Excellent and very timely post Geri. Credit and authenticity of portfolio work is a really important issue in the web design industry and with more and more designers coming in all the time, it is vital for anyone hiring talent to clearly understand where an individual’s skills lie and ultimately how they are at working with others.
..and a little like yourself, I recently fell foul to discovering my own work being presented in someone else’s portfolio without the proper credit given.
A couple of years ago, whilst leaving a company to set up my own studio, I sat on the interview panel hiring for a number of roles for the design team I was leaving behind. One particularly candidate, although coming across a little awkwardly during the interview, was hired almost entirely on the basis of presenting a really excellent portfolio to us and a strong CV working for some really heavy weight name.
Sadly, as I later learned, they did not exactly live up to expectation and could not work well with the rest of team. It was disappointing to hear, though put it down to clash of personalities and style.
However, In September this year, the same person emailed me to ask if I’d sit on the panel for a Behance portfolio review they were hosting at a local meetup. It seemed like a fun thing to do, so agreed to come along. Thankfully before the event they sent me a copy of their own portfolio to look through. In there were all the previous projects I had seen during the interview, then suddenly I start seeing my own design work and projects I myself had art directed and brought to fruition. The worst part was the lack of any recognition for any other team member and was written like they were some kind of genius prodigy who could do it all. It all suddenly made sense!
Along with the bemused amazement at this individual’s stupidity sending me this in the first place, I was also filled with a mix of anger and shame for having fallen for this sham myself.
You can imagine the rest! …and although not prepared to organise a public flogging, I obviously didn’t take part in the portfolio review event!
James Fenton
Excellent and very timely post Geri. Credit and authenticity of portfolio work is a really important issue in the web design industry and with more and more designers coming in all the time, it is vital for anyone hiring talent to clearly understand where an individual’s skills lie and ultimately how they are at working with others.
..and a little like yourself, I recently fell foul to discovering my own work being presented in someone else’s portfolio without the proper credit given.
A couple of years ago, whilst leaving a company to set up my own studio, I sat on the interview panel hiring for a number of roles for the design team I was leaving behind. One particularly candidate, although coming across a little awkwardly during the interview, was hired almost entirely on the basis of presenting a really excellent portfolio to us and a strong CV working for some really heavy weight name.
Sadly, as I later learned, they did not exactly live up to expectation and could not work well with the rest of team. It was disappointing to hear, though put it down to clash of personalities and style.
However, In September this year, the same person emailed me to ask if I’d sit on the panel for a Behance portfolio review they were hosting at a local meetup. It seemed like a fun thing to do, so agreed to come along. Thankfully before the event they sent me a copy of their own portfolio to look through. In there were all the previous projects I had seen during the interview, then suddenly I start seeing my own design work and projects I myself had art directed and brought to fruition. The worst part was the lack of any recognition for any other team member and was written like they were some kind of genius prodigy who could do it all. It all suddenly made sense!
Along with the bemused amazement at this individual’s stupidity sending me this in the first place, I was also filled with a mix of anger and shame for having fallen for this sham myself.
You can imagine the rest! …and although not prepared to organise a public flogging, I obviously didn’t take part in the portfolio review event!