Help make a stand. All we have is each other and our voices united can be heard. This petition has been put in motion, so lets help support it. If it is left unheard, we will forever keep seeing this happen from state to state, country to country. https://canada150.gdc.net/node/add/petition I understand that the Department of Canadian Heritage has launched a speculative design contest aimed at students to develop a logo for Canadas 150th anniversary in 2017. The contest offers a prize of $5,000 and “a chance to be part of Canadian history”. It offers no compensation for potentially thousands of students who might submit work to the competition that are not selected as the “winning” entry. This contest essentially preys on our youth’s desire to earn a living and build a reputation. At a time when students are desperate for employment, exploiting our newest Canadian designers is a horrible legacy to mark our 150 years as a country. Creative contests for design, writing, photography, and illustration, in which participants are not compensated for their time and intellectual property, are requests for speculative work also known as “spec work”. This is work performed without any guarantee of reasonable compensation. The practice ultimately abuses the very communities they often purported to engage. Spec contests often use community engagement or exposure for the designer as a way to lure participants in. Spec work practice is considered unethical in almost every industry and the government should consider worldwide communication design best practices and ethical policies. Just as the 1967 Centennial mark created a lasting memory of those celebrations, the 150th anniversary logo identity has the potential to leave an equally indelible mark on Canadian culture and its people for generations. I urge the government and all involved, to immediately close the competition and run a competitive RFP process that engages Canadian schools in teaching students how to write and submit proposals to the federal government. Then from the written proposals submitted, select a student to work with a design industry mentor to develop a brand identity for Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations. Doing this would replace a potentially embarrassing legacy with a robust design process and create an effective learning experience for all students involved – a much more fitting legacy that Canadians can be proud of. Sincerely, Your Name And many other concerned Canadians.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 19:14:39 +0000
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