All posts by Hoa

COMD 4900, Uncategorized

Internship Journal Entry #14 – Ethics Entry #2

Throughout my years as a student and an intern in Graphic Design I have developed a habit of using images without noting where I got it from. While I do consider myself the type of designer to try to do everything myself, when I do have to use outside resources, like stock photos and stock footage, I don’t take extensive measures to give credit where credit is due.

After reading the Fairey Case file and the AIGA Ethical Guidelines I realize that now I need to be sure to give credit to where credit is due. As a designer, illustrator and a video producer myself, if someone else had used my work without even so much as saying my name I would speak out about it. Therefore, now I want to learn more about how to give credit or how to use copyright for my own work.

My only exception to the process of giving credit is if the person altered the work to not even make it recognizable. If I were to compare a work to its original source and if I can barely see any comparison then I would say that the artist might not need to cite where they got this reference from. I feel like this applies heavily in the Illustration field. Illustrators often use reference poses, look at other illustrators works and seek inspiration everywhere. So if the illustrator can create something that looks entirely different then its original source then I will not have a big problem with the design. Whereas, if someone used the image down to its bare pixel and didn’t acknowledge where they got it from, I would surely riot.

In the case of Shepard Fairey, the creator of the Obama Hope poster I think that the fact that Fairey tried to cover up where he got the image from was a mistake. I believe that honesty is the best policy. So while his intentions of making President Obama the ideal presidential candidate were good, what he did after that discredited him.Ā  In terms of the artwork itself, I think that while it does seem like a copy of the original photo, I think that Fairey played with the image enough to call it his own, not AP’s. I understand the legal ramifications that can come with using someone else’s work but I think that Fairey changed it and stylized it enough to be his idea, the photo was only the starting point. As designers I believe we all need that starting point. I think now, along with gathering good references, we just need to take a cautious step when it comes to making sure to know where it came from, and acknowledging where it came from.

COMD 4900

Internship Journal #13 – Ethics Entry #1

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.

COMD 4900

Internship Journal # 12 – The CUE Conference Countdown ā€“ D Day

The CUNY CUE Conference was a smashing success! We heard all around good feedback which included how organized the Conference was. Major props to everyone who helped during the CUE Conference. I was also happy with how the day went. I was granted with the duty of capturing this amazing event. Though I have put it in my mental shopping list to buy myself a bigger memory card for my camera. I was running on a 4 GB memory card for an 8 to 4 event. Any photographers out there reading that line knows how crazy that sounded. I had to run back and forth to our laptop to offload images off the camera. As crazy as that sounds, it wasnā€™t that bad. Every time I went back to the staff room, I was able to just take a seat and breathe for a couple of minutes while my images were transferring into our computer. As confidently as I may have said that, by the end of the day my feet were hurting, and I was ready to hibernate for the remainder of the semester.

The start of the day was very busy. The first presentation I had to go take pictures for was in the Theater. And I was taking all the shots I can possibly get my hands on. Then I remembered that I had a 4 GB memory card so occasionally I would sit down and delete some photos that didnā€™t look good. Iā€™m sparing my future self from having to comb through it afterwards but there were some pictures that I was really proud of. Throughout the day I continued to take pictures of all the presentations that was happening. I couldnā€™t help but also end up paying attention to the presentations as well. There was this one presentation where they talked about how they incorporated art and fashion together. That probably spoke to me because Iā€™m in art, but it was still nice to see. There was another presentation that caught my eye and unfortunately it caught my eye for the wrong reason. This presentation was in the afternoon and when I entered the room there was no one there but the presenter. The presenter had their slides up and then they said, ā€œyou donā€™t need to take any pictures, because thereā€™s no presentation or anything exciting happening in here.ā€ They said it with a hint of humor, but I still felt bad. I would have loved to sit there and watch their presentation but unfortunately, I had to be in another room that had a presentation the same time as them. Regardless, I sat down for a couple of minutes to chat with them. I think they would have given a great presentation.

As the day wounded down after that all we had left to do was clean up shop and get ready to go. Our design team reserved for a celebratory dinner afterwards. I was pretty drained out and I was ready to just go. But going to dinner with them gave me a kick of energy afterwards. Then, as we were leaving the restaurant, we saw a sunset and ended up walking towards it. When we approached the river, we saw the sunset hiding behind the clouds and the boats passing by, and I even saw the Statue of Liberty from a distance. One of my design team members couldnā€™t have said it better when she said that seeing this was very calming. I couldnā€™t agree more not only because of the nice scenery, but because it was the calm that we needed after the long day. My feet didnā€™t hurt as much after that.