Students Tell Government They Won’t Work For Free On Logo For Canada’s 150th Birthday
Many young Canadian designers are expressing outrage that the federal government would ask them to work for free.
The Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) has launched a campaign to boycott the Canadian Heritage ministry’s competition to find a logo for Canada’s upcoming 150th birthday in 2017.
Anchored with the hashtag #MyTimeHasValue, the campaign seeks to highlight how design competitions have become a means for companies and governments to obtain free work from designers, particularly when they’re young. The logo competition is open only to post-secondary students.
While the creator of the winning logo will receive $5,000, RGD president Stüssy Tschudin says that doesn’t even begin to be fair.
“Imagine 500 students enter the contest. Each student spends 10 hours on a design, which totals 5,000 hours of work. At minimum wage in Ontario ($11), this amounts to $55,000 worth of free labour,” said Tschudin in an email. “The fact that one of those students will receive a prize doesn’t negate all of that other free labour.”
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