A disturbing trend has been brought to my attention in recent weeks. Apparently there are established designers out there taking credit for the work their young and unpaid interns make, thereby stifling their ability to gain professional recognition and receive one of the main sources of value expected in return for their free labor.
Unpaid internships exist to expose students to the realities of their chosen careers, and in exchange for professional molding under the watchful eye of a mentor, work is done by the intern that increases the productivity of the company without expanding its payroll. The situation is often mutually beneficial, with both parties giving and receiving something worthwhile. Writer Steven Greenhouse for the New York Times published an article last month called "The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not" which discusses what happens when these arrangements aren't as equitable as they seem on the outside.
The sketch before the jump is a design made by an intern at a furniture company. She was supposed to receive a credit for her work, but her boss took the design through production and refused to add her name to the promotional materials. You may even have seen the chair in question at the past week's BKLYN Designs and ICFF events, where it received a fair amount of attention for its unique shape and creative detailing.
If ideas have been taken from you or someone you know, please tell us about it. We want to create a set of guidelines for young or inexperienced designers to follow when working in a creative field in order to be treated with the respect they deserve and to be making, at the very least, a name for themselves when making money isn't an option.
Know that we aren't here to slander anyone, so please be careful with your comments. Let's make this a positive and informative discussion about how to protect your intellectual property as designers. Rule number one: Always sign a contract!
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This might be the most naive post on AT ever.
Um, yeah, helllooooo?? This is news? Over two-thirds of my second boss' Graphic Design portfolio was the work of two people... both of us entry level designers.
And, gasp, it happens at non-design jobs, too!
And NO company is going to be signing a "contract" with an unpaid intern...
Sad but true -- far from a "trend".
Yeah, um...I gotta say the posts above are right on...it happens in virtually ALL fields. This reminds me of the music industry; you hear "produced by Timbaland or P Diddy or whoever", but in reality a lesser known person behind the scenes actually created the music.
But I mean, c'mon...this is how the world works; you design something for a company, the big names take the credit while you get to put it on your resume and work your way up the ladder.
Sadly, in this economy, the intern is pretty powerless. If he/she complains, getting blackballed in the design/creative field, I would think, would be the inevitable consequence.
I don't work in the design/creative field. But in my current job as an attorney in the federal government (labor litigation, ironically enough), my bosses routinely secure high quality interns by dangling before them the potential of a permanent job offer at the end of the internship.
But, at the end of the internship, the interns are told, falsely, that last-minute budget constraints prevent the agency from making them an offer of permanent employment. Then my agency moves on to the next volunteer law student.
And law students who turn down an offer to INTERN at my agency? I've heard one boss say that he would make sure that the intern never got hired ever. It's so pathetic.
My heart goes out to these interns. And I would venture to guess that this situation is even more brutal in creative fields, because of copyright issues, as described in this post.
yeah, unfortunately this is how the world works. the great inventor thomas edison? most of his stuff was made by non-credited interns. fortunately, historians are realizing this & sometimes when possible include their names.
In other news: tenured professor publishes post-doc's work under his own name.
When you sign your contract as intern it usually says that everything you produce, design or make during that period belongs to the company you signed with...Applies also to full-time jobs... Interns don't just come up with super ideas without the stimulation and creative environment of the company so it is kind of logical.
Yep. Not a trend and not specific to design. :(
I agree with the article that interns would benefit by changing the culture and making the business world swing in their favor, but this is a huge culture change. I wonder if the writer of the article knows that corporate CEOs get big bonuses...
I'm sure that many of us have been "unpaid interns" before, probably when we were college students just looking for credits. If you're one of these, and you happen to stumble upon a million-dollar idea, it's usually best that you just keep it in your own portfolio instead of handing it over to your boss. Trying to hardball them into a contract seems unnecessary. If you do that, then you're looking for a JOB, not an internship, right?
But there is also nothing preventing the intern from showing the work he or she worked on as part of his or her portfolio.
I do have a friend with a graphic design studio, and after providing the staff designer with professionally photographed images (at the boss' expense) he discovered the images, without credit, on the staff designer's own website.
So the intern or junior designer is not always the saint in this morality play.
Uhm, unpaid intern over here...
I have a contract. All the interns at my company have contracts. I didn't have to "hardball" anyone- it was beneficial for both parties. It spelled out what my responsibilities are, what the length of my internship was, and what my role in the company was. Now I get held to my and, and they do to theirs.
I also don't necessarily think there’s a problem with a supervisor having credit for an interns work- BUT that should be an upfront part of the agreement, so nobody is surprised. Interns are there to work, yes, but also to learn. I am pretty disgusted by employers that lie about credit sharing, however.
About the NYT article, it's worth noticing that actual prosecution is starting to result from that- federal level charges have been filed. Unpaid interns are frankly a drain on government resources here in the US, and the government wants to force companies to pay them, so that they use up less tax money.
