According to several mainstream industry bad draft cheat atmosphere at present, formulate a series of opinions to protect the legitimate rights and interests of designers.

· At present, many small and medium-sized companies deliberately use test questions to make designers fail the interview under the guise of unqualified excuses after designing their works.


· And then secretly use the designer’s test works for private transactions. Even more, directly for their own companies at the current stage of the project. This kind of behavior is becoming more shameless, but the law at the present stage has not been able to protect the reasonable rights and interests of our designers.


· Therefore, we have to learn to protect ourselves better. The main role of this article is to let designers in the interview, how to correctly make test questions, as well as introduce some social current unspoken rules. (The article may be negative, but this is the dark side of society, and you can’t avoid it.)


– Graphic Design

Due to the segmentation of the design industry, I mainly aimed at some mainstream industries to rationalize how to deal with the current environment for self-protection.

The graphic design here generally includes: packaging designer, e-commerce designer, web designer, graphic printing designer.

Packaging Designer:

As a packaging designer, we know that to design a qualified packaging design product, we will combine illustration, 3D modeling, graphic material processing and other methods to finally achieve the expected effect of a product.

So we’ve come up with some of the most valuable things for package designers, and some of the things that scam companies want to get their hands on.

· Illustrations and drawings of packaging products (most desired)

· 3D modeling of packaging products (slightly more desirable)

· Plan of packaged products (slightly higher)

So, what we need to do is to think about how, if it were you, you would be the most appropriate, comfortable, and convenient way to steal another designer’s work. So, let’s take a look at the company’s general approach and routine, in order.

Scenario simulation

Company A: Hello, in order to test your matching degree with the position, which is our demand, we hope you can send out A relatively complete design draft and original document of the packaging of this product within this week, so as to facilitate our company’s evaluation of you.

Analysis: The key points here are a few, this week, the complete design draft, the original document. This is a common trick of a draft company, where the so-called company gives you a rating, inducing you to spend a week working on a complete design, and asking you to provide the source document. (The company thinks it’s so damn beautiful)

Solutions:

· Any company that gives more than 3 days to complete the test will not test directly, because 90% of the tests are fraudulent.

· Companies that specifically emphasize the need to submit design drafts and source documents for review must be careful and refuse to provide design (including source files and model files of HD illustrations, drawings, decomposing drawings).

Bottom line: Companies that require complete design drafts and original documentation, and give you enough time to produce a design, are almost always a pit to jump into. It is recommended to reject production. Leave immediately.

Company B: Hello, in order to test your matching degree with the position, I hope you can make a general product effect drawing, give you 1-2 days, then according to your work, the company will decide whether to hire you.

Analysis: The key point here is: effect drawing, 1-2 days. There is at least a 50 percent chance that the type of company that needs a test script will actually need to hire. However, be sure to take the actual workload as a reference basis according to the proposed requirements. If it takes only a few hours or a day to complete, that’s fine, but if it’s a lot of work, you might want to think twice about testing it.

Solution: Excluding outright rejection, assuming that we’re desperate for the job and that the salary is right, we decide to make the playtest.


Packaging designer

· Do not send original output images in ultra high definition

The downside: We all know what a cutout is, and I’m sure we can figure it out. (source: Qdesign1990)

· Do not send front-size works

Disadvantages: The size of the product with the front size is equal to the actual printing size. If the picture is too high definition, it will be easy to copy and make the existing design of the company. Therefore, it is highly not recommended that the test paper be presented in a positive form. (source: Qdesign1990)

· So, someone will say, how can I show it? Look, the right way to show it.

Method one: adopt the form of perspective, so that the proportion is elusive, all the graphics even if buckled can not be directly used.

Method two: the production of light and shadow environmental effects, highlights, shadows, folds this kind of not only increase the packaging details and the degree of completion of the technique, but also to cheat the designers of the draft company cutout artists, buckle can not stop, the whole body uncomfortable.


(Photo by Aurea)

E-commerce designer, web designer


· Do not export the complete hd design draft

The correct way to do this, as shown in the bottom half of the image above, is to indent the image and divide it into two columns so that the pixel size is obviously too small to be used directly! (Credit: DPI Lee Jinzhu)


· Method 2: Prototype is used for demonstration

Download the prototype through various material websites, fill, choose a strong sense of perspective, in line with the design style of the prototype will also let the company who want to steal the design feel desperate. It’s like what you want is right in front of you, but you can’t get it.


Graphic designer

Graphic designers are basically the hardest hit areas of draft fraud, LOGO, posters, display boards, posters, brochures, business cards and a series of test drafts, are basically the worst.


All kinds of strategies to deal with the basic has been summarized in front, to sum up: the definition of the design draft must be low, try to use all kinds of prototype effect display, during the period is the more exaggerated perspective, the more difficult to steal.


