Most of us visiting Red Pixel Media are designers in one way or another; either it be audio, video, or graphic design it doesn’t much matter. We as designers have made a name for ourselves. People hear the word “designer” and think of those creating the new objects of tomorrow – not stealing them! Designers create new things, they shouldn’t be modifying others’ work. Sure we follow tutorials and articles, but we should only take out the concept of those tutorials, the “how do I” answer and not the entire resulting effect. If everyone starts copying one guy’s article we would could not call ourselves designers; instead we’d all be copy-cats! Designers are creative, our work has meaning! There are many people in the world that may consider themselves to be photoshop professionals but does their work have a hidden message? Do they have their own style of work that is unique? Or are they just copying something their neighbour has done? With many designer wannabe’s around we need to hold onto our name.

Create

Now in my above comments I mention stealing other effect/designs but what about stealing pieces from other industries like music, videos, or images! Google Images are not royalty free! Go to istockphoto.com and spend $5.00 on some brochure images if you really need some! Lime Wire has not signed contracts with every music artist on earth to sell their work for free! Go on iTunes and buy $1.00 song. How hard is it? Even forgetting about the lawsuits around the globe dealing with pirated music, doesn’t it just feel good to personally own your entire music library? I think it does! We don’t like people copying our work, but why do we turn around and steal other people’s work?

In a client’s eyes we need to be creative, thoughtful and trusting. Therefore we as designers need to hold our reputation on creating – not stealing.

Please spread the word to create, not steal. It’s affecting all our jobs, all our lives, and should be stopped.