This week we are going to talk about the fine line between being inspired by someone else’s work and stealing other creatives’ ideas. It’s going to be an intense conversation, buckle up!

Michelle’s week:

Michelle’s week/weeks have been exhausting and busy. She’s been using the app Headspace and even that is hard because it reminds her that her body hurts. She just finished a huge project for work out in Angel Fire, New Mexico, and ended up working 30ish hours. Bright side she was able to take comp time which was super helpful. With that comp time she took her daughter to the swimming pool, sadly got rained out but they did get an actual real rain check which she used later in the week.  

Brandi’s week:

Brandi also helped with the project that Michelle had for work. She hasn’t gotten to work behind the scenes on a shoot in a very long time so that was really fun for her. She also got to speak to a design group, Coffee and Creatives. Every quarter they have some workshop things and they asked Brandi to speak this time. She spoke on creating ads for social media and she really enjoyed it. Her title for her talk was, “More than just a pretty typeface”. She also partially homeschools her children and this was the year to go through and reorganize her school room. It was a massive overhaul and her mom and sister both came to help her with it. And she also found out that she doesn’t need to buy any new school supplies this year which is very exciting. Then Kenny, Brandi’s husband, turned the part of the attic above the kids bedrooms into a fun attic play area for them. Though that meant there was debris from that all over their rooms which meant cleaning, which turned into cleaning and organizing both of her kid’s rooms. Not super exciting but accomplishing for sure. 

Takeaways from this episode:

• Work from sketches. It’s so important and it’s basically evidence proving how you got your idea. 
• Design and art are your intellectual property. 

If something looks exactly the same, it’s stealing. If the look is the same, but the colors are different, it’s stealing.

• It’s easy to steal and not realize you’re doing it. This is why you need to have multiple references in the same style while you are working so it keeps it differently mixed by you.
• It is okay and can be good to copy when you are learning your techniques, but once you know how to do it, make it your own.

When in doubt, don’t, or ask.

• Always give credit. 
• It’s a fine line between inspiration and stealing.
• If you make something that is too similar to something else, keep it to yourself and chalk it up to experience.

Brandi’s song: “Heartbreak Magic” by Riah

Please rate and review our podcast in iTunes and if you want to support our show please go to Patreon.com/designspeaks we would love it! You can give as much as you want. Every little bit goes to helping us keep this podcast going.

Thank you to Vesperteen for allowing us to use his song Shatter in the Night as our intro and outro music for Design Speaks

This Quarter’s Book:

We are reading and reviewing books on the podcast every quarter!

If you would like to read along, THIS QUARTER, we’ve been reading, The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair.

Want to support us?

Go to Patreon and help support our podcast!

Find us on all forms of social media via @BrandiSea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and you can email us any burning questions you want Brandi to answer on an episode at brandi@brandisea.com.

THANK YOU to the ultra-talented  Vesperteen (Colin Rigsby) for letting us use his (“Shatter in The Night”) track in every episode of Design Speaks.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Speaker 1: 00:02 Welcome to Design Speaks. This lovely podcast is brought to you by a graphic design geek and a regular human being. AKA a non-designer. We are here to chat about music, pop culture, cool places, and basically whatever we feel is relevant.

Brandi Sea: 00:19 Hey, I’m Brandi Sea

Michelle: 00:20 And I am Michelle

Brandi Sea: 00:21 And you’re listening to episode one oh eight of Design Speaks.

Michelle: 00:24 Welcome to it. On today’s episode we will be talking about stealing other people’s work and whether or not that’s okay. I think you know the answer, but we’re going to talk about it anyway.

Brandi Sea: 00:36 You mean being inspired by?

Michelle: 00:39 Um sure if that’s what you want to say.

Brandi Sea: 00:42 That’s what some people say.

Michelle: 00:43 Yeah

Brandi Sea: 00:43 We’ll get there.

Michelle: 00:44 Yeah, we’ll get there, so stay tuned for that.

Brandi Sea: 00:48 If you love this show and want to support it so we can keep making more episodes, get to our Patreon.

Michelle: 00:54 It’s Patreon.com/designspeaks and you can give as little as $1 or as much as $50 you can give monthly. You can give one time whatever you want.

Brandi Sea: 01:04 We can do this or that.

Michelle: 01:05 We can do this without you. So go Patreon.com/designspeaks.

