1a) I am interning at a multi newspaper company that also has many other business ventures. They have a law office, chamber of commerce and offer classes to better help others. All of that is to say that there is a lot of information that miust be kept confidential here. When I am assigned a project, mostly flyers and a simple logo here and there, I use stock images and icons from Shutterstock. Google has been used as well but maybe only a handful of times. Sometimes I’m told to get flyer templates from Shutterstock instead of doing it from scratch. The company has a loscensing agreement with Shutterstock that they do not want to go to waste. From my understanding of the Shutterstock website is that even though you are licensed to use the images, they do not belong to you wholeheartedly. You cannot sell, copy or sublicense an image on Shutterstock. as in regards to the company’s logos, which so far I have counted a little over 10, I’m not sure whether they are copyrighted. I do not think it would be possible to copyright some of their logos due to the fact that the images/icons used to create them come from the Shutterstock website.
1b) When entering this internship I did not have to sign a confidentiality agreement. I am just a graphic design intern so I don’t really deal with the law office side of the company.
2) Reading the AIGA Business Ethics manual, A Clients Guide to Design: How To Get The Most Out of The Process, has definitely been an eye opener and given me a new perspective when it comes down to my own work as well. I did not realize that us as creatives had so much protection fo rouser work. I think that there can sometimes be a little anxiety about putting your work online. It’s either you slap a watermark across your work or throw your personal logo onto just to let people know that they can’t and shouldn’t steal. You can only hope that someone won’t just try to photoshop shop it off and claim it as their own. As stated in the manual “Designers now have federal copyright as soon as a design is created—without putting a copyright notice on it or registering it with the Copyright Office.” So just knowing that from the moment something is created, that it’s protected is quite reassuring.
2a) I’ve never used or copied another creatives work before. I have been inspired of course. Everyday I’m inspired by the many things around me. There was a class project that I did where I paid homage to the late designer Massimo Vignelli. I mimicked his style a little for that project.
2b) When it comes down to the Fairey Copyright case, seems very simple. If Mr. Fairey had simply acknowledged from the very beginning that he was inspired by the “Garcia Obama” photograph, many things could have been avoided. Giving credit to the source of your inspiration is not something to be ashamed about. That was all that was required in this case and that is where Mr. Fairey failed. Although technically he didn’t steal it because he made a few changes and adjustments, if it wasn’t for the AP photographer, Fairey wouldn’t have that image to work from.
Pedersen, B. Martin, and Studio Lin. “Design Business and Ethics.” AIGA, 2018,
www.aiga.org/design-business-and-ethics.
Kennedy, Randy. “Shepard Fairey Is Fined and Sentenced to Probation in ‘Hope’ Poster Case.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Sept. 2012,