Much as this is old news, stats say that reliance on free interns is on a drastic rise lately. To the point where it can erase many entry-level jobs. This means that the rep you build as an intern may be a dead-end. Worth considering.
One difficulty that many interns encounter, though, when placing work they've done for a larger firm in their portfolio is the question (and a justifiable one) of "how much of the work is yours?" In an office environment, where there is input from multiple people, it's difficult to say exactly what part of the project boils down to an intern's portion, exactly. Many grad schools request only academic work in application portfolios for this reason, or work done by sole practitioners.
Free-lancing is a good thing, in this regard, even if it's unpaid free-lancing, just to build a portfolio. I have a couple of graphic designer friends who've done unpaid free-lancing for me as ways to build their personal portfolios: I needed their graphic design skills, they needed broader portfolios: badda boom, badda bing.
That sort of thing happens everywhere, all the time. I`ve had my share of bitter disappointments with jobs and bosses, and the only advice that seems to work here is: share good ideas, keep the best ones for yourself. Don`t squander your creativity, you`ll need it later.
Rule number one: Always sign a contract!
A contract stating what? That the work is your own intellectual property? I don't see that working. I'm a design consultant, and before starting, everyone must sign over IP on everything we design during our tenure here -- which, frankly, makes sense. That doesn't mean we cannot include that work in our portfolios, but that we can't independently charge a client for that work (i.e. quit and steal the firm's clients by continuing that same work).
We also can't be vocal in giving our interns credit for their work for one simple reason: our clients would be furious.
They pay us for professional consultation, and although the intern doing the work is always under the direction of our senior designers and creative managers, clients would either be insulted that a mere intern was allocated their work and/or would insist upon paying a lower rate for that work.
They are absolutely allowed to include the work in their portfolio, but they understand why the overall design credit has to go to the firm, and not them personally, because that's what happens to our own work as well.
Soooo not surprised by this. I really felt like college did nothing to prepare me for the realities of a professional work place. There should have been a class where they warn you about all the ways larger companies manipulate & try to take advantage of the young naive but eager to please college grad. I had some really harsh experiences my first 2 years out of school, but I guess that was what helped motivate me to start my own business and I've never looked back!
@ AmmoniteInk:
wait wait...not saying there shouldn't be a contract at ALL...to clarify, I was talking about the TYPE of contract. Of course you're going to have a contract that says you're an unpaid intern and how long you'll be there; that's not what I meant.
I was talking about the type of contract the writer of the article was talking about, where the actual works you create while there are protected from being owned by the employer. Is that the kind of contract you have? (rhetorical question; not expecting you to answer that on the internet lol) What happens if you create a brilliant idea worth millions while on the job at your unpaid internship, and the company wants to claim it as theirs? That's what I meant by "hardballing your way into that type of contract seems unnecessary", because being an intern is much different from being an employee, where you might see such a contract put in place. I hope that makes more sense now.
Agree with N A V above: it applies to fulltime jobs, and rightly so.
In 15 years in commercial interior design I haven't seen once that a member of the staff was credited over the name of a Principal of the firm (even if the Principal was not working on that particular project, or if his participation consisted of a name on a seal on cover of construction set). And for good reason: the Principal carry legal responsibilities for every design item leaving the door of his office. If there is a malfunction of that chair the intern is so adamant about, and the customer got hurt and decides to sue: who is he going to call in court, an intern or furniture designer whose name is on the seal for production? I daresay - a designer. And it is a designer who probably pays to some sort of malpractice insurance, and it is a designer who will compensate lawyers if the case goes to arbitration or to a court hearings - and it is a designer who will go to jail if the court decides the case against him.
Besides, every project is not just an idea, a pencil sketch on a napkin. There were a lot of other people, I'm sure, who worked on that chair from the point they got the sketch to a physical object, praised for its excellent detailing - did intern executed all of it himself, including the workshop technical drawings? I don't think so: he doesn't know how. Then logically, each member of the team should demand their own piece of publicity!
Every designer has a portfolio, regardless if he/she works for a firm or for herself. Standard practice is to include the images and documentation of the project you participated in, and to indicate exactly what is that you provided for the project. You st\ill leave the titleblock and the name of the firm on the documents, while you say "I was responsible for the initial concept, which was then developed by the firm".
Not so complicated and certainly not a cause for litigation.
unpaid internships have always sucked. someones time and effort is should be compensated. unfortunately this is simply phrased as "paying your dues". Most new jobs involve some kind of training anyway.
the worst internships are when you can't even get a free lunch, water, or have to pay for parking. at that point you're paying them to be there?!! sorry kids.
The first commenter used the right word for this article: "naive." This is far from being a recent trend and you'd be silly to think this only happens with design interns. Take it from someone who's been one several times.
This is true everywhere. When I was an undergrad in physics, the was made rather clear to us, that if we invented anything worth any money (even if it we just stumbled on it) that it belonged to the university.
3 countermeasures:
1) Intern with organizations in which accreditation is standard practice (i.e. newspapers, magazines, galleries, etc.).