Brandi Sea: 01:11 Oh my gosh. How has your week been? We, we like, we’re gone for a whole week and didn’t have anything for people and I just was like, sorry.

Michelle: 01:20 Yeah, no, it’s like, sorry, I wish I was superhuman, but I can’t and I’m not, and it was like a, it was a brutal reminder that we are not superhuman. Um

Brandi Sea: 01:32 But we try so hard

Michelle: 01:33 We tried, we tried. Um, my week slash weeks have been so incredibly exhausting and busy. Um, I think

Brandi Sea: 01:45 You sound slightly exhausted.

Michelle: 01:46 Oh gosh, yeah. I’m so tired right now. Um, even like laying down does not feel nice. Um, I’ve been, I think I’ve said it before and maybe I haven’t, but I’ve been doing using this app called headspace for meditation. And

Brandi Sea: 02:01 You’ve told me, I’m not sure you’ve told

Michelle: 02:03 Yeah, I don’t know if I’ve said it

Brandi Sea: 02:03 The world

Michelle: 02:04 Here, here it is world. I use this app called headspace. It’s really awesome for meditation. Um, and a lot of the times it’s like, um, it’s like, just take this moment and be thankful that you get to just rest and do nothing. And I’m like, I’m not thankful cause my body hurts. And so, so, uh, it’s, uh, I’m trying to, you know, do perspective switches, changes and look at the bright side of things. But it’s been busy. Um, we had a shoot for work out in Angel Fire, New Mexico, which is about three and a half ish hours away. It was beautiful, but it was a lot of hard work. We pulled like a 17 hour day at one point and I think the next day was something like a 13 or 14 hour day plus the drive and loading and unloading. And so it was a lot. I think it was a really good experience overall, but it was a lot.

Brandi Sea: 02:56 It was a lot. Yeah. And we were like, if it’s, if it’s only one or one or the other of us doing something like that, the other one usually

Michelle: 03:04 Picks up the slack

Brandi Sea: 03:05 Will do something for this thing. But we were both there and Kenny was there. So we had zero fall back

Michelle: 03:11 Nothing. We were like, oh yeah, we have to do that. Okay. And then we just like melted into the ground.

Brandi Sea: 03:19 Slept We slept.

Michelle: 03:19 Yeah. Um, other than that I did get some comp time from that because work is nice to me and allows me to take my comp time. So I am thankful for that bright side. Um, and on that day I promise to take DJ, my daughter to the swimming pool, which I did and we got rained out, which was fine cause like we were there just under an hour and if I’m being real, I was done. Um, I was like

Brandi Sea: 03:45 And you got an actual rain check because of actual rain

Michelle: 03:49 Yeah! I didn’t know. They handed those out

Brandi Sea: 03:50 That’s never happened to me.

Michelle: 03:51 I got a real life rain check, which I used the following Saturday. So it was good. It worked, everything was great. Um, right now I’m just, just trying to catch up on life. Like I still look at my house and I’m like, oh, I’ve neglected you. I’m sorry. And mostly, I’m sorry for me because I have to do at least, you know, some of it, the husband picks up some of it too, but you know

Brandi Sea: 04:15 DJ doesn’t pick up any of it.

Michelle: 04:16 Yeah. Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 04:18 Well I don’t know. Maybe she does.

Michelle: 04:20 I mean she

Brandi Sea: 04:20 She is five now.

Michelle: 04:21 She like, I know she’s five now. I started, I took your advice just so you know, DJ or Brandi gave me advice to have DJ start putting away silverware. So I started having her do that. And

Brandi Sea: 04:33 Does she like it? They usually like

Michelle: 04:34 No, she’s so over it. Organizing is not her strong suit. She’s like, okay, I’m done. I’m like, well you through the forks just in there so you’re not done.

Brandi Sea: 04:43 She’s all there in the drawer. What more do you want?

Michelle: 04:45 Yeah, she enjoys things like giving the dog water and taking the trash out. That’s what she likes doing.

Brandi Sea: 04:52 Oh, hey

Michelle: 04:52 So it’s something.

Brandi Sea: 04:53 That’s okay.

Michelle: 04:56 Bright side!

Brandi Sea: 04:56 It’s something. That’s great.

Michelle: 04:56 Yeah. So

Brandi Sea: 04:57 But also she has to do something she doesn’t like. So there’s that too.

