My last post was about JAM-DEX, the new Jamaican Digital or cryptocurrency that looks like the nations national fruit. We looked at the design chosen and a design that lost. We also spoke about an alternative to the chosen design.
Well, we did some more digging and the story gets worse and is a reflection of why the design community heavily frowns on spec work. If you are unfamiliar with the term it means work that is speculative, or uncertain to give a worthwhile return. In other words, you are uncertain if you will be paid and if you are paid, it is usually with prize money that is no where close to what your design is worth.
In the process, your intellectual property rights can be stripped, and the design can be altered. Companies often do this to save themselves time and money, by avoiding the commissioning of a professional designer through a bid process. They instead get hundreds of designers to work for free, in hopes that they will win the prize, while the company gets to pick choose and refuse. You can listen to this podcast for more details on spec work.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yOTQ2Y2ViYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/NzM0ZWFhNWYtNzBhNS00OGVjLWJiMWQtYzMzYzk1NWY5Mzlh?hl=en-JM&ved=2ahUKEwjawa6m8JT2AhVfUDABHbAKDl8QjrkEegQIAxAF&ep=6
So the drama unfolds. The original designer of the logo has release the design they submitted to the Bank of Jamaica, which is totally distinctly different from what they have displayed as the winning design. For a refresher, here is what the BOJ published as the winning entry.
This is what the designer submitted along with a statement, stating for the record that this is what they submitted.
