This issue has come up a couple of times and I'd like to address it.
When you hire a seamstress to make a dress, you are paying for the dress... not the rights to the pattern. Her services are paid for, she provides you with a final product. Easy peasy.
When people hire me as a designer, the same thing applies right? They request something, I design it, hand over the finished piece, and we're all good. But wait! What if the client wants the working file? What if they want the bones of your work? The graphic design 'pattern' you created.
I do NOT provide working files to my clients and there's a good reason for that. Let me put it to you like this...
Lets say you
go to a fancy restaurant and order a magnificent meal. You think to
yourself "Hey! I'm pretty handy in the kitchen! I have a stove and some
pots. I'll just ask for the ingredients
and recreate this at home!" The chef smiles and tells you exactly what
goes into his dish. He even winks and whispers the secret ingredient in
your ear.
Bonus! You're cooking for a date the following week and this will be perfect.
It's date night. After you gather your ingredients and begin to attempt
to recreate the dish, you realize there's a problem. You don't know if
you purchased the right cut of beef, how he prepared the peppers, the
amount of cumin that was added, the temperature it was cooked at or for
how long and you don't even remember there being carrots in it at all!
The result is edible, but it's nothing like the gourmet meal prepared
the week before.
Your date asks where you got the recipe and
you give her the chefs name. She smiles and nods but makes a mental note
not to eat at his restaurant.
It takes more than fancy
software to design something well. Good design requires care, skill,
knowledge, sensitivity, and experience to mix space, colour, shape,
line, images, type and text into something effective and visually
appealing.
I care a great deal about the work I do. (As both a designer and an artist.) Time and
time again I have seen design work ruined because someone with limited
experience altered original working files. Honestly, I'm not being a
meanie by keeping the files. By NOT distributing original working
documents I am ensuring the integrity of my work and my reputation as a
designer.
Now go and hug a designer! We need some lovin' ;)
