During my time at Faculty Commons I never really had a reoccurring thought about copyrights and making sure that I gave credit to the sources I used. This might be because I hardly use any outside sources like stock photos or images from other sources. It might also be partially due to the fact that I am a “purist”. In my Internship class the term “purist” was coined for those designers who are bent on doing everything themselves. While I am certainly not against using outside sources to assist in my designs I’m the type who likes to do all the aspects of the design work myself.

I recall using a photo as reference as I traced over it to use as the background for a poster/flyer. However, I took the photo myself so I’m fairly certain that I didn’t delve into the world that Shepard Fairey did when he created the Hope Poster. Other than that the only sources that I use that do not belong solely to my creation is the logos that are provided to me.

While I don’t recall if I had signed a non-Disclosure Agreement for my internship I would argue that we are not using anything to gain a profit or commercial gain. All of my design work is solely for educational purposes.

Some of my Design Team members did use assets that didn’t belong to them and I noticed the measures that they took to ensure that all parties are given credit to; such as placing a Creative Commons icon on the poster or even as simple as citing where they got it from. When the time does come that I may need to use something such as an illustrator’s or photographer’s work I will surely reflect back to the AIGA Ethical Guidelines that was given and I will definitely be sure to confide to my Design Team members about how to protect myself as well as all of the creators involved.