Michelle: 05:00 Yeah, exactly. And I’m, I was thinking about it the other day, I was like, I can’t wait for the day for her to be like old enough to pick up dog poop. Like what a day

Brandi Sea: 05:08 It’s soon

Michelle: 05:09 That will be.

Brandi Sea: 05:09 Kaden picks it up and he’s six

Michelle: 05:11 Yeah, just get her like a pooper scooper. Call it good. Cause she’s too, she can not pick up the shovel. Like we use a big old honking shovel

Brandi Sea: 05:18 So, oh yeah, no, just come on those little grabby thing.

Michelle: 05:22 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 05:23 Piece of cake.

Michelle: 05:24 Yep, piece of poop

Brandi Sea: 05:26 Piece of something.

Michelle: 05:27 So that was in a nutshell, that has been my last few weeks. I’ve just been really, really tired and I am, I guess I’ll just say it, I’m feeling pretty awful right now, but I really think it’s, cause I, I’ve just overworked myself.

Brandi Sea: 05:42 It happens to you.

Michelle: 05:42 Yeah, for sure. It’s my body’s way of saying no more. You’re done.

Brandi Sea: 05:46 Yeah. Yeah. So it happens to all of us

Michelle: 05:49 Yes. How about

Brandi Sea: 05:50 Eventually it just happens some people sooner than others

Michelle: 05:53 In different ways. It didn’t happen to you for a really long time and then your lung collapsed. So

Brandi Sea: 06:01 Stop it

Michelle: 06:01 It’s not funny. It’s not funny.

Brandi Sea: 06:02 Every 36 years

Michelle: 06:03 Oh my gosh

Brandi Sea: 06:04 It’ll hit you again cause you just don’t take breaks

Michelle: 06:07 No, I think you just learned, no, I don’t. I know that that was not stress induced or like activity induced. It was much more

Brandi Sea: 06:14 I know, but it was very much forced rest regardless.

Michelle: 06:17 Oh yeah. I remember just being like, I, you’re just going to have to sleep. And you’re like, no. And I’m like, you’re living the dream. Literally. So

Brandi Sea: 06:24 And I’m like, this is my nightmare having top sleep. And you’re like, well, let’s trade nightmares

Michelle: 06:30 Seriously, my nightmares having to do something all of the time. So

Brandi Sea: 06:34 Oh my gosh.

Michelle: 06:35 How about your week?

Brandi Sea: 06:36 Oh, my week. Um, so I did the thing with you and Angel Fire, that was fun. It was fun to just kind of like, I haven’t helped on a shoot in so long, so it was fun to just like be, be extra hands and take behind the scenes footage and stuff like that. So that was fun. Um, I spoke to this past Saturday at, um, it’s this creative group. I’m, I’m always doing creative group things. This is a different one called coffee and creative.

Michelle: 07:06 Super, super great. Sounds awesome.

Brandi Sea: 07:09 Yeah, it’s, it’s a lot of, it’s not just designers, it’s like lots of creative business people, startups, um, web designers, photographers, it’s lots of different people. So they have, they have a quarterly, um, sort of like workshop speaking thing. Um, and they invited me to speak this time.

Michelle: 07:28 Yay!

Brandi Sea: 07:28 So yeah, I got to, I got to talk the topic. It’s usually like geared towards a specific topic every quarter and this quarter was, um, they had one guy who was there to talk about like Google and Facebook ads and like the logistics of how they work and analytics and being able to find out like who, who’s, who’s out there and all that stuff, your audience and things. And then they wanted me to talk about like how to design an ad so actually works. So, um, I talked, I talked, I had, I had an hour to talk and I had this like 57 slide presentation and I was like, that’s like, that’s like a minute a slide. Can I do that?

Michelle: 08:10 You’re the slide queen.

Brandi Sea: 08:10 I ended up doing it and like 38 minutes.

Michelle: 08:13 You were so nervous that you wouldn’t get through it.

Brandi Sea: 08:16 I wasn’t nervous. Yeah, I was like, oh. I was like, well, I asked Michelle if she thought I could do this. And she was like, well yes, but you’re going to probably have to talk fast. And I was like, okay, I’m going to have to talk fast. I talked really fast

Michelle: 08:29 I believed in you. And I believe that you were able to get it out in

Brandi Sea: 08:32 That left a little bit of time for Q and A. Sorry, I interrupted you.

