I disagree. It is spec work. Dribbble + Buddy are trying to promote Buddy's business. They figure the best way to attract web professionals is to run a contest. So they enlist a bunch of designers - an audience that overlaps with their users - to generate a bunch of free content for them on the promise of maybe getting paid if their design is selected. It doesn't really matter that the designer retains ownership (more on that in a minute) and that the designs won't actually be used as the site template on the site because that isn't the purpose. The content is the purpose. Dribbble is not a design business it is a publisher. In other words, it is in the content business. Its product is content. So by enlisting creators of the type of content they publish to work for free with the promise of being paid only if their design is selected, they are 100% engaging in spec work. Ownership of the entries is irrelevant. Dribbble & Buddy have the right to reproduce the content (designs) on whatever media they want in perpetuity.
Again, it is 100% spec work. Unless you can pay your bills with "exposure dollars" then there is almost zero benefit to the designers, who are creating the actual content. If you can't spend "exposure dollars" then you are working for free and getting paid is contingent upon your design being chosen. In just about every way possible, this is identical to spec work.
I disagree. It is spec work. Dribbble + Buddy are trying to promote Buddy's business. They figure the best way to attract web professionals is to run a contest. So they enlist a bunch of designers - an audience that overlaps with their users - to generate a bunch of free content for them on the promise of maybe getting paid if their design is selected. It doesn't really matter that the designer retains ownership (more on that in a minute) and that the designs won't actually be used as the site template on the site because that isn't the purpose. The content is the purpose. Dribbble is not a design business it is a publisher. In other words, it is in the content business. Its product is content. So by enlisting creators of the type of content they publish to work for free with the promise of being paid only if their design is selected, they are 100% engaging in spec work. Ownership of the entries is irrelevant. Dribbble & Buddy have the right to reproduce the content (designs) on whatever media they want in perpetuity.
Again, it is 100% spec work. Unless you can pay your bills with "exposure dollars" then there is almost zero benefit to the designers, who are creating the actual content. If you can't spend "exposure dollars" then you are working for free and getting paid is contingent upon your design being chosen. In just about every way possible, this is identical to spec work.