Readers Respond
The previous question was from a reader with a professional dilemma. She wrote: “I’m a designer who started my first full-time job a few years ago at a small branding studio. I worked under its creative director, who also happened to be the studio’s owner and its only other full-time staff member. Shortly after starting, he began harassing me. I was considerably younger than he and had little professional experience; I chalked up his behavior to loneliness and the casualness of the industry. I also blamed myself. Still, the harassment persisted until, two years in, I mustered the courage to confront him, asking for firmer professional boundaries at work. A few months later, he fired me. … Still, there’s some work from my time at the former studio that I would like to share in my professional portfolio. … While I have no interest in outing my former boss for his (illegal) behavior, however, I shudder at the thought of crediting my harasser next to work that is mostly my creative output, especially if that credit would help legitimize and promote the studio that he still runs. Do I owe him credit when sharing past work?”
In his response, the Ethicist noted: “I’m so sorry to hear about your experience and fully understand your aversion to crediting someone who victimized you in this way. Professional peers, however, won’t know about a situation that you’ve kept to yourself, and some may see your failure to mention the studio as misleading or even dishonest. Nor is it obvious that your old studio would really gain if you did name it. … The rights and wrongs of credit conventions, in the end, don’t track with other rights and wrongs, and we can’t make one register align with another. … You have every right to try to put this episode behind you. But it would be a further injustice if you damaged your professional standing in consequence.” (Reread the full question and answer here.)
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As a creative director, I feel so much empathy for this letter writer. Our industry has deep issues that must be addressed. I have been sexually harassed by countless men at agencies and studios throughout my career, and I have struggled with this very dilemma. Professionally, I don’t feel it’s necessary to list the full team who worked on the project. When I review portfolios, it is understood that the work is a product of a team of people, and all the letter writer needs to do is clarify her own role on the project (art director, designer, etc.) — Meghan
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The simple answer would be for the letter writer to credit the studio without naming the individual team members (e.g., her creepy former boss). Within the industry, it’s known that creative teams come and go, but ultimately the copyright belongs to the studio. This solution gives credit where credit is due without calling undue attention (or praise) to the former boss. — Leslie
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As a creative professional in the design industry who is involved in the hiring of designers, I agree with the Ethicist’s response here. Honesty in sharing credit for portfolio projects is one of the top things I look for in a candidate, and it would be suspect for a young designer working at a studio to have been the sole contributor. However, the letter writer doesn’t need to credit her harasser by name; a simple “created while working at Studio X” would suffice. She should just be honest about her role in the project if she is asked during an interview. — Mol