Photos of work you designed while working for another company

[Almonte]

Is it okay to take photos of work that you designed and put it in your own portfolio, or even your own website, if it was designed while working for another sign company?

I would imagine that your previous employer may have the rights to the design, but once the customers purchase and install the finished sign on their property, the owners would have priority over a publicly viewed sign?

 

[mikey-Oh]

Think you could use the photos to get a job with another employer, but not clients for your own shop.
They own everything done during the hourly wage.

 

[Gino]

While you were there working and collecting pay, that's really all you're allowed to take.

I would assume if you had a great portfolio like Joe Diaz or Neato and earned some prize winning titles, you could negotiate for them, but not otherwise. That's kinda stealing in a round about way.

 

[Rick]

Are you starting your own sign business? Or is this for an employment portfolio?

You rationale is incorrect.

Either one, the answer is usually no, you can not. You need your employers permission.

Most employers know that you need a portfolio to get a job, and all the shops I know require one during an interview. I wonder where they think us designers got that portfolio together? It's is generally a common courtesy to ask.

If you are opening your own shop, ask, but be prepared for a huge no and maybe a pop in the mush, it's better to use conceptual (made up work) and then replace it with real jobs as they roll in. You can use your resume in your portfolio and link the client to your old job, but then that opens up the client to go to your old place of employment.

 

[ForgeInc]

In the design profession, this is done all the time but always with a small call out that the work was done for (or while at) "acme" design company, might be different standards in sign industry though.

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

Did you take that photo on company time?

 

[CentralSigns]

Did you take that photo on company time?

Careful. Big issues with that in government. Millions lost in royalties for real good fire pictures. While working for the employer the pics are his as well.

 

[Almonte]

Hi All,

Thank you for the input.

Yah, I was originally planning to use the photos for my own business site, with each photo having the note, "designed by My Name, fabricated by Company Name." But I think it may be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Mosh]

I use pics of old signs I did, the guy I worked for is real cool and is retired now anyways. I didn't use them while he was still working though. Neat to look at stuff I made in 1988-89, lots of wood carved stuff. Wish I did that kind of work now...too much "need it now" signs

 

[Rick]

Hi All,

Thank you for the input.

Yah, I was originally planning to use the photos for my own business site, with each photo having the note, "designed by My Name, fabricated by Company Name." But I think it may be more trouble than it's worth.

The problem I see with posting your former (or soon to be) employers pics are, if they design for free and you charge, who do you think will get the design work? You are not that hard to find by the way. Most apartment signage I have seen is done on spec. I design quite a bit of apartment signage myself, including your area. Most of my apartment sign work is freelance and none of my clients charge upfront for my design time. Boggles my mind that I can work for 40-80 hours on a project and they may not get the job.

If you are installing, hopefully you have your contractors license in place. Some of those bay area towns are hard on bootlegged signs.

 

[Marlene]

Yah, I was originally planning to use the photos for my own business site, with each photo having the note, "designed by My Name, fabricated by Company Name." But I think it may be more trouble than it's worth.

did you leave on good terms, if so, give them a call and tell them you'd like to post the work you did at their company and will give credit to them and see what they say.

 

[Gino]

You've changed the parameters a little now. ​

You originally were gonna use photos of things that really didn't belong to you. Now, you want to make mention of where you worked and who did the signs.

If you don't have written permission for each and every picture you want to use, I would not do it.

You have to make sure if you are using someone else's name and company name in conjunction with your name or new company name, that they even want to be associated with you in any way, shape or form. You can't just go around using other people's names giving them credit if they aren't aware of it and given written consent. Besides, that's like being a name dropper and no one likes a name dropper.

If we do signs for an Amusement Park and put pictures of their signs on our website or photo album, they might not like where we're advertising and say not to use their good name in such a place.

Ya gotta be careful. You want credit and it's just like getting a credit card.... you have to show good credit without ever having credit. Sounds impossible, but there are ways to show off your work without using this kinda approach.