Michelle: 08:36 Oh, it’s okay. I was just saying the joys of being over the phone. I just saying, I believe that you, I believe that you could do it because your podcast abilities are sharp and so you’re talking abilities are top notch at this point.

Brandi Sea: 08:50 Oh man. That’s a compliment. That’s fantastic.

Michelle: 08:54 See, you wanted a pause for that.

Brandi Sea: 08:56 I know, I did. I like a good compliment. I like a good compliment.

Michelle: 09:02 As I compliment you talking

Brandi Sea: 09:06 See what happens. This is why I always tell people I like, I’m not good at taking compliments, so I always like negate them. Like if they’re like, wow, I love your hair. It looks really cute today. And I’m like, I don’t know this thing over here. Like I can never just say, oh, thanks.

Michelle: 09:21 Yeah

Brandi Sea: 09:21 But I’m working on it. Thanks

Michelle: 09:23 When you’re trying to figure out like this specific thing that’s either wrong about it or the specific thing that they like about it. And you’re just like, oh yeah, that’s, I worked really hard on this and it didn’t even turn out how I wanted it to, but thank you.

Brandi Sea: 09:35 Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It’s the worst. It’s like, it’s a terrible thing.

Michelle: 09:39 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 09:40 Um, so that was good. I, I was really thrilled with what I ended up calling it. My, my title for my talk was more than just a pretty type face.

Michelle: 09:49 Love it, love it.

Brandi Sea: 09:51 And I was, I was really in love with the title more than anything else that I did that day.

Michelle: 09:54 Yeah, it’s perfect clipped clickbait.

Brandi Sea: 09:57 Yeah. I know, right. I gotta I gotta do something about turning my speeches into like something searchable

Michelle: 10:04 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 10:04 Anyways.

Michelle: 10:04 That’s awesome.

Brandi Sea: 10:05 Um, then this week just, man, it’s been like the longest week. It’s only Tuesday. You guys were recording on a Tuesday and it already feels like it should be Friday. Um, my daughter is partially my daughter and my son are gonna be partially homeschooled by me. So I have a schoolroom up in my loft and I, it’s not been organized or touched for probably close to three years. Like I just get more things and throw them in drawers and get more notebooks and more color pencils and more glue sticks and never really know what I’m working with. So this was the year where I’m like, I’m not spending any money on school supplies that I don’t absolutely need to spend

Michelle: 10:48 Good for you.

Brandi Sea: 10:49 So my mom and my sister came over and helped me organize it and I very likely will not have to buy anything like at all unless they like require me to like, you know, sometimes they want you to buy a brand new box of crayons and send it to the school

Michelle: 11:04 Which I hate. It’s like, sure, that’s like luxurious, but at the same time, why can’t we just use the crayons that we already have? I don’t know.

Brandi Sea: 11:13 No, it’s true. No, it’s true. And then at the end of the school year, this last year, his teacher sent me back with a third of the things that I sent him with

Michelle: 11:23 Oh my gosh

Brandi Sea: 11:23 Brand new. Unused

Michelle: 11:24 They didn’t even goes through it.

Brandi Sea: 11:26 So I was like, I mean I guess you need more. It’s better to have more than not enough. But boy.

Michelle: 11:31 But like also somebody is literally not going to use all of that brown just share it.

Brandi Sea: 11:38 Yes. So that’s been, that’s been yesterday. That was yesterday. And then today, uh, because Kenny is an amazing man. He’s tr, he turned our the space up above our kids’ bedrooms into like this play attic area in like four days. And, but because of that there, there was like all sorts of debris in their bedrooms that needed to be cleaned and there was like insulation and all kinds of stuff. So I needed to like rearrange the kids’ furniture and clean off their beds and like, which turned into me and my mom and my sister organizing those two rooms too. So

Michelle: 12:15 Hey, got it done.

Brandi Sea: 12:15 That’s not exciting stuff, but it’s, it’s like grown up exciting.

Michelle: 12:19 Yeah. That is like, that is grown up exciting like you do, you feel lighter knowing that it’s done.

