On a related note, I think I’m going to (ab)use some of the briefs on specwork-sites as exercises without actually submitting anything. That way I learn, but they won’t benefit from it.

On the flip-side, this is spec work. HP are a sponsor of the D&AD awards, and I wonder how much they paid to get this design brief out there.

The scenario reminds me of an old blog post from Mark Boulton, where he talks about Wikipedia holding a design contest. There’s the whole “head over heart” chat, and doing what’s right for you as a designer, but in the case of HP invent, Matt and Tom were simply working towards their degrees, and is it wrong for a tutor to give the opportunity to win a pencil?

If this brief was pitched at designers in employment (as opposed to students), it would be a lot easier to call foul.

They look a lot alike in my opinion! They both have an open brief and only a few get paid for their labour (in fact, according to rule 1.6 in this contest, you must pay to enter the competition). This is bordering to or *is* applying double standards in my opinion.

For the record: this isn’t ment as an attack on someone or somewhat.