Whether it's vetting a design concept or solving problems on site, design projects take teamwork and team thinking. Many individuals may contribute to the final design and implementation.
At the end of the day, though, it should be clear to all involved who owns the project and the rights to all concepts, sketches, renderings, presentation boards, photographs, etc. That includes employees in the firm and outsourced providers. Otherwise, you could find yourself the victim of design theft or embroiled in a lawsuit.
Hiring has opened up again in the interior design industry, and that is creating a lot of churn in the marketplace. Since demand is greatest for more senior, proven designers, we in our firm and the clients we work with are seeing a large number of less experienced applicants hoping to make a career leap by overstating their qualifications.
One area where this occurs is in the presentation of their portfolios. Candidates are showing as their work projects ones to which they contributed or performed assigned duties but which were secured, designed and developed by a more senior firm member.
In some cases this "exaggeration" is rather blatant. In other cases, though, the claims are more ambiguous. It's clear that for many junior designers there is a gray area around what constitutes their work and the work of the firm.
Ideally, the question of ownership should be addressed at the time of hiring. The firm should have clear, written policies regarding work for hire and rights to any and all creative materials. These should be reviewed with the new employee to avoid any future misunderstanding or misappropriation of the firm's intellectual property.
In the current hiring environment, I recommend reviewing such policies with all your staff and any outsourced service providers. Be clear about what claims they can make regarding their contributions to projects and the use of the firm's visual materials.
This can be an especially contentious area when designers leave to start their own businesses and want to present their new clients with an impressive portfolio. There have been cases where designers sued, or have been sued, over ambiguous claims of ownership.
The same caution applies to working with clients. Today, clients increasingly are looking to take on more control of projects. We are hearing more stories from designers who have had clients abscond with their designs or design concepts and turn them over to a contractor to complete the work. It is more important than ever, therefore, that you use a document such as a contract or letter of agreement to clearly spell out what services you are performing for the client and who has rights to the final design.
Finally, when presenting projects for publication or posting images to the Internet or social networking platforms, make sure you have copyrighted your materials. You don't have to apply for a formal copyright; you can just use the copyright symbol along with the year of copyright and name of your firm.
By the same token, when you are having projects photographed, be sure you have written documentation from the photographer as to your rights to the images and whether you must also provide a photo credit or copyright statement for the photographer, and possibly an additional fee.
Never assume it is "understood" that as the designer you own the rights to your work. The easy access to information and images provided by the Internet has accustomed people to freely making use of others' work, often without attribution.
A document or statement of copyright does not guarantee your work won't be misused, but it does give you some protection and possible recourse in the event that an employee or client violates the terms of their agreement.
