As I pass my days on the internet, I come across more and more ridiculous requests for free labor from architects/designers. I think we should start a forum where we can collect these requests, both to shame the solicitors, and to etch them into the historical record, so that many years from now, smiling blissfully from atop our mountains of architecturally harvested treasure, we may laugh, remembering the way it was during the Great Recession.
My submission, received in a school listserv:
Hi everyone,
Toren is an SOM-designed condo building in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. The owners are looking for someone to design their address signage (150 Myrtle Avenue).
Details:
- The submission is due in a week. Send it to xxxxx@gmail.com
- "150," "Myrtle," and "Toren" must somehow be included in the design.
- There is no compensation for this, but you'd be making an addition to an SOM building, and that's kind of cool.
Yes, I know it's during final reviews, but if you want to take up a side project anyway, here's one for you. Good luck to everyone as we near the end of the semester!
not that it's directly comparable, since they are not likely to start building Toren-brand-towers all over the world, but eager student-designers should always keep in mind the tale of the Nike logo, designed by a student for something like $200...
but actually, they may end up using the logo for business cards, stationery, promotional materials, and all sorts of other things...
i think that there is already a thread out there about this, something about architects getting f'ed on craigslist... anyways, WTF? they can afford to have SOM design their building but can't afford to pay someone for a sign?
someone should just submit "toren 150 myrtle avenue" rendered in COMIC SANS...
Philip's comment is spot on - they need free labor to design their SIGN?
I think inundating them with crappy submissions is a brilliant and well-deserved response. In fact, I may ask my students to do it as a "see if you can make something ugly" project! (This is an actual art-school project, and it's much harder to do than one might imagine.)
J.James, please please pretty please with unicorn kisses on top come up with a submittal for this and post it here!
The only serious proposal is obviously something ridiculous (some kind of geometric shapes that evoke goatse? or, when the door opens, it says something embarrassing about the building?) all over their front entrance. Bonus points if it slips past the censors and wins.
Hey you guys, I have this white picket fence, why don't you come join me and paint it? It's really fun, the fence has lots of pointy parts and needs lots of sanding to make it smooth.
Epic Free Labor Request
As I pass my days on the internet, I come across more and more ridiculous requests for free labor from architects/designers. I think we should start a forum where we can collect these requests, both to shame the solicitors, and to etch them into the historical record, so that many years from now, smiling blissfully from atop our mountains of architecturally harvested treasure, we may laugh, remembering the way it was during the Great Recession.
My submission, received in a school listserv:
Hi everyone,
Toren is an SOM-designed condo building in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. The owners are looking for someone to design their address signage (150 Myrtle Avenue).
Here is the building: http://www.som.com/content.cfm/toren_condominiums (image search)
Here is the front entrance to the building: http://i.imgur.com/7KRTK.jpg
Details:
- The submission is due in a week. Send it to xxxxx@gmail.com
- "150," "Myrtle," and "Toren" must somehow be included in the design.
- There is no compensation for this, but you'd be making an addition to an SOM building, and that's kind of cool.
Yes, I know it's during final reviews, but if you want to take up a side project anyway, here's one for you. Good luck to everyone as we near the end of the semester!
Best,
xxxxxx
yep, you gave me my good laugh for the day!
not that it's directly comparable, since they are not likely to start building Toren-brand-towers all over the world, but eager student-designers should always keep in mind the tale of the Nike logo, designed by a student for something like $200...
but actually, they may end up using the logo for business cards, stationery, promotional materials, and all sorts of other things...
i think that there is already a thread out there about this, something about architects getting f'ed on craigslist... anyways, WTF? they can afford to have SOM design their building but can't afford to pay someone for a sign? someone should just submit "toren 150 myrtle avenue" rendered in COMIC SANS...
better yet, get a hundred or so students to inundate them with variations on the comic sans proposal!
anyone else love how that rendering makes flatbush ave look like the countryside? i doubt there's a tree within 6 blocks of that building...
Philip's comment is spot on - they need free labor to design their SIGN?
I think inundating them with crappy submissions is a brilliant and well-deserved response. In fact, I may ask my students to do it as a "see if you can make something ugly" project! (This is an actual art-school project, and it's much harder to do than one might imagine.)
J.James, please please pretty please with unicorn kisses on top come up with a submittal for this and post it here!
The only serious proposal is obviously something ridiculous (some kind of geometric shapes that evoke goatse? or, when the door opens, it says something embarrassing about the building?) all over their front entrance. Bonus points if it slips past the censors and wins.
This sounds like a job for some kind of script!
Well they did say it was a condo, so the likelihood that they're broke is probably a good bet.
how about getting someone to crudely tag the building with the address?
Hey you guys, I have this white picket fence, why don't you come join me and paint it? It's really fun, the fence has lots of pointy parts and needs lots of sanding to make it smooth.
This is all I could come up with today.
By the way, when I went to Pratt and lived in Brooklyn, we called it "Murder Avenue"....
it (almost) worked in london, why not here?:
James, that's so dark. I was thinking more along the lines of the London alternative above. Or like this:
hmmm....steampunk gargoyle or fantasy-fragrance maiden...tough call.
Steampunk gargoyle?
It's the abolitionists' logo.
oh--didn't get that--a critique of free labor, i guess? a bit dark, yes.
it looked to me like some sort of social-realist-worker-sculpture.
i also painted keith's fence, same concept:
Thanks Elinor, you do good work.
In the spirit of collaboration, I see Donna's nifty proposal as a building wrap....
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