Mara Designs · @maradesigns
26th Jul 2019 from TwitLonger
My involvement with Ninjas in Pyjamas
Similar to @benjiJanssens situation, I was "working" for NiP during 2017-2018 and made over 60 design files for their social media platforms. Both voluntarily and paid work.
For context to the effort I put into the organization, here are some of the artpieces I created: https://imgur.com/a/xiN3w9T
From october of 2017 to the summer of 2018 I created graphic designs for Ninjas in Pyjamas' social media pages. Some projects were volunteer work and during some occasions I was promised payment. After countless of hours, days and nights spent on graphic designs, basically all I recieved from my time during NiP was vouchers in their webshop. The vouchers I recieved was vastly underpaid and many times I never got paid for hours of work where I was promised payment. In the beginning I was told that there was a very possible chance that I would get hired, which I was very excited about. That turned out to be a total lie though. I was never binded to a contract, but was baited into a possible hirement in order for me to keep producing graphic designs for the organization (from my POV). Whenever I asked for something in return though, the question was ignored by the whole management. Since I was very interested in working for the organization, I just kept creating designs to satisfy them.
When I got contacted by NiP I was still in school, but only had 6 months left until I graduated. Therefore I thought it would be a great opportunity to create part time graphics for the organization with high expectations of them fulfilling their promises. I felt pressured to commit to the oppurtunity since I was sure they would replace me if I didnt fulfill my "job".
During my time, I was constantly asked to create more designs for NiP. I was obviously never forced to work, but I was sure that it would pay of in the end since they always seemed impressed and enjoyed the designs. In total, I have spent hundreds of hours creating graphic designs for them over the course of the 8 months.
Here are some wrongdoings I occured:
- For countless of hours of work I was promised a voucher for their store worth 300€ but only recieved 200€. Though they gave me a code to use in their store which didn't work properly so I could use it multiple times. I used it for a total of 300€ but was forced to return the extra gear over the 200€ gap, even though I was promised 300€ in the beginning.
- Me and a few other designers were asked to create their own versions of NiP's logo with Sweden's logo combined with it for Katowice 2019. The chosen one was promised xxx€ in return if it got chosen. In the end, noone was paid since they didn't chose anyone, even though money was promised in the first place.
- I was lied to multiple and were told that NiP was interested in hiring me. I contacted multiple people in the management without a clear response about the hirement. After my time at NiP, the CEO didn't even know I made designs for the social media platforms, nor did he know who I was.
- One time in particular, I was promised money in return for some graphics for a tournament, but in return I recieved another voucher for the work...
TL;DR: I spent hundreds of hours working for NiP. Whilst some of the work was volunteer work, I sometimes didn't get paid for the work I was supposed to get paid for. When I asked for something in return, I was ignored. I was lied to regarding payments and hirements but still did my best to satisfy the organization.