At 09:04 AM 7/27/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Still,
>it's a little disappointing not being able to use it in my portfolio any
more,
>or at least not without various excuses being made in advance.
Screen shots. I swear by 'em. Every site I work on, I keep a local copy and
do screen shots as well. I also have a portfolio (printed) with printouts
of pages and printouts of screen shots.
Went through a bunch of my old sites a few days ago -- all of them have
changed, some with more than one round of new designers. I make no excuses
when I'm showing the screen shots -- I just state that I'm showing a
printout of what I designed, and if they ask (and if the site has changed)
I state that it's not the current version of the site. Especially when the
maintenance goes in-house and is done by someone I don't want to insult,
but who's really REALLY bad at it (broken GIFs, dead links, etc.) because I
don't want word to get back to a client that I'm emphasizing that I
*didn't* do their site.
>This situation is unique to Web designers really, this potential for "our
>work" to be dramatically altered subsequent to its completion; I can't think
>of any other creative category of work that is so dynamic and transitory.
And it's not always the "saving money by doing it in house" types of
changes. Here in the Silly-con valley, we've noticed that our contact at a
client company is usually only there for just over a year. And when they
move on, quite often their replacement has a friend who has a friend who
they want to bring in to do a re-design. So, even the most beautiful and
wonderful site can suddenly be redesigned just because there has been a
change in the employees.
>But in other cases it could be more legally problematic (this accords with
>matters Jack raised last week) -- basically, when a site is completed, who
>owns what, and who has what responsibilities/rights to alter and amend
>code, graphics and structure at a later date? Interesting...
The AIGA (graphic designers) emphasize heavily that the designer owns all
art, layout, etc. unless there's something signed that turns the copyright
over to the client. The sample contracts they provide include clauses like
that, and the web design contract has a clause that states that the client
cannot legally change the site without written permission from the
designer. I personally feel that for the most part the client owns the
graphics (it's usually their logo, for example) and all I "own" is that
specific look&feel -- but I only "own" it in that I have the right to use a
similar look&feel for another client, not that I can prevent the client
from changing it.
I guess I think of it like something I've written and that's been published
by a magazine. The site owner is getting the First North American Serial
Rights to that layout, but that doesn't mean I can't resell it. And since
they're providing the copy and logos, I of course don't have any rights to
those items.
--Tamra Heathershaw-Hart
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