The Spec Driven Church and Rick Warren
The design community is slightly abuzz over the recent announcement by @RickWarren that he will be holding a “design contest” for his next book cover. Suggested to him by his creative staff (quite a shock in it’s own right) the winner gets $3000. Due to the negative buzz the ante was soon upped to $5000 (not only was the ante upped, but the point was almost missed entirely).
Michael Buckingham of Holy Cow Creative wrote a very clear, loving open letter to Rick trying to explain the situation. The comments section exploded from there. Hit the jump for a sample.
The ignorance that some people have displayed has been hurtful and astounding. After one person submitted that this contest goes against the ethical guidelines of the AIGA, one commenter submitted:
I don’t care what the AIGIBIGIASGDLMNOPQRS has to say about “spec” work. Nobody was forced to invest hours of time into the darn project.
Incredibly arrogant. As another commenter pointed out, “it’s curious to me that [you] would discard the ethical guidelines of a major professional organization.” How haughty does one have to be to simply give other people the finger and declare that they know better than thousands of professionals and a professional organization?
I’ve begun to imagine that many commenters never truly read the letter, and even more importantly never comprehended the issue:
Wow, Sir. You seem like a bitter mad. Come on! What are you even talking about- not valuing the worker?! Just let it roll. For those who want to participate, they know what they are getting into. Don’t rob their joy, don’t worry abour Rick- I’m sure he’ll be just fine and his book will reach those it needs to. RELAX. Step aside.
Many commenters have tried to undermine the caution around spec-work by comparing it to such things as a battle of the bands. But eventually these analogies break down:
You don’t enter a “battle of the bands” because you said “hey, I know a few chords on the guitar, and my buddy can keep a wicked beat with his hands!” If you went on stage, you’d be booed off, spit at, laughed at, ridiculed, and kicked out of the contest.
More than anything I wish this for the furthering discussion: that people involved in the discussion would take the time to read up on the issue and actually comprehend what they’re arguing about.
One commenter summed it up nicely:
“A large community in the design community has issue. How is it addressed? Ignored and scoffed at by Rick Warren, and ignored and scoffed at by “model” modern american christians.”
This is not an attack on Rick Warren, it is an attack on the “contest” and ideals behind such contests. People are seemingly having a VERY difficult time separating the two. At no time during the discussion have I seen attacks on Rick as a person/pastor/author/etc. The only point of contention has been the contest itself. Yet, many of Rick’s fans are acting like we’re firing volleys of flaming arrows at the man.
I think in the end, a much better option would be to nominate a fledgling designer or design firm and reward them with the contract for the book cover, and then proceed to do a quality project from there.
Big ups to Michael for his letter. It was a great way to cut through the clutter, and hopefully has a chance at making a real impact in the debate. I hope somehow Rick (or someone on his staff) reads it.
