Sigh. Every time I write about our work getting jacked and entered into a 99designs logo contest, I usually receive some e-mails advising me that I shouldn’t make such a fuss. Just an “isolated incident” I’ve been assured. Ironically, on more than one occasion. Well, here’s another one of those ahm, “isolated incidents”. This coffee lounge logo lifted from our gallery (inset above), rejigged and entered into this contest on 99designs’ website (below). This one is a particularly nasty rework, no doubt created by running the original image through Adobe Illustrator’s handy-dandy Live Trace. Not terribly well, at that.
While the so-called ‘creative’ (apparently on their first outing) has tried to reverse engineer the word coffee back into the design, they neglected to notice the outline of the exclamation mark from the original. Wonderful. Ripping our stuff isn’t good enough. They have to make it look bad as well? It’s at this point I usually launch into my anti-contest screed. Logo contests are bad for business.. don’t work.. clients and designers get ripped.. not a professional solution. Yaddy. Yadda. Yadda. Alas, I’m just getting over a bout of the flu (no, not swine) so I’m not up to my usual indignation.
Though if this keeps up, I’m going to be sending the good folks at 99designs a bill for consultation and art direction fees. From the amount of links to our website (”this is the kind of logo we’re looking for”) to absolute knock-offs being entered into their contests, it only seems fair.
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Tags: business, Contests, crowdsourcing, rants, spec, spec work
That is horrible. That is why I’m so weary of posting my work online in fear of copying. You should seriously do something about it.
Hi Steve,
On behalf of the team here at 99designs, I’d like to apologise.
We’re definitely not okay with copyright violations and are doing our best to eliminate and prevent against offenders. Copyright violations aren’t good for anyone.
Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention. The offending entry has been removed and the user has been suspended indefinitely. If you ever note any other issues on 99designs, please let me know and I will deal with it personally.
I hope you feel better soon, too.
Cheers, Adam.
@ Adam – Thanks for removing the image and I appreciate your offer to take care of any further issues. Having our work, and our client’s logos entered into various contests is becoming a real headache and any assistance is welcome. I’m feeling a little better thanks – was only on death’s door for a few days.
@Wendy – The image has been removed, so we’re cool for now. I understand your concern – the internet should be a great way for designers to showcase their work, but having designs lifted from online portfolios is a real issue. We’ve been hesitant to update our logo portfolio and Daily Logo features for that very reason.
Nice catch on this Steve,
Wendy’s comment is an interesting one that I wanted to add to: I am certain my stuff’s been ripped off over the years (not to the level yours has), but I wonder if this really should be a major concern of the average soloprenuer/freelance designer. I agree that it’s reprehensible, but if clients need to see your work I am not sure how you get around it, furthermore, I am not sure I have the time or energy to go after the perpetrators. What would you recommend?
By the way, Adam’s response to this was a classy move. I am not overly thrilled with design contests but I have to give the guy credit for handling this directly. I hope you were satisfied with his response. Anyway, I was impressed as hell that you caught this, nice work. Hope you’re feeling better as well.
@JeremyTuber
Jeremy Tuber’s last blog post..Oh Great, Spec Work Companies are Now Spamming Graphic Designers
@ Jeremy – thanks for the comment. Like you, I’m not a fan of logo design contests, but I do have to give Adam kudos for handling this episode in the manner that he did (I also thanked him on Twitter). Getting material removed quickly is certainly helpful for such times when it does happen and I’ll avail myself of his suggestion that I contact him personally if it should happen in the future. At the end of the day, my main concern is for our clients property and the potential dilution of their copyright and/or trademark. I also think these bouts of copied work illustrates a very major flaw in the design contest model itself, something which I’ve discussed ad nauseum on my blog.
In terms of posting material on a website portfolio, there’s no real way to get around it and ‘comes with the territory’ for any designer with an online presence. Watermarks only work to a certain degree (and can be removed by anyone with a modicum of software skill), any technical fixes (disabling right-click-save) are laughingly easy to get around and password protecting a portfolio defeats the entire purpose of having a website in the first place. At the end of the day, having work lifted is a risk for any designer, but I think our material gets picked more often due to ranking fairly highly in Google image search for various keywords and the number of images that we’ve added to our site over the years.
Almost forgot to mention – I’d love to take credit for ‘the catch’ but this was sent in to us by another designer who seemed to be as tired of copied work as we are (I haven’t had much time to poke around the internet – as I mentioned, a nasty bout of flu sidelined me for a few days). Not sure if she’d want me to name her, so I won’t, but it’s her detective skills you should be impressed with.
Glad you’re feeling a little better, Steve, and that this one was taken care of swiftly.
David Airey’s last blog post..Stretching the Virgin logo
@Steve
Great find buddy…
@Adam
Good response… hope things wont be the same in future…
@all others including me
it is even our duty as well to keep an eye on those copycats and spread the word as it happens, but be fair in it, not just pain-in-the-A**
Thanks
@ David – thanks for popping by. Yeah, feeling a little better. It no longer hurts to think. I believe you have a soccer injury of your own? Trust that is healing well also.
@ Rebel Designer – welcome. I think notifying other designers when their work gets knocked off is a pretty decent route to take. Most people appreciate being told when their work is being misappropriated. Keeping notices to obvious copies (and not designs with only the vaguest of similarities) is one way to avoid becoming a PITA.
I should probably quit playing, Steve.
I’ve been going to physio for a hand injury picked up last year, then I break my toe on Monday (for the second time due to football). There have been many more minor injuries along the way. Just call me sicknote.
David Airey’s last blog post..The Chip Shop Awards 2009
Heh – “sicknote” – I like that. Know what you mean though. I quit playing organized soccer a few years back (not in the shape I used to be in). Coached my son’s teams for several years, and The Logo Factory has sponsored quite a few kid’s teams in the local house leagues. Kinda cool seeing a soccer team running around the pitch with our logo emblazoned on their jerseys. Here’s a snapshot of one of our teams and their coach (alas, I can’t remember his name).
This is outrageous. It makes my blood boil.
I am a pretty non-judging guy when it comes to inspiration. I will readily admit that I love getting inspired by other designers work.
But this is THEFT. It’s despicable. And to make it even worse, it’s lazy.
Who submitted the stolen logo? The “designer” should be exposed.