FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Feb. 12, 2008

Menomonie, Wis.—University of Wisconsin-Stout student Chad Behnke, of Coleman, is taking a stand.

When assigned to design an issue-based advertising campaign in a graphic design course taught by associate professor Nagesh Shinde, Behnke chose speculative work, an issue in creative industries.

Speculative work is work requested of a designer before a fair and reasonable fee has been agreed upon. A growing number of designers, fueled by a campaign titled NO!SPEC, believe that speculative work devalues the design process.

Behnke designed a poster with the bold lettering “NO! RESPECT.” The word “no,” the exclamation point, and the letters “spec” are printed in a contrasting red color, next to the rest of the lettering in black.

Behnke said he found his inspiration in the book, “The Design of Dissent,” which highlights socially and politically charged design pieces.

“The bold and shockingly raw works in this book led to the idea of a simple, blunt, and aggressive design that became the poster,” Behnke said.

Leaders of the NO!SPEC campaign were impressed with Behnke’s work. They selected his poster to be featured on their Web site at http://www.no-spec.com/.

Additional work in Behnke’s portfolio can be found at http://www.styletypedesign.com/.

Behnke studies multimedia design in the art program at UW-Stout. For more information, contact Behnke at behnkec@uwstout.edu.