events
BSL
1h 19m
UltrA vs KwarK
Gosudark vs cavapoo
dxtr13 vs HBO
Doodle vs Razz
Patches Events
4h 19m
CranKy Ducklings
6h 19m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
16h 19m
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
17h 19m
Ladder Legends
21h 19m
BSL
1d 1h
StRyKeR vs rasowy
Artosis vs Aether
JDConan vs OyAji
Hawk vs izu
IPSL
1d 1h
JDConan vs TBD
Aegong vs rasowy
Replay Cast
1d 15h
Wardi Open
1d 16h
[ Show More ]
Afreeca Starleague
1d 16h
Bisu vs Ample
Jaedong vs Flash
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 22h
RSL Revival
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Barracks vs Leta
Royal vs Light
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
2 days
RSL Revival
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
The PondCast
4 days
KCM Race Survival
4 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Escore
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
6 days
Ladder Legends
6 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S2: W3
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W4
Acropolis #4
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.