Two of my roommates and I study in the same degree, and for this semester all of our projects were intertwined with one another. I worked with both of them on a magazine, with the other one on a science illustration and with the other other one on a cinema-branding.
Now we are finished with two of those projects and I’m not happy with all of us being labeled as the ones who "have done it".
Magazine:
Before I mention what bothers me, and so you can get a proper picture of the situation: All three of us worked on doing interviews for the magazine. All of us worked on writing the content while one Friend of mine primarily worked on it since she is better at it.
When the project started all of us worked on layouts, we tried combining them and it didnt work. Since I just finished my internship where I learned a lot about typography and graphic design I’m quite familiar with what it take to create a good layout… I dont like "labelling" myself as the one with the most expertise since all of us are learning but I found myself "correcting" their designs quite often.
In the end I ended up layouting the magazine since we had to meet the deadline, and I told them that I could do it in time since im the fastest with the programmes mentioning that it doesn’t bother me… It does bother me now its here. I know and they know and told me that the project would have gotten to this standard without me and it bothers me since all of us are gonna put it in our portfolio.
And I cant tell them that they cant use it in their portfolio, we’ve talked about it. All of us need these projects to apply for a Masters degree… and the tricky part, we are applying at the same universities.
Branding:
The same happened in this project, she worked on a flyer, she told me she didn’t know how to continue and so I finished and redesigned it. Now she can put it in her portfolio… it annoys me. It annoys me a lot. She’s my best friend which makes this even more difficult. We talked about it a few times and she knows that she is "behind" me which creates this weird tension… We already agreed that we wouldn’t work together anymore
Team collaboration is an important skill I know that, and i know that i can have an ego when it comes to this stuff. But the combination of us competing with one another, wanting to pursue a similar career, with the same projects. Plus them not having the typographic knowledge yet and using these projects in their portfolio (bascially saying: I’ve done that) to maybe get a spot at a university which I liked just rubs me the wrong way… Do i need to learn to be a better team player. How should I work on it? Do i have a right to tell them?
I’m scared I might ruin the friendship…
I should mention that the illustration project worked on, turned out well. We both did the illustration together and my friend worked on the Webadaptation while I created the coherent visual design system (Layout, Fonts, etc.). 50/50…
YWBTA if you tell her to remove the project entirely. You can’t stop her from putting it in her portfolio. She did work on it, so it’s your project as well as hers.
That being said, I understand your frustration. I know that in many portfolios, there’s a section where people can elaborate on which parts they did on team projects. Perhaps that could be a solution?
YWTBA if you want her to remove the projects
YTA here sorry. I hate people who don’t do their own work but you literally told them you didn’t mind, and once you knew you did mind you still did more things for them. Thats on you, and you shouldn’t have done that because even though obviously they should do their own stuff you have finished it for them, when asked and when not asked it seems. I can understand realizing after the fact that you do mind, and in that case at that point you should’ve not done any more work for them. Continuing to do work for them, but also resenting them for it and still not addressing is your own fault
It sounds like you are overbearing in your edits of your peers to where the point of their personal designs are compromised. Stop helping them if you don’t want them to take credit for your over edits. You are taking an editor role, and doing too much to your peer’s work that it doesn’t allow them to learn or develop their own style outside your tastes. The did some work, you just took over and left it to were none of their work show. It’s not their fault. YWBTAH if you tried to take all the credit. You didn’t do all the work. You just redid theirs. You are the one who struggles to work in a team.
YTA for sure you don’t collaborate and take everyone’s work and put it together and then agree to all have your names on it and then at the end of the semester decide to go back on your word bc YOU think your the best one on the team. You wouldn’t have any of those projects without the work of the other classmates. Damn. I can totally see what kind of coworker you’re going to be….not the well liked one at all and the one nobody wants to work with. Yikes.
This is tough, but I’m leaning towards NAH. I’m a graphic designer, and I’ve been in your place many times. Unfortunately, this will likely keep happening to you in the “real world” too. Some people are just grifters, even if it’s not strictly intentional (like your friends). I’m a recovering perfectionist, and I can’t tell you how many times I completed group projects by myself because other people suddenly didn’t know how to do things or refused to take direction.
When you work professionally, you will also have work in your and other people’s portfolios that’s based on collaborative work. My rule is to follow my own conscious and ethics about how I give credit to others, while still elevating my work. I’ve realized I don’t have control of how others will communicate things, and maybe they will take credit for things I’ve done.
The bottom line is, you stick with what is right for you and let other people deal with the consequences of their own actions.
Two things:
– Make sure you explain clearly what you took on and did in your portfolio. People looking at it will be wanting proof of your skills beyond what they can see, so you’ll likely get a lot of questions about your process and what your part in things was. Show sketches and concepting, write about challenges you overcame, etc. Don’t throw anyone under the bus, or explain that you had to carry anyone. Just focus on telling your story about how YOU did what you did. You want to come across as a great team player, but also someone who can take charge. Don’t hesitate to rebrand some of what you did as leadership.