Here are common examples of LOGO test draft errors (source: MelonWu)

Present the case correctly

Already thinking of all the bosses who tried to steal test scripts? That’s right. Doing so not only improves the design quality, but also greatly increases the cost and difficulty of copy. Kill two birds with one stone.


Of course… Don’t do that. Left left left left left down down down down

Reasonable use of the scene, avoid making a joke is also very important, do not use excessive, produce this situation.


Other types of printing works correctly display the effect




– UI Design –

I am a UI designer myself, so in the UI design industry for so many years, although not much loss, but peers are also aware of the “brilliant deeds” of many companies.


As a UI designer, how should I deal with the test draft?

First of all, based on the point of view of the previous graphic designer, high integrity is required, source files are provided, and the design draft of the HD map is not done. For example: to make an APP home page + personal page + launch page 4. For this type of test, there are a lot of items. Basically belong to the suspicion of draft fraud. Don’t try. Game GUI designers require a test page with a high degree of completeness and image detail, almost 50 percent of which is also fraudulent.


As shown in the picture, similar to the following quality of the design draft.

This type of test draft, finished, you will be asked to modify. 99.99 percent is cheat draft company, this time please stop here, the source documents can not be given to the company.


What should I do?

First of all, the way design drafts are presented should change from the beginning, based on what we’ve learned before. For packaging. As shown in the figure.



The reasons for this need not be explained too much, as they have already been mentioned. This is just an example of my own work.

Advanced practice (display test draft by dynamic prototype) (source UI China home page works)

Through the display of the prototype, plus the display form of dynamic effect, not only the display effect is better, and basically let the cheat company have no way to start. And this display of the design draft will be more personal design style characteristics. It is a lot of benefits, see here I believe you can agree with my view. Other changes need not be said.


Of course, no matter how we make it, the most important thing is to refuse to provide the source file, which is crucial. Once the source documents are provided, it will even affect your rights protection to all kinds of reporting platforms. Therefore, for whatever reason or excuse the company asks you to provide the so-called source documents, you should refuse.


– Contract signing –

If you can see this, you should already know how to prevent fraud. But did you think it was over?

Ah, young people in a complicated society.


Sign a contract, sometimes it’s broken, and the company will bite you back and you’ll never be able to do it again.

Why do you say so?


Let me share a real case with you. Because it is not convenient to penetrate into specific companies and individuals, so this is not the actual name.

In about 15 years, there is a designer’s name is zheng, zheng in a 4 a design company for two years, because can’t stand strong work and leadership personality problems, plan to move to another company to do design director, during this period, there is no too much to retain the natural, zheng went to the new company as a design director. But a year later, he was sued for 800,000 yuan in compensation for breach of contract.


Right, be before that 4A company, and be in xiaozheng a few years ago when signing an agreement for the first time, one is not careful, did not pay attention to a message that the contract indicates with small words among them “employee leaves office 2 years cannot be engaged in any position related to this position”.


In the end, my friend Here, Xiao Zheng. Just a few days ago, I paid off the money. Although the court did not decide on the compensation of 800,000 yuan, xiao Zheng was also required to compensate about 400,000 yuan. And this 400,000 dollars. I believe that for us ordinary designers, how to calculate is also a year or even years of income. But the cause. Because you didn’t take a second look when you signed the contract.


So, I’ve outlined some common contract pitfalls. I leave it to all of you, both novice and veteran, to help.


· Shall not work in another company for many years

· The probation period is more than 3 months

· The probationary salary is less than 70%

· The five social insurances and housing fund shall be paid after the probation period

· Provident fund will be paid in 6 months

· Employees are willing to cooperate with the company for post deployment at any time, which is very targeted at female groups. After pregnancy, they are transferred to other positions and their salaries are reduced.

· No indication of salary adjustment time, half a year or several times a year. Range of increase.

· Whether you are paid thirteen


These are the contract traps summed up by me, which are also the common means used by start-up companies and small and medium-sized companies to evade obligations. Each of them is closely related to everyone’s rights and interests. I hope I can help you.



At the end –

Dying to Survive shows the dark side of China’s medical industry, which is nothing more than a product of the social environment. Pursue its fundamental, is the distortion of human nature, and the law is not perfect caused by.


As a designer, I would like China to pay more attention to safeguards in the field of design culture. But, more often than not, with eagerly looking forward to the attitude, but finally to endless disappointment.


Well, since I waited, I can’t. Maybe I can use what I hear, what I hear. A few essential “items” to help people who are thinking of getting into this mess.


The road of design is long, advise you carefully lonely night ship.


Author: Vientiane Vision

Source: UI China homepage