Can I Use Your Portfolio?
This was a favor a friend of mine asked a few years back. She/he needed a portfolio because she/he had an emergency interview. I actually didn’t know what to say but my thought bubbles was screaming“Are you kidding me? ”
First, it’s my work, mydesign, my concept. If I gave him/her permission it will haunt me back, who knows, tables could turn and I could be accused of using someone else’s portfolio a few years down the line. I felt a little disgusted when I was asked that question. A straightforward NO was all I could spare.
The local web/design design industry is a small, small, small word. One should never take credit for a design that isn’t her/his own. It’s just wrong in so many ways. Here are two classic examples:
Bel of Greencapsule.org recently posted in her Multiply account about someone taking credit for her designs.
It’s not a case of web designs, this time.. it’s PDF portfolio ripping off. I honestly do take pride in how my PDF portfolio looks like, coz I have spent a lot of time doing it’s design, typography, colors, and layout just to impress employers or clients. Just this afternoon, a friend of mine who works in Lawton Yeo informed me that they just interviewed one Filipino guy (named Jay Patrik K. Elemento of http://xeoxile.cjb.net) through phone yesterday and was surprised to see that he used my PDF Portfolio as a template and have just replaced the texts and images on it. Everything looks the same.
The guy eventually apologized.
There was also a popular thread in Philweavers.net about a certain Voltaire Estrada. This incident is one for the books. The person involved used several flash portfolios that he claimed he worked on. He applied in one design studio. Presented his portfolio to a panel of interviewers, also web designers/developers — and in a funny twist of fate, one of the interviewees was the actual person who coded, developed “his” portfolio. CLASSIC! … And it gets better. I thought the name was familiar. It rang a bell. I remembered the person applied in my previous company. Guess what? He failed the basic HTML slicing and flash animation test.
Should they start teaching professional ethics 101 in design schools? Ladies and gentlemen, if you’re either a fresh grad or an expert in this design industry take into consideration the following:
- Never, ever take credit for someone else’s work.
- The industry is small world. The advent of the internet makes it’s easier for word to get around. You don’t want a prospective employer to Google your name and negative comments about you would pop in the results.
- If you worked on a project with a team, state that in your portfolio. This has been a common incident I’ve experience in the hundreds of interviews I’ve conducted. I’d see one portfolio by an applicant and wonder why it looked so familiar. Only upon further prying that I will discover it was done by team effort.
- Employers will blacklist you. In the case of Voltaire, it was just too bad for him that the complaint was posted in Philweavers. A site every headhunter/hr manager in the local industry visits to source for prospective talents.
- The old adage “face the music” rings true. You may eventually get the job by cheating but when push comes to shove and you need deliver a complicated project, how are you going to do it?
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but not in this case. Great execution means the real designers/developers have poured hard work, sleepless nights and unlimited cups of coffee to come with such results. If you want to kill your career as a designer then claiming credit for someone else’s work is the best way to do it.
Elsa Schiarapelli’s 12 Commandments for Women
* Since most women do not know themselves they should try to do so
* A woman who buys an expensive dress and changes it, often with disastrous result, is extravagant and foolish.
* Most women (and men) are color-blind. They should ask for suggestions.
* Remember-twenty percent of women have inferiority complexes. Seventy percent have illusions.
* Ninety percent are afraid of being conspicuous, and of what people will say. So they buy a gray suit. They should dare to be different.
* Women should listen and ask for competent criticism and advice.
* They should choose their clothes alone or in the company of a man. (Times have changed. A guy, unless gay, is the last person I would want to accompany me in shopping. Straight guys have no patience going back and forth the mall for about 3 times not to mention mall wide sale.)
* They should never shop with another woman, who sometimes consciously or unconsciously, is apt to be jealous
* She should buy little and only of the best or cheapest.
* Never fit a dress to the body, but train the body to fit the dress. (try Liposuction)
* A woman should buy mostly in one place where she is known and respected, and not rush around trying every new fad.
* And she should pay her bills. (Amen to that.)
Macbook Touch?
Via Gizmodo and AppleInsider
I honestly don’t know what to think of it. Seeing it’s a touch screen and I HATE fingerprints on my screen so I’m not really looking forward to this if indeed it was even true. I want a lighter Macbook , one with a 12-inch screen.