Brandi Sea: 12:25 I really do

Michelle: 12:26 See

Brandi Sea: 12:27 I can like walk into their rooms and not feel like I just want to ride, walk right back out

Michelle: 12:30 And I think you get it. But that’s how I feel every time I get rid of something

Brandi Sea: 12:36 I do get it. But also I’m way more sentimental than you

Michelle: 12:39 Yeah. I don’t know when I removed emotion from stuff because this wasn’t me. I think probably in high school, high school was my phase of being a four on the enneagram. I was like, Oh, I love all of this. Everything means everything to me and I’m going to keep it forever. And I scrapbook to every year. I bought every

Brandi Sea: 12:58 Is that the four? Cause that’s why I do it.

Michelle: 13:00 Yeah, I think you’re like, it’s your wing and so

Brandi Sea: 13:03 It’s my wing

Michelle: 13:04 Yeah. It’s like they’re just like, you know, romanticize everything. And so it’s just like, oh, I love it. It’s so perfect and I’m never going to forget this moment. And you know what, I, I haven’t forgotten high school. I, I’m not like too far out. I’m only like 13. How far out from high school am I? Like

Brandi Sea: 13:23 I don’t know. I’m like 20

Michelle: 13:24 Oh I’m yeah, I’m 13 years.

Brandi Sea: 13:25 This is my 20

Michelle: 13:26 Yeah

Brandi Sea: 13:26 This is my 20 years

Michelle: 13:27 Are you going to go.

Brandi Sea: 13:28 There is none. And the

Michelle: 13:31 No and no. Um

Brandi Sea: 13:33 No and no.

Michelle: 13:34 Yeah, I didn’t go to my last one but I’m 13 years out and I still remember so much of high school because I think I did that with my stuff like items that I collected from friends and like movie tickets and pictures and newspaper clippings and stuff like that and notes all the notes we passed. I saved

Brandi Sea: 13:54 Man, I think. I think that just solidified that Kenny is a five wing four

Michelle: 14:00 Cause he hoards

Brandi Sea: 14:01 I mean, I was pretty sure that that was it. But yeah, like he’s, he’s, he’s more, he’s less of a hoarder and more and more sentimental about a few things.

Michelle: 14:10 Yeah. See that makes

Brandi Sea: 14:11 Like sentimental about everything and he’s like, I’m going to keep all my movie tickets and that’s about it.

Michelle: 14:17 See, but it’s what’s special to him

Brandi Sea: 14:18 Like he has, he has all his movies from like, I don’t even know when. Yeah. So that was, that was fun. My mom was like, oh my gosh, why does Jasmine have so many things? I tell her all the time and I’m like, mom, you are super sentimental. And so his dad and I am too. She didn’t have a chance.

Michelle: 14:39 And you know what? My daughter is the same way. And just like literally you name all of your stuffed animals, she calls them her stuffies. She picked that up.

Brandi Sea: 14:46 Yup.

Michelle: 14:47 And they all

Brandi Sea: 14:48 From Jas

Michelle: 14:48 Like I have to talk to her in her stuffies voices. So they can talk back to her and they’re very real to her

Brandi Sea: 14:58 Oh, I just, I, I don’t want to put you on the spot right now, but you’re going to have to tell me what bigger bear sounds like

Michelle: 15:03 Oh my gosh. He’s annoying.

Brandi Sea: 15:05 And baby raccoon

Michelle: 15:05 Baby raccoon’s cute. Yeah. I’m not going to do it right now.

Brandi Sea: 15:11 Nope. Nope. But I want to hear, I’m just have to remember for later. So

Michelle: 15:14 Oh, it’s so funny.

Brandi Sea: 15:15 Oh my gosh. So, yeah, that’s basically, I do have a song. So the song that I have this week is called Heartbreak Magic by, I dunno how you say this. It’s R I A H

Michelle: 15:28 R I

Brandi Sea: 15:28 Raih?

Michelle: 15:28 Riah? I like

Brandi Sea: 15:30 Riah.

Michelle: 15:30 I’ll say Riah

Brandi Sea: 15:31 Sure we’ll say Riah. Um, it’s uh, it’s another one of those ones. I love this playlist from the not your mother’s christian music playlists. It’s, it’s really just a, it’s, it’s a really fun song. So I’ll play it and then we can talk about it

Brandi Sea: 16:43 So that was the song. Um, I like that it, I don’t know, it kind of, honestly, I think you might be rubbing off on me. It sounds a little bit like poppy, like, like top 40, just a little bit.

