SCOTLAND’S biggest regional transport provider was under fire last night after asking students to provide promotional animation for free.
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), which operates Glasgow’s Subway and a host of specialist bus services, has launched a competition for budding creative types to create its next promotional campaign.
The winner will see their animation and design used within the Subway system and online, as well as in the press.
SPT, which covers 12 local authority areas, has offered a year’s free Subway travel as a prize for the winning artist.
However, illustrators and designers on Twitter hit out at SPT for failing to pay young talent for their work.
SPT previously commissioned artist Alistair Gray to create a mural for the reopening of Hillhead Station and illustrator Neil Slorance told The National this new approach “de-values” creative work.
He said: “Everyone in that project is getting paid apart from the person that’s doing the animation and design they want to use.
“For a company that big they can afford to pay someone to do this, it’s just that they are choosing not to. I find it pretty exploitative. They’re giving a year’s free travel, but that doesn’t cost them anything and it’s assuming the person is even going to use the subway.”
The competition asks entrants to create a story in PDF format highlighting “the dangerous effects alcohol can have on a busy Subway system”, plus a 20-second animation including scenarios such as accidents or abusive behaviour.
The winner will see their work used in a marketing campaign and covered in the local press, as well as in the Scotcampus magazine.
However, Slorance said the work of students was worth more than just exposure, adding: “Experience is important and your portfolio is important, but my whole thing is that this [company] can afford to pay you. Students need money more than professionals do.
“I did something like this when I was a student for a small bus company, and I didn’t win but even then I got paid. Animation is incredibly laborious and time consuming.
He added: “Something that lasts ten seconds could take days or weeks.”
Web designers and writers also criticised the move, but last night SPT did not respond to the criticism when contacted by The National for comment.
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