Martin Margiela L’Incognito Shades
Isn’t this the coolest shades ever forged?
You need a lot of attitude to wear this and a whopping 600 US$. But you know what I love more? Martin Margiela’s website. Brilliant concept.
Project Runway Philippines
The 14 Finalists are:
Aries Lagat (Mega YDC 2006 Winner)
Ava Paguyo
Bo Parcon
Charette Regala
Eli Gonzales
Ivan Raborar
Jaz Cerezo
Loida Hunter
Lord Maturan
Lorymer Villareal
Mara Reyes
Philipp Tampus
Veejay Floresca (also a finalist for several competitions, i forgot which ones.)
Winnie Chua
I have an idea who’s going to be Wendy Pepper. But I’ll never tell. Muwhahaha.
Project Runway starts on July 30, 2008, 10 PM @ SBN 21 Channel.
Graphika Manila 2008 Spoilers
Just got from a reliable source, named Aram B. LOL. International speakers for Graphika Manila 2008 are:
(highlight below please :P)
<spoiler start>
Toki Doki
Kristophe Verge - lead animator from Pixar
<spoiler end>
It just so happened the event will happen on Sept 20 of this year, same day as my 3-day Global Pinoy Bazaar in Rockwell Tent. Kainez.
How to Use Photoshop as Weapon of Mass Destruction.
The Real “Clone” Wars. Iran’s recent photos of missile test was Photoshopped.
Busted.
Spotted: Filipiana Terno Sleeves at Chanel A/W 08-09 Haute Couture?
Davah?
(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)
The whole collection had very exaggerated sleeves and a bit too dark for Chanel. I like it except for the Anna Wintour hair . Wehehe.
Jum Nakao is a Brazilian based designer who creates clothes using folding and cutting paper techniques. Amazing is an understatement description for his works. They are not exactly wearable but it demonstrates the possibility of adapting these techniques to fabric. Unfortunately his official website and blog are all in his native tonque. He seems to have a fondness for exaggerated sleeves. I love how he played with our very own butterfly sleeves (also known as Philippine sleeves)
It’s not just the terno sleeves that have gotten attention in the runway. In Jean Paul Gaultier’s 2005 S/S Haute Couture show, Alex Wek walked down the catwalk wearing this frock from Ikat weave by one our local tribes:
Although the runway reviews mentioned African tribe references as inspiration for this collection. The fabric however is unmistakably woven abaca Ikat from the T’iboli tribe in Mindanao. The texture, pattern and colors are distinct of the tribe.
Quote of the Day
Kris was describing this knee Chanel high gladiator sandals to Boy Abunda.
“You know Boy the one that’s up to here (points below the knee) and with butas-butas here.”
It’s another version of “You make tusok-tusok the fishball.”
U2 in Manila. Maybe Next Time :(
Why U2 is not RP-bound
June 22, 2008
Source: Philippine Inquirer
Pocholo Concepcion
The wildly rumored U2 concert in Manila won’t happen this year, if it’s ever pushing through.
This was relayed to Inquirer Entertainment by promoter Francis Lumen, whose events company, Concertus Inc., was earlier negotiating to bring in the Irish superstar act.
“The problem is, we’re being required to hold it in a 100,000-capacity stadium, which we don’t have,” explained Lumen, who’s also president of MTV Philippines.
Although there isn’t any forthcoming U2 tour, either, the band has reportedly expressed a desire to perform in one Asian country. Lumen’s staff, tasked to scout for a suitable venue, failed to find one.
Keys to MoA
Meanwhile, MTV Philippines also announced that the Alicia Keys concert on Aug. 5 will be transferred from the Araneta Coliseum to the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay. The open-air grounds, said to have a capacity of 25,000, is also allegedly “more audience-friendly” than the Fort Bonifacio open field, which has a rough, unpaved surface.
But the main reason for the change in venue, Lumen pointed out, is that he wants to keep ticket prices low in the general admission section.
The 11-time Grammy-winning Keys, whose current live act includes a 48-member cast, has upped her talent fees, and to hold the concert at the Big Dome would correspondingly increase ticket prices, Lumen said.
(c) Philippine Inquirer, 2008.
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Hey but it’s an excuse to travel half way around the world to see them. I just wish I had the money to take my brothers with me. Could have been a blast.