2) DI Your-darn-Self: It's a interconnected, word-of-mouse one-to-one global market, baby. Use it! It's there for the taking. Dang it, if I'd had all this magic-y software at my fingertips straight out of school...You whipper-snappers have so much more than we did...I had to draw with woolly mammoth grease and a dodo bird quill...
3) The strongest voice is the consumer's: As a consumer, seek out truly original work. It's an interconnected, word-of-mouse one-to-one global market, baby! Use it! (And get off my lawn!). Also research your purchases. For example, I recently wanted to buy a bunch of upholstery fabric. When I googled the design company and saw the number of copyright infringement complaints lodged against it (not just one or two by the unwashed disgruntled or the envious hater contingency, but 20 or so...), I took my business elsewhere, thank you very much.
Most industrial design is a result of teamwork. Interns work with a design team and further, a manufacturing team and/or engineers who make a reality of ideas.
Besides, have a good look at that wonderuflly detailed sketch... really? someone is using that as proof of some kind of idea? If you've ever seen the detail that is needed to procure a patent, you might question the validity of that doodle. perspective? material? fasteners? elevations? pffth.
Seriously, the "Old Masters" used to have apprentices learning under them, and they did much of the work on the big murals, and things; Michaelangelo did all his Sistine Chapel himself, I guess, but the whole "paint by number" idea came from a guy who had taken some art classes and knew from Art History that they would give them a numbered section to work on. They weren't just filling in colors, they were filling in a sleeve or something, and generally in the specific style and technique that they were told to. So... yeah, that's how things have gone for a long, long time.
But if you're an intern for someone big, you can always say that you interned with Someone Big and that is SOME kind of credit, right?
I love analogys...
I have a crane and lots of money. I hire an intern who comes up with a good project idea. I put my crane and money to work on the project. At completion it was my resourses and capital that were on the line, and rightfully so I should get to put my name on the project (it's likely the intern's idea would have gone nowhere without me). The intern gets to put the successful project on his/her resume. Hopefully for the intern he/she isn't a one hit wonder and goes on to devolop more, maybe even getting an intern of their own.....
Oh man.. I know the spelling is horrendous. I've become to reliant on the red underlining of my mac at home.
haha. what a jaded bunch we all are!
This happens all of the time in academia...
OK, it happens all of the time. It's ingrained in our hierarchical society. That doesn't make it good practice, or that it can't be different. The intern needs to find the opportunity that best fits their career goals and negotiate an arrangement with the prospective employer (you will be working for them as much as a paid employee). Make sure the arrangements that you discussed are stated in writing and signed by both parties before you start. If the employer falls short of the agreement, communicate in a way that redirects your role appropriately. If it doesn't, actively seek other opportunities while you grin and bear it. After all, you are there by choice.
personally, i think it's a bad design. who ever heard of a one legged chair? even that three legged chair would definitely tip over. maybe this is why the intern is the intern and I get the big bucks and the glory.
It's pretty clear that some of you aren't getting the point of this post. Obviously unpaid interns get taken advantage of in all industries, not that it makes it fair.
In this case, the intern was supposed to get credit for the piece she designed as payment, and the head designer didn't hold up their end of the bargain, which is just awful.
If you cannot afford to hire people to design things for you, and are not willing to give them the credit that they deserve, you should probably just design it yourself.
Of course this happens, when I was a young designer working for an architecture firm, my boss took full credit for every single one of my designs. However, no matter how many great ideas I came up with, no one would have built it or bought it, I had no contacts and no experience, so I looked at it as an opportunity to have my ideas turned into reality, and some of the big name projects I worked on with that firm are still in my portfolio (and still help me get work) though I definitely credit them to the firm.
I did have teachers and critics rip off ideas of mine, but again I don't know where the ethical line is there? I went to Parsons and someone from Bentel and Bentel architects (the people who design Tom Callichio's restaurants) attended our final review as a critic. One year later Craft opened on 19th street and it looks (and is laid out) exactly like my drawings....however, again, I never would have been approached to design a restaurant at that time (obviously, I was a 22 year old college student) nor, if by some miracle offered such a job, would I have been prepared to turn my concept sketches into a build-able plan. I've come to think of it as the ultimate good critique, they liked it and they used some of my ideas, (and I have a great story)
That particular chair doesn't strike me as terribly original.
So - your expectations are that you're going to be allowed into a successful firm to find out how the business works and they will do the massive amount of work required to translate your scribble into a marketable product backed by their distribution muscle so you can be a star?
Pay your dues. A disrespectful and misdirected post.
When you work for a creative firm, all work is credited to the firm, of course. It's nice when individuals are credited, and lower-level employees also need to credit those who inspire, mentor and direct them in their early days. A little respect and pats on the back all around for work well done never hurt anyone. No one person is a self-contained genius - everyone is inspired, influenced or guided by someone outside of themselves. Especially in a creative firm, everyone there is creating work which is a product of the highly conducive environment of talented people pooling ideas.