I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with two ethical questions about being a designer in a large office.
I recently did a competition in my office, where I'm a designer (not owner or partner.) I was the only one who worked on it, I designed it, the partners didn't even see it before I sent it out. But it did have firm's name on it. It ended up winning a prize. I know the firm technically owns the rights to the project, but what rights do I have as its sole designer? Can I claim it as my own work? How can I present it on my own website and to future clients so they don't think I was just a mere draftsman on the project?
Also, our office does numerous studies on every project. Most of these studies and concepts are never even seen by anyone outside the office -- they just end up in the trash heap of the archives folder. Would it be unethical to take one of these studies that I had done (again as an employee of this office) and develop it further on my own, as a theoretical project? It bears no resemblance to the approved design, and was never seen by a client. A partner looked at it for five minutes and rejected it (even though I thought it was a good idea.)
You can put the project in your own personal portfolio but as far as marketing the image for your own commercial gain i think that is a big no-no if your office sponsered the design and you used their computers or plotters or glue gun or whatever you needed.
As far as developing the rejected design further, i dont think that would be an issue- unless it is looked as the same as the other projects,,
well, the competition was your work until you put their name on it. probably not a smart move. now that, yes, the firm does have the rights to the work, you can still list yourself as designer of it. you just have to acknowledge that it was under their umbrella.
same with the other work. if you're the designer you can certainly say so. for portfolio purposes, it helps if you can be explicit about your role. (employers get tired of seeing an intern's name next to things like 'seattle public library' with no additional explanation.)
the only ethical question there would be whether you include the name of the project/client. if it was rejected and the client never saw it, saying that it was a project for __ client may make for some confusion. instead of 'design study for prada san francisco', you would probably just call it 'study for retail space'. less sexy, but less likely to raise any ripples.
I think the basic answer would be to check any contract you signed when you were hired. Some firms are extremely tight with the work employees do, even out of the office, believe it or not. Some try to sneak lines in there so your basically and endentured servant to them, ha.
Overall, I agree with Client though. As long as you are not using it for personal monetary gain, there should be no problem.
as a creator/designer of work for hire, you have specific legal rights backed up by the ethic codes of the AIA and other professional orgs- your employer must allow you access to the drawings/photos/designs for your personal use (read portfolio), while you must credit the firm and specify your role in the creation of that project.
finding a new job is for monetary gain, but you are still legally entitled to present the work.
i believe that they came up against a similar issue where they were designers of projects at another firm prior to starting their own firm... i think that they may have even been sued by their prior firm for failing to credit the work properly... now a lot of the projects on their website list plexus as the "design architect" with their former employer JSA, Inc. as "architect of record"...
on similar occasions with my own work (both competitions and developing an unused scheme further) i have listed my previous firm as a "collaborator" in my portfolio...
Designer Ethics
I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with two ethical questions about being a designer in a large office.
I recently did a competition in my office, where I'm a designer (not owner or partner.) I was the only one who worked on it, I designed it, the partners didn't even see it before I sent it out. But it did have firm's name on it. It ended up winning a prize. I know the firm technically owns the rights to the project, but what rights do I have as its sole designer? Can I claim it as my own work? How can I present it on my own website and to future clients so they don't think I was just a mere draftsman on the project?
Also, our office does numerous studies on every project. Most of these studies and concepts are never even seen by anyone outside the office -- they just end up in the trash heap of the archives folder. Would it be unethical to take one of these studies that I had done (again as an employee of this office) and develop it further on my own, as a theoretical project? It bears no resemblance to the approved design, and was never seen by a client. A partner looked at it for five minutes and rejected it (even though I thought it was a good idea.)
You can put the project in your own personal portfolio but as far as marketing the image for your own commercial gain i think that is a big no-no if your office sponsered the design and you used their computers or plotters or glue gun or whatever you needed.
As far as developing the rejected design further, i dont think that would be an issue- unless it is looked as the same as the other projects,,
well, the competition was your work until you put their name on it. probably not a smart move. now that, yes, the firm does have the rights to the work, you can still list yourself as designer of it. you just have to acknowledge that it was under their umbrella.
same with the other work. if you're the designer you can certainly say so. for portfolio purposes, it helps if you can be explicit about your role. (employers get tired of seeing an intern's name next to things like 'seattle public library' with no additional explanation.)
the only ethical question there would be whether you include the name of the project/client. if it was rejected and the client never saw it, saying that it was a project for __ client may make for some confusion. instead of 'design study for prada san francisco', you would probably just call it 'study for retail space'. less sexy, but less likely to raise any ripples.
I think the basic answer would be to check any contract you signed when you were hired. Some firms are extremely tight with the work employees do, even out of the office, believe it or not. Some try to sneak lines in there so your basically and endentured servant to them, ha.
Overall, I agree with Client though. As long as you are not using it for personal monetary gain, there should be no problem.
as a creator/designer of work for hire, you have specific legal rights backed up by the ethic codes of the AIA and other professional orgs- your employer must allow you access to the drawings/photos/designs for your personal use (read portfolio), while you must credit the firm and specify your role in the creation of that project.
finding a new job is for monetary gain, but you are still legally entitled to present the work.
check out this firm...
plexus r+d
i believe that they came up against a similar issue where they were designers of projects at another firm prior to starting their own firm... i think that they may have even been sued by their prior firm for failing to credit the work properly... now a lot of the projects on their website list plexus as the "design architect" with their former employer JSA, Inc. as "architect of record"...
on similar occasions with my own work (both competitions and developing an unused scheme further) i have listed my previous firm as a "collaborator" in my portfolio...
on the same website there are also some projects that use the following verbiage...
designer: John Doe while at Big Corporate Firm.
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