As most of you know I am a blog designer. I work very hard to create unique and beautiful designs for my clients. Unique being the keyword here. I am not a confrontational person, nor am I the type of person to defame anyone! But today I am taking a stand, a stand for my business and a stand for other designers that might have had work stolen right out from under them!
This all began yesterday morning when I received an email from a fellow designer. She was concerned about a sentence on my blog design website that was strikingly similar to a sentence on her site. First and foremost, the sentence she is referring to comes directly from a customers testimonial. So the sentence in question wasnt even written by me! After being taken aback by her seemingly disconcerting email, I did a little background research about her. What I learned still has me shocked and dismayed.
The fellow designer that was concerned about a sentence on my site, and calls herself morally conscious, is S-T-E-A-L-I-N-G from other designers and claiming the work as her own. Yes, stealing. Morally conscious, I think not. But again, I am not going to defame anyone here. This person knows who she is and if she happens to read this post then so be it. She knows what she is doing is wrong, unethical and definitely NOT morally conscious.
Here is an example of what she has stolen (blog names and author profile photos have been removed or covered for security purposes):
So tell me what you think? Coincidence? Not likely. Yes, there are differences in the copy. Such as, there is no background, the fonts are little different whether it be color or font weight, the pattern on the orange stripe, and the square in the header image doesnt have scalloped corners, but this is clearly a copy of the original. If you ask me, I would say she downloaded the header image and edited it a little to fit her design.
This angers me! The original designer created this CUSTOM design for their client, only to have it stolen from them. Not only did she steal the design, she also deceived her customer by collecting payment for a custom design, and provided her with a copy of a design that doesnt even belong to her. The thing that shocks me the most out of all of thisshe is so naive to think that NO ONE would notice. Well, honey if you are reading this right now, I NOTICED. I think I speak for ALL designers when I say, wed appreciate it if you could stop stealing others designs and start creating your own. If you cant, then blog designing shouldnt be your profession.
←- END RANT -→
Have a wonderful Thursday everyone, do the happy dance cause its almost Friday! Woo hoo!