Pillar

The Professional Record

Pieces in the The Professional Record pillar are in progress at no-spec.

What this pillar covers

Pieces here focus on the history of the anti-spec movement and the professional arguments still worth reading. While the opening essays are being finalised, related material is already live on the rest of the site:

• Spec Work - why unpaid pitches are still a bad deal.
• AI and the Designer - where generative tools earn a place, and where they do not.
• Rates, Contracts, Scope - practical guidance on charging and contracting.
• The Professional Record - the profession arguments, decisions, and history.
• About no-spec - what we publish, how we frame the debate, and why this site exists.

When the The Professional Record pieces will publish

Each piece is being written by editors with hands-on experience of the working design profession, not generated en masse. If you would like to be notified when a specific piece publishes, the contact page has our address.

How this connects to Proof of Work

The record of the profession is also the record of each designer's work, and the second is now harder to keep than the first. Portfolio provenance explains how a case study carries its own evidence, and Content Credentials for designers covers the signed manifest that travels with a file. Both are part of Proof of Work.