As you may know, we’re fairly regularly encounter people who rip off our work, be it writing or design. I think any designer worth their salt has had at least one thing stolen from them somewhere. Or they will, eventually. I used to get really super upset about it, but now I just calmly issue them an email and if I don’t get a response, I send their host a DMCA violation notice. That usually does the trick. No sense in getting all riled up about it — unless they’re actually touting themselves as professionals and attempting to get jobs based on our work. Then I absolutely won’t stand for it.
But never — never! — has anyone ever sent me an email like this. Never ever and I’m rather glad because I’d probably have some kind of rage aneurysm and collapse muttering really classy things like “I’ll cut a bitch!” or similar.
Lawrie (@indextwo on twitter) gave me permission to repost this letter he posted on Facebook. Umar can suck it.
How Not To Get Design Work: Lesson 1
Being a designer isn’t exactly a piece of cake. I blagged my way into my first job with absolutely no experience, and within 9 months I had set up on my own with no portfolio and no budget. It took me four years before I actually made any money, begging for work, scraping together a portfolio and living with my mum. I know how difficult it can be starting out; but while I can understand in principal what this guy is getting at, this is exactly the wrong way to do it. Emphasis added by me. For emphasis.
Hi there,
I’m sure you guys get a lot of emails so I’ll keep this short.
I’ve seen the Girls Aloud official website – I think it is really bad and being a fan of Girls Aloud I think it can and should be much better – for them and the fans.
I see it had your site on the footer of the site
I’m the best designer you’ll ever come across – take a look at my work – hollisterbaystudio.com
I’m a one man show
I will do a revamp of Girls Aloud website, I will do it for free. I will give you a image of the new homepage that I design – If you like it, I will design the other pages and you can use the website, if not then no problem. I will do this for free – as a fan of Girls Aloud and also
knowing they need a much better online presence.This is a win-win situation for you guys – trust me, take a look at my work and you’ll know it will be amazing. If I had direct contact with Girls Aloud they would take me up on this offer also.
Regards,
Umar
After recovering from simultaneous bafflement and rage, I got my shit together enough to draft this response:
Hi Umar
Here are some tips for you:
- If you’re trying to poach design work, maybe don’t email the studio that did the design work in the first place.
- Definitely don’t email that self-same studio and tell them their work is ‘really bad’.
- Try not to come off like a hugely arrogant tool. Because that’s exactly how you sound in your emails, unfortunately.
- Anticipate that people use Google: http://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/archive/2008/how-can-we-stop-the-thieves/
- Assume that the design community tends to share stuff like this.
So, in summary: thanks, but no.
Lawrie
You may have noticed I refer to a link on elliotjaystocks.com. Elliot Jay is a rather well-known and well-regarded designer; in a nut shell, Umar ripped off the design of not just Elliot Jay’s own portfolio, but of three other projects EJ had done. He then (in order) denied it; said it wasn’t a big deal; got belligerent; apologised.
It’s worth noting that he only apologised after Elliot Jay had published that blog post and Umar had been inundated with hatemail from the design community.
I’m not exactly sure what Umar was expecting in response to his email – a gushing letter of thanks for coming to save me from my ‘really bad’ design? A picture of me jerking off over his (presumably stolen) designs? Cheryl Cole’s phone number?
Whatever he expected, I feel he should at least have the decency to be honest. As such, I’ve redrafted his email for him:
Hi there
I’m a massively arrogant prick who thinks that photo retouching and web development are the same thing. Google my name and you’ll see numerous blog mentions of me ripping off other people’s design work, as well as some forum trolling where I beg for work, coming off like a douchebag who, metaphorically speaking, sucks his own cock.
All of this says that I am, at best, pretty good with Photoshop but utterly lacking in creativity or a moral compass.
P.S. I think you’re a dick. Now give me some work.
You’re welcome, Umar.
– Lawrie
I didn’t know what Girls Aloud was until a few minutes ago, but I’m not English. But I am totally blown away that someone can be so incredibly arrogant! I can’t believe this Umar guy had the audacity to rip off people so blatantly, let alone approach a hired designer and basically threaten them, all the while tooting his own tool. It’s… well, it’s mind boggling that people like this exist. What the hell? Seriously.
Holyeffinghell. I was sitting open-mouthed all sorts of slack-jaw reading his email.
You are a professional, babe.
I seriously would’ve sent him the email you drafted for him. Tell him to save it and use for later. He’s going to need it.
I didn’t draft him an email, Lawrie did. This isn’t my post, remember?
But I concur.
Holy Crap!
Reading Umar’s email just got me laughing and rolling on the floor.
If you would complete his email with some gangsta or ghetto slang, it would match his personality.
(Yo, man! oder Dude or …)
This poor mind did everything wrong you can do in terms of communication – insulting, assaulting and over-confidency. But not the worst – his misinterpretation of the “Creative Commons License” is far beyond any form of impudence.
I feel sorry for him and his desperate trial of getting attention.
Hi Joelle… have been a big fan of your blog since you worked in cube hell back in Dallas was it? Anyway… have been designing stuff for about 15 years… self started and mostly self-taught like yourself. The bottom line is there always has been and always will be bottom feeders like this. I’ve had people do everything from steal my resume word for word… have seen people suck down my whole site and change the logo… I’ve even seen my old publicly traded company’s web site stolen from a company who even had the same name. I would just treat it like trash on the sidewalk… take a curious glance and step over it. Keep up the great work and writing.
Hi Jack! Thanks for commenting — lurking this long? Sheesh.
I’ve worked in many a cube in my day, but yes… it was probably Dallas, as that’s where I lived when I first started blogging.
I agree, you have to overlook it most of the time. It’s amazing how unscrupulous some people are, though, don’t you think?
I have always liked your writing. I lived in Arlington in a past life so when I was reading about your life in Dallas and finally escaping to California… man could I relate! I think I may have posted something once years ago.
All I have to do is commute into work from time to time to be reminded how unscrupulous people can be… I’m pretty sure the lady that cut me off yesterday missed her calling as a career serial killer. As far as these design hacks are concerned, I think they got a little carried away with that Oscar Wilde quote, “Talent Borrows, Genius Steals”. Uhhh… folks? I think he was being facetious… OK? Of course I’m using a WP Theme on my site I got from Theme Forrest… but I’m not a visual designer and without the WP themes, my whole site would like wireframes and process flows
Anyway… keep up the great work.. great writing and great design. Try to think of it as flattery… then squash ‘em like a bug!