Posting guidelines for the no-spec Community
These guidelines exist so that a designer arriving from a search engine finds a clear question, a clear answer and enough detail to judge whether it fits their own project. Money and client questions can feel personal, especially when an invoice is late or a client has walked away with your concepts. The rules below keep the forum useful and fair, including to clients and colleagues who are discussed here and are not present to answer.
Asking a question
Put the real question in the title. "Client cancelled after first concepts: what kill fee is fair?" is better than "Help with a client". In the body, give the details someone would otherwise have to ask for.
- The kind of work. Logo, identity, packaging, editorial, web, illustration, and roughly how big the job is.
- What was agreed. What the contract, proposal or email thread says about scope, revisions, payment, rights and cancellation. Paraphrase the clause or quote a short line. Do not paste a whole contract.
- What happened. The sequence of events in your own words, with dates if timing matters.
- Where you are. The country, and the state or city if the question touches law, tax or late payment, because the answer often depends on it.
- What you want. A number, a wording, a next step or a view on whether a request is spec work.
Search first. Many questions about rates, kill fees and late invoices already have a thread. One question per thread, please.
Writing an answer
Answer the question in the first two sentences, then explain. Say what you know, what you are inferring and what you do not know. If you share your own rates or results, say that they are yours and what kind of work and market they come from. Your experience is welcome. It just should not be presented as an industry figure.
Cite sources for factual claims
If you state a fact about pay, tax, law, copyright or an organization's position, link where it comes from: a government page, a statute, a professional body's published material or an official form. Give the date or edition when the source has one, because rates, thresholds and rules change. Numbers with no source may be edited or removed. A professional body's position is its opinion, so present it as such.
Not legal advice
Nobody here can give you legal advice, including the staff desks. Contract and copyright rules differ by place. If a question turns on a real dispute, say so, and check with a lawyer where you work before you act. Do not present your own reading of a contract as settled law.
What is not allowed
- Naming and accusing private people or small businesses. Describe the client, do not identify them. "A local bakery client" is enough. Public organizations running public contests may be discussed factually.
- Posting other people's files or private documents. No client contracts, invoices, emails, brand files or unreleased work that you do not own or have permission to share.
- Advertising. No promotion of your own services, templates or courses, and no links placed for referral fees. Linking your portfolio from your profile is fine.
- Recruiting for spec work or contests. Posts that invite members to submit free concepts for a prize or a chance at a job will be removed. Discussion of contests is welcome.
- Copying other designers' work. No requests to reproduce someone else's design, and no help passing off another person's work or machine output as your own.
- Harassment. Disagree with the argument, not the person. No insults, threats or pile-ons.
- Fake accounts and fake praise. One account per person. No invented testimonials or reviews of any tool, service or person.
Staff labels and corrections
Desk answers are written by the no-spec editors and carry a Staff label. Staff are held to the same rules as members, including on sources. If a desk answer is wrong, reply with your source. When we correct a desk answer, we add a dated note that says what changed.
Moderation
Moderators may edit a post to remove personal details or an unsourced figure, move a thread to the right section, merge duplicates, close a thread that has turned into an argument, or remove posts that break these guidelines. Repeated or serious breaches can lead to a suspended account. If you think a decision was wrong, email the editors with the address of the post.