Michelle: 17:03 Hey, no shame. You own it. If you like it.

Brandi Sea: 17:05 I mean

Michelle: 17:06 It is what it is.

Brandi Sea: 17:07 I feel, I feel a little bit of shame. Let’s be honest

Michelle: 17:09 You know

Brandi Sea: 17:10 But I

Michelle: 17:11 Was listening to

Brandi Sea: 17:11 I like it

Michelle: 17:12 An interview with Maggie Rogers. Um, she is kind of like a pop indie artist and she wrote this album and then she basically said, oh my gosh, this is way more poppy than I ever want it to sound. I hate pot. And then she realized, ah, but that’s what I am.

Brandi Sea: 17:33 Maybe I don’t

Michelle: 17:34 Maybe I don’t hate it. And that’s okay. Like realizing that she said something that, and held onto it for so long that she felt like she like had to stick to her guns, which is high enough how I feel about country. I still don’t like country, but there are songs

Brandi Sea: 17:47 Oh no, I don’t, I think I’m going there.

Michelle: 17:50 I just think old town road is so funny.

Brandi Sea: 17:53 I don’t know what that is.

Michelle: 17:54 Oh No.

Brandi Sea: 17:57 I mean maybe I do. Kenny’s parents are all country living

Michelle: 18:01 You would know old town road if you heard it. There’s no way you’ve heard it, and didn’t know you heard it.

Brandi Sea: 18:06 Yeah, that’s probably true.

Michelle: 18:07 It’s really funny.

Brandi Sea: 18:08 You know. I do, I do. I do occasionally like a lady antebellum song, but I’ve been told that’s not really country so I don’t know

Michelle: 18:15 It’s like pop. It’s its top 40. But um, why do you, so you like this song, it has popped, feels anything else from it?

Brandi Sea: 18:24 Um, you know, the, the lyrics are basically like talking about the title is heartbreak magic. And the idea is that sometimes heartbreak can be magic. Like, like sometimes

Michelle: 18:37 Oh that’s good

Brandi Sea: 18:37 We need that. Like sometimes we need a little bit of that to like wake us up to like put us in a place where we realize, um, that we needed that brokenness a little bit.

Michelle: 18:49 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 18:49 So I mean, but it’s not a depressing song. Like it’s very upbeat. It’s, it’s very well you heard it. So, um, it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s more just like, man, that idea that that heartbreak can be magic. That’s like Kinda deep.

Michelle: 19:03 That is, it’s depressing

Brandi Sea: 19:04 And amazing and all best, depressing and all the best time.

Michelle: 19:10 Well good.

Brandi Sea: 19:10 So yeah. So that’s my song. I’m guessing you’re, you’re too tired to listen to music this week.

Michelle: 19:15 Oh my gosh. I have not been able to listen to music. So, um, I got over the past few weeks, it was prime day and I bought an Alexa like an echo dot thingy. And I love it except that I, and I created like a routine to get me started every morning.

Brandi Sea: 19:29 Oh I love the routines. That’s my favorite thing.

Michelle: 19:32 And I’ve, I’ve been loving it up until it gets to the music and then I’m just immediately overwhelmed. I’m like, Alexa, stop. Because I don’t want to hear it. And I don’t know, it’s just too much for me. So I, I think I just need to be in my head. But I enjoy listening to like the weather and how long it’s gonna take so get to work

Brandi Sea: 19:49 Jimmy Fallon

Michelle: 19:50 And I can’t figure out how to add Fallon, but I have like the news on there so I’ll get to it. But I’m getting there with it.

Brandi Sea: 19:57 That’s fantastic.

Michelle: 19:58 Yeah

Brandi Sea: 19:58 It’s my favorite thing. I’m like, well I won’t say it now cause she’s in here.

Michelle: 20:02 Oh no. Don’t say it

Brandi Sea: 20:03 I’m like s I’m like start my day. And it’s like, okay, blah blah, blah. Like this is the future.

Michelle: 20:09 Yes.

Brandi Sea: 20:10 And I love it.

Michelle: 20:10 I can’t wait until she controls all of my house too, so

Brandi Sea: 20:13 Oh yeah. That, that’s a ways off

Michelle: 20:15 That’s a dream. But yes. What a dream. But yeah, so I’m, music is too much for me right now, but someday somebody soon.

