“Why should you get paid for the Design test”
A dozen design tests later, I’ve finally learned the true value of my work.
With just 5 years of professional career, I have already given away so much of time working for free. How? For design tests, you silly. Or you may call it a design challenge/work interview. When I calculated the total amount of time I’d spent on these design tests collectively, I was surprised to see how I could have invested that precious time into learning something new or creating a personal project.
Design tests were invented by people who are non-designers and don’t have an idea about what they want while hiring designers.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the recruiters. I just don’t understand that if they cannot get an idea about my skills and capabilities through my portfolio, how can they decide that with a design test?! It’s a common practice however, among companies to give potential candidates a design test with a deadline of a day or two. Some of them give you a famous company name and will ask for a design strategy and application around it. Some would shamelessly ask you for tasks for which a professional would charge hundreds of dollars, which normally would take weeks to finish.
But even if in the desperation of not losing a perfectly good job, you finish the mountain of the task in a roadrunner’s speed. It will never guarantee you giving your best shot due to a tight timeline. So how is this a productive way of assessing someone’s skills?
From a designer’s point of view, it’s a spirit killer situation:
“The task is to provide design or strategy within much lesser time than a standard deadline, provided no sort of monetary compensation as well, say wut?”
I have fallen prey to a fair share of design tests and, despite being hesitant, one must go through the process cuz, FOMO is real! It’s been quite normalized in the past couple of years. Sometime back during an interview process, I resisted to the design test, so the recruiter blatantly told me how they cannot trust the portfolio work alone, for it can be copied or fake. I laughed my heart out (in my head) I was confused about what kind of trust issues must keep her awake at night! If I can fake my portfolio, I could’ve certainly faked the design test too. And working in a company where your skills aren’t completely trusted can be pretty exhausting, so I politely refused the job offer.
Trust issues while interview may sound very subjective, right?! But haven’t you come across any company which asks you to do a heap of tasks and once you submit the test, they go MIA on you?! Well, it doesn’t feel like you are Prince Charming and your hot date disappeared because it’s midnight. It rather feels like a random one-night stand where you even planned the name of your kids but got ghosted AF. No glass slipper, whatsoever!
If you can relate, then you’re not alone my friend. I have encountered plenty such one-night stands (I mean design test, obviously!) where along with submitting an amazing task, I stalked the company on LinkedIn and dreamed about my lovely first day on the job. But I didn’t even get the sad news from them. And you know why it hurts so much?! Because you invest yourself physically and mentally and sometimes emotionally too.
One such dreaded incident was when I had to design a Brand Identity Package for a ‘hypothetical and upcoming’ brand. Creating a Brand Identity Package is no child’s play, It’s a comprehensive process of brand positioning and identity design and a standard Branding Package consists of -
- Logo Design
- Stationery/Visiting Card
- Typography
- Product packaging
- Digital Packaging
Creating a whole package within a deadline of 2 days required me to work non-stop. I gave my best shot to it and ended up submitting the project before the deadline. I was proud of managing it successfully for if it were a test to see how I would perform during a tight deadline, I already knew that I aced it. But I also had a realization that the kind of work that I’ve pulled off in such a short time would have certainly raised a bar to what is usually expected. I patiently waited for the response for a week. And then after sending multiple reminders, I didn’t even receive a single emoji. It felt disheartening not because I was probably rejected, but for getting ghosted after working my ass off for 2 whole days.
When you get ghosted during an interview process, you may have the disappointment of not getting selected but you also feel a different kind of hurt this time. It’s like your worth is not about whether you get the job, rather it’s about the simple response that acknowledges your efforts and the time you gave into this massive task. Yet you move on because you know it’s part of the process. It’s the normal way for several companies out there.
It’s extremely unfair the way we belittle ourselves by agreeing to provide our time’s worth for free and then not even expect them to respond until otherwise.
Generally speaking, recruiters have a way of chasing you down to every bit of your information during an interview process. But it’s confusing how they don’t bother with a single reply unless they are going ahead with your application. Oh! And you know those recruitment firms that are supposed to act as a middle man, conveniently abandons you striving for a simple yes or a no like “just throw a bone, buddy!”
You need to ask yourself these very simple questions:
- Are you fine with the kind of company that demands you to prove your worth through design test for some ‘made up’ brand, while it looks past your years of experience and the bundle of work that your portfolio consists of? With no concern to your efforts whatsoever for when they happen to find a much suitable candidate?
- How could a simple response to your application or kind feedback on your hard work be so just, that they chose to ignore it? Thus ignoring the fact that you hold any value at all?
- Talking about trust issues, what’s the guarantee that the enormous amount of work that you sent in the faith of design tests. For free. To a company that went MIA on you big time. They aren’t going to use it?
If you still think that ‘it’s okay’ or ‘it’s a routine formality’, then congratulations, friend! You’ve just joined the bandwagon that is unto your beautiful career only to disregard it. One free job at a time.
Let’s say we bring a new normal where we as designers realize the reason why an independent job like Consultancy is one of the highest-paid professions of the world. It’s where people get paid for their opinion, most importantly for their time. It is because time is the most valuable thing we possess as professional designers. And if we will keep providing our time for free, we will keep suffering from self-doubt and insecurities.
“Companies and Recruiters need to understand that they are not paying the designer for design test, and it does not guarantee whether they are fit for the job. Rather it’s respect towards one’s time. The company may not proceed with them later on, but for time being the designers deserved to be paid for the task completed. For putting up their valuable time, energy, and their years of expertise to the process, irrespective of the result.”
Let’s get real. It’s high time we understand our value as designers, especially in a country like India. The design industry may have created its own space in the Indian market, but particularly Graphic design still struggles to shine, and designers not knowing their true worth is one of the reasons for that. For it’s the place where you see Graphic designer throwing themselves so meagerly with offers like “I will make a Logo Design for only $5”. These undervalued services disrupt the design industry. Such cheap labor tactics only result in either unsatisfactory client services or starving artists.
Recognize that it’s a temporary fix. Getting 10 jobs of $5 worth of Logo Design will turn you into a walking nightmare, but getting one job where you charge with a well-assessed investment and create a steady revenue, will not only help stabilize your professional life but your mental health and personal life as well. You will be able to concentrate on one thing which matters to you the most and is providing the value of your efforts.
Next time when you are asked for a design challenge, make sure to calculate your total investment. And do not hesitate to ask for being compensated if you feel like. It’s your time and you need to create value for it. Period!
