When I was in school huffin Bondo and paint fumes I would’ve killed to get some exposure on the internet, but now I seem to see a few more websites that show student work and its making me think about maybe the students are getting a raw deal.
If i hit up Businessweek, i get slideshows showing student work from various colleges around the globe which I suppose is good for the student, but when does just become design students working hard so Businessweek can get a few more dollars from all the clicks the pretty pics bring in?
I understand Core is guilty of this too, but I feel Businessweek is different because it really doesn’t offer any resources for the designer the way the forum/coroflot links on Core do.
Also, I understand the need for students to make a name for themselves and it probably looks pretty good when you got a “as seen on popsci.com” next to your portfolio, but I just can’t help to think of somebody making cash money off of a student’s work while that student is wishing he/she could afford whatever design tool/software they feel they need to become a better designer.
Most of the money made by those sites is going to keep the site running. If someone was getting their wallet fattened up by something I did (without my knowledge) I’d be more upset, but a little exposure on the Blogosphere is never a bad thing.
Whether the money being made is used to keep the site running or not, it doesn’t matter. It is still money being made off of students. Perhaps its relatively small money for a big site like businessweek, but making any kind of money is not an easy thing to do and to not give any $$$ to the students who are essentially “content providers” seems pretty low.
If you DON’T want your work displayed publicly, do NOT display it on a public forum, blog, or website.
Otherwise consider the fact that any FREE publicity for a student is a good thing. “Hey I’m on business week, check it out! Wait, they didn’t reimburse me for their ad clicks, take it down!”
If you want to talk about being exploited, talk about corporate design competitions which DON’T permit students to legally use their entries in portfolios and essentially are just getting free labor off students to look at trends. They get hundreds of free designers to work for them and all they have to do is give 1 person some cash at the end of it.
I understand the idea between wanting to be compensated for your work, but theres very simple reasons why they don’t - because they aren’t making ANY profit off ANYTHING that you do. Either you get some publicity for free, or you get no publicity - it’s that simple.