news & events

One of the affects of the recession is that some clients may be caught in a state of limbo, needing to commission work but with a greatly reduced budget.

Whilst this may mean that design firms will be asked to drop their fees or deliver more for less, another concern is the rise of clients tempted to get the job done very cheaply by going directly to designers otherwise employed.

‘PJ’s’ or ‘private jobs’ done by employed staff in their spare time have always been rife especially in graphic design, and although difficult to prevent does show some sense of entrepreneurial spirit. But in this day of digital design software, I would like to share a cautionary tale with clients, design firms and would-be ‘PJ’ designers!

A few days ago, I received a letter from a firm of solicitors acting on behalf of a company who had concerns regarding a copyright infringement for some packaging they use for one of their products.

Two ex-employees had formed a rival company and were making direct approaches to their customers selling the same product in identical packaging for much less. Clearly this is unreasonable behaviour and a clear case of ‘passing off’.

The letter took me by complete surprise as we do not design packaging, had never heard of the companies in question and had never taken any payment from them.

Puzzled by this I called the solicitor, who filled me in with the details of the case. I asked him why he had contacted us in the first place? Having interrogated the PDF artwork we were identified as the registered licensees of the software used for the illegal design and therefore the authors. - A former employee had done this work as a ‘PJ’!

As a profession, it is important for our future that we are able to demonstrate to potential clients the value of working with bona fide companies, run properly with some form of redress and responsibility. Appointing an established design firm should provide a level of professionalism, experience, responsibility and security.

It is very tempting for the staff member to accept a commission from a ‘client’ and in the current climate there may be plenty of opportunity for this black market trade to grow. But to the employee, check your employment contract, it may be a clear breach to undertake any commissions and deemed a conflict of interest.

But when I started work, all design was done by hand and would leave no trace other than a faint imprint on the backing paper of the drawing board. But today, beware! The software used to complete illicit work, and e-mails used to take the brief leave indelible traces of your activity. Recent events have made this very clear to me.

One problem here is that some commissioners of design do not entirely appreciate the link between the time it takes to do say a piece of artwork, and the cost of running a proper design business.

Paying for legitimate software, and comprehensive professional indemnity insurance is a cost a sole trader or PJ designer may not have and so will therefore be able to undercut even small to medium firms. So if you are a potential commissioner of design, go ‘round the back door’ at your peril. You would not expect your solicitor to do a PJ for you!

Barry Jenkins –
BroomeJenkins
Vice chairman SCDF