I always wonder when I see things like this -- are there actually people who will work for free just to apply for a job?

I do not mean this as snark. And I certainly would be open to the idea of a trial period or working on an in house project after the interview. But to ask someone to put in hours just for the possibility of an interview seems like a very asymmetric request. Am I off base here?

EDIT: It's probably worth noting that I work more on the software side than the design side.