Shit We Gotta Talk About :: 'Pinterest' Ain't A Legit Image Source
The other day I posted on my Instagram about creative copyright, and I'll write/share some more on that soon, but someone replied with a specific Q that I thought could be a whole email/topic on its own because it's pretty important, I reckon...
And that's crediting images or inspiration to 'Pinterest', instead of the actual creator. (Or, worse still, just not crediting anyone at all.)
I understand that its a complicated topic and it's not fully black and white, and that for non-designers it can genuinely be hard to navigate, but what really fucks me off — on many levels — is when designers do it, and they just blow it off as nothing, or that they couldn't find the original creator. I'm also referring to sharing client/project inspoboards with zero cerditing at all. We're the ones who are meant to be setting the standard for how to treat designers and creators and people making a living off their art, so WE GOTTA BE THE ONES TO DO IT PROPERLY.
If you're a designer/creative and you do this, I'm calling you out. #sorrynotsorry
No, I'm not chill about it. 🔥And yes, I've made mistakes here before too, but we have do to better.
SO, let's break it down.
Why it's not okay to credit 'Pinterest' as an image source...
👉Because they didn't create whatever it is you're sharing. It'd be like crediting something to Google. It's not legit at all. You might as well just write 'Credit :: One of the biggest search engines in the fucking world.'
👉It disrespects whoever made it in the first place. This piece of art doesn't just exist for you to do whatever you want with. Someone made it. It might have taken them 5 years to design the house and build the house and style the house and photograph the house. It might have taken them 30 minutes of doodling in their sketch book on a Sunday morning... Either way, it doesn't diminish the fact that someone put time + energy into something, and it now lives on the internet. Have some respect, fam.
👉It adds to the problem of creative copyright not being taken seriously. i.e. Leading to more big and small companies thinking its totes fine to rip off other things they've seen on the internet because they'll never find out, and it doesn't even matter who made it in the first place... right? 🤦♀️ This is a HUGE problem, especially in the fashion industry. Big retailers like Zara and H&M are known for ripping off artists and small businesses with zero fucks given, for these exact reasons.
👉Cause if someone really really loves whatever it is you shared, how are they gonna find out who made it? Maybe it's a photo print on a wall that's SO INSANELY PERFECT for your house, but JK cause someone didn't share the original creator so you're never gonna find out who made it or how to get one on your wall.
Here's what to do instead...
👉First off, we gotta stop crediting things to 'Pinterest'. Full stop. No question bout it.
👉If you find something you like on Pinterest, and THERE IS a link through to the original creator :: Don't link any hyperlinks or credit it to that Pin, just link straight to their website or their Instagram. Nine times outta ten, if someone posts something I really dig, I don't wanna go to the fucking Pin, I wanna see their Instagram or their shop or their actual website so I can see more of what they do.
👉If you find something you like on Pinterest, and there's NO link through to the original creator :: The first, super easy thing you can do is upload that image to Google Image search, where there's a chance it will track back to the original creator. Sometimes this works really well, and it sometimes it's a huge failure lol. If you do find them, then just go back to the point above and link directly to their website/socials/whatever. If you still don't have any luck finding them, there's a couple options you have, in my opinion.
If you're sharing this image publicly and you've done your best to find something similar but had no success, and you feel like you really, really need to share it, do so with caution and mention that you tried to find the original creator, but couldn't. Just don't fucking credit it to Pinterest, or Instagram, lol. Second option, and the one I would recommend :: Just don't share it at all. Find another image that's similar that does have the creator linked.
What about when you're creating personal + client inspoboards?
When it comes to personal inspoboards that I know I'm not gonna share or post anywhere, I don't add credits because I don't need them. Everything I pull will be linked on my Pinterest (hopefully), so if I need to find the original creator, I can.
With client inspoboards, if they are only being shown between my client and me, I don't always add credits. I think this is somewhere I could brush up and even just add hyperlinks to Inspoboards, to keep track of where we get things from, and also just cause its a good habit. So... That's where I can DEF be doing better.
When it IS okay to post images + designs without credit...
👉If you own the copyright to them, OR you've purchased a license to use them. For example, when you purchase icons from a website like the Noun Project, you don't have to credit them as the source (this is one of their terms). I personally just brought a subscription to them, so it makes my life way easier and I don't have to think twice about adding credits when I need icons from them.
👉If you sourced them from a copyright-free place, or somewhere that explicitly says you don't have to credit them. For example, Unsplash has these exact words in their License terms (as of today, November 11) — "All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.
Wherever you're sourcing ANY images or creative resources from, you should check the license or copyright so you know where you stand, as they can all vary a little.
So... That's me and the shit I've been fired up about lately, lol.
Stay golden,