– Your friends are biting themselves in the ass right now. If you want to stay cordial, I’d stick to reminding them to only take credit for what they contributed. If they ignore that advice and try to pass of your skills as their own, they’ll likely get found out very early into a job (or whatever) that they fibbed and man is that obvious and embarrassing to everyone around them. I’ve seen a lot of people (okay, it’s only been men lol) lie through their teeth about their contributions and abilities, only for me to be gobsmacked and how ignorant they are.* This is an industry that heavily relies on word of mouth and connections, so it’s a dumbass move to oversell yourself.
I know it’s frustrating to see them claim your efforts as their own, but it’s not worth it to put constraints on them now. If you work with them in the future, you should say at the beginning of the project what your expectations are for work credit. Learning boundaries now is going to serve you well. There will always be a boss, coworker, or client who wants to diminish your contributions. It’s your job to not let that stop you.
*I once had a guy who claimed to be a web designer, who would “design” in Chrome’s inspector. It was almost impressively absurd. This was before programs like Figma, so the expectation was he was going to design in Photoshop. Nope — he would find a site he liked and “edit” the existing code to style it. Then he would take a screenshot. And then close out the window. We ended up having to redo all his work from scratch, because it wasn’t editable and also he was terrible at designing.
YTA
You told them you were fine doing the work, now you’re not fine with it. That’s not reasonable for this sort of project
You guys did collaborate. It’s a big project. It’s very normal for all of you to have it in your portfolio. Thinking of this as a direct competition between you two for college spots is short sited. You have collaborated with people more skilled than you in the past (not that that matters) and you each are coming with lots of differences that may or may not get you into a program.
You won’t work with her again. That’s the lesson here. Take it and move on
YWBTA since your main concern seems to be the fact that you are competing, know that whoever is looking at your portfolio isn’t just looking at one group project. They’re looking at it as a whole. If the group project exceeds the rest of the portfolio, they’ll know the person didn’t contribute as much. If it is in line with the rest of the portfolio then they’ll know the person had a heavy hand in it. I doubt this one group project will hold much weight in the grand scheme of things. However if it somehow comes out that you asked your friend to remove the project from their portfolio that could definitely reflect poorly on you.
So, there’s a right answer to your question, in terms of future actions. And there’s a right answer to your question in terms of morality. And there’s a right answer here in terms of whether you work well in a team.
Are you going to remove the project from your portfolio as well? If the answer is no, and I suspect it is, then YTA.
Simply put, asking them to pull it while you keep it is A-holery. Either everyone gets it, and that’s the nature of team projects, or no one gets it. If you want to use it, you have to let them use it. You had a project that you said went 50/50 with one of them, and I need you to understand that that is almost never the case. One person will have more experience with a program or a format and will take the lead on a project. That’s how professional team projects go, and it may be something you need to come around on. This is the morality answer, and the one this subreddit is most focussed on.
The correct way to move forward here, OP, is to ask that everyone using the project in their portfolio create a focus on the work that they themselves did and can claim an equal part of. I suspect, from what you’ve written, that your friends may not be interested in that, since you claim a lot of the work and the best of the work is either yours by origin or yours by punch up, but if you were all concerned with accurately reporting your work here, this would be the way to go. This is the future actions answer. It’s purely speculative and probably not practical, although worth discussing.
Do I think you work well in a team, OP? No. You yourself say you have a lot of ego in these things and that’s apparent in your post. I am really curious as to how much of the work you correct and upgraded actually needed to be upgraded, and how much was just you insisting on it meeting your style rather than someone else’s. The field is innately artistic, meaning things are more subjective than they would be in math or science fields. Do I think you need to change how you work in a team? You could consider it. You’re certainly open to self-reflection and that’s good.
I understand the frustration but that’s what being a team player is : detaching from your ego for the good of the project and the team itself. With time, you will be viewed as an asset to any team because of the value you bring consistently in every project you are involved in.
As for the fact that you feel that you are feeding yours friends portfolios and the fact that you are all applying to the same university : have you thought about switching teams every project? Yes, it is uncomfortable but it will also demonstrate to those university that you produce good results consistently, whoever you are working with. It would show quality, consistency and flexibility. Also… that means you wont all have the same portfolio.
Your friends worked on those projects, YWBTA if you go back on your word. You can’t change the past but you can change your strategy going forward.
PS : I have worked on too many university and work projects where the workload was not equal and I have had to work with people who produce sh!t that I had to compensate for. I promise the long game is more important than the (valid) frustration you are feeling right now.
YTA. You all worked together, it’s their work, too, even though you upped the quality, so everyone can use it in their portfolios. You can tell them they can’t, but why do they have to listen? They don’t.
So don’t ruin friendships over this. The train has already left the station, so there’s nothing you can do except look like a jerk. You might also need them someday when they grow skills and become important in their companies.
Yta