I write a monthly column in form, the German design magazine.
This one is about claiming other people’s work. Which is not bad style, it is theft.

Imitation is not flattery

We’ve had two break-ins at our office recently. Surprisingly, nothing was ever stolen. At least nothing that we could see. We have no idea whether any data was secretly lifted from the server or ideas copied from all the sketches and print-outs on the walls. And if it had been, how would we measure the damage and report it to the insurance? What is there to steal from a design studio, except electronic gadgets and lots of cables?

There are hundreds of books out there whose only purpose is to serve as inspiration for other designers. And it can be flattering to find work that you know had been influenced by your own work or that of your team. There is, however, a thin line in our business between copying, adapting, imitating, quoting or just being inspired by someone else’s work. And let’s face it: hardly any project warrants invention, because most clients feel more comfortable with something similar to something else which is tried and tested.

Occasionally, thieves deliver themselves inadvertently. I have seen lots of portfolios, printed or online, where someone claimed authorship for a project I knew they had not – or only marginally – been involved in. Large projects like the ones I have been working on over the past 25 years always need more than one designer, plus a host of other trades, be they programmers, typesetters, project managers, assistants or numerous interns. And all of these can claim a piece of the action. But having worked on a project with other designers in a studio doesn’t mean you alone were “the designer”. Whenever I show a project, I speak of “us” and I always try to credit as many people as the client will let us. I know that people move on and it does me proud to hear and see them mention the work we did together. As long as they speak the truth.

It should be easy: show the project, explain what your role was (maybe simply “member of the design team”) and give credit to the agency or studio who you worked for at the time, whether employed or as a freelancer. Don’t forget: potential clients or employers know that it is easy to copy and paste a complete portfolio. I know that most designers I have worked with have a better archive than me, and I also know where most of their many fonts came from. What surprises me is the stupidity: people show me projects that I worked on and they didn’t, or they use versions of fonts that I know were never publicly available. And if they don’t send their portfolios directly to me, looking for work, I see it when judging competitions or visiting friends’ studios. This is a small business – at least some of us are friends first and competitors afterwards, and we talk to each other. And we do talk about applicants for jobs.

Claiming other people’s work is not bad style, it is theft. And being deliberately unclear about the exact authorship is not modest, but dishonest. Intellectual property is what we create and thus own. And taking that from a designer is not flattery by imitation, but a crime.