Brandi Sea: 20:21 That’s okay. So today we’re talking about a something that you actually were really interested in talking about because

Michelle: 20:31 Because I follow someone on social media, um

Brandi Sea: 20:35 That I don’t follow.

Michelle: 20:36 You’ve heard of her. Her name is Miley Cyrus, and I want to say it was like two months ago, she posted a picture of her licking a cake. Um, it’s, uh, it’s a political deal. Um, so I don’t even think we need to get into it, but, um, I noticed in the comments that someone was like, Hey, this is my work. You straight up stole my work. And all she did was tag like, Miley Cyrus is like s like, sorry about that. We will for sure give you credit. Um, here’s your role and we’ll tag you in the picture as if that is enough.

Brandi Sea: 21:19 Oh my goodness.

Michelle: 21:19 And so, um, it’s so you can look up Miley Cyrus, look at, look up the picture of her licking a cake. It’s got sprinkles on it. Um, and the person that she copied or the person that her team copied is @thesweetfeminist and she posted on her Instagram @MileyCyrus just announced a collaboration with these people using this image. It is a direct theft of my own original artwork from May, 2018 with no credit. It’s literally my exact handwriting message and concept swipe for comparison cake art is for everyone, but this is inexcusable. So um, you swipe and sure enough, there it is. It’s really unfortunate to see. Um, so I thought we could talk about that. And then not too long after my, our friend Shealeen, she, her name is Shealeen Louise on Instagram. She’s got quite the following and she does watercolor, well, she posted on Instagram saying that she found someone who was stealing her work and she had a, I think an appropriate reaction just, I mean it’s her like, she’s such a sweet human

Brandi Sea: 22:37 I know. Her’s was so kind. I was like, wow.

Michelle: 22:41 She said, I recently came across an account that’s seriously upset me. Um, she said that this person had copied her paintings and she was not only copying them, she was selling them as her original art on her website. Um, many of the words were copied and pasted from her from Shealeen’s and it just felt, she said that she felt disheartened and violated and she wasn’t going to, you know, pursue legal action or anything, but she just wanted to bring awareness to it as well as, um, she posted a few things on our Instastory that day that talked about what copying, what plagiarism, what stealing looks like in the creative world. And I think it’d be nice to, um, it’d be nice to educate all of us once again, a nice reminder. What does stealing look like? What is plagiarism and how do we know we’ve crossed the line?

Brandi Sea: 23:38 Yeah. So I’m interested in your thoughts on like what you thought about this topic before you kind of like read what she had to say and saw this thing from the girl that stole the stuff or the, the girl that Miley Cyrus’s team stole from, cause you know, it wasn’t like her.

Michelle: 23:55 Right.

Brandi Sea: 23:57 Like, what, what were your, what was your understanding of what, what it meant to like steal work before then? Did it change? Was it, were you like pretty right on or were you like, oh my gosh, I didn’t realize.

Michelle: 24:09 I think stealing has significantly changed from the beginning of us starting this podcast up until even seeing her post. Um, and it’s changed more since seeing Miley’s post as well as the sweet feminist posts and Shealeen’s. Um, because I know that certain things need to be done. Like there is nothing original under the sun. Let’s just face it.

Brandi Sea: 24:35 Right

Michelle: 24:35 Everyone is copying something in some form or fashion. But

Brandi Sea: 24:39 Whether you know it or not

Michelle: 24:40 Yeah, whether you know it or not, it’s, it’s happened already. Um, not to be discouraging. But, um, I think that that is why having a process, sorry, I’m stealing your words is so important.

Brandi Sea: 24:56 No, that’s why we’re here

Michelle: 24:57 To, um

Brandi Sea: 24:58 Literally why we’re here.

Michelle: 24:59 Yeah. And so, but, but I will say before we started the podcast, I was like, I don’t know. I mean, just don’t do it. Okay. And like, I remember in, I think it was like second grade, I straight up opened an encyclopedia and wrote word for word what the encyclopedia had to say about Pluto. And my teacher was like, oh, so, and she caught me because those are my words, I’m in like second grade, I’m not going to say you can’t say Pluto with the naked eye, not going to happen. Um, and so I learned from a young age that that is stealing and it’s not okay, but I didn’t know all that it entailed and what it looks like. I’ve learned a lot from you in the process of the podcast in terms of like doing your process and what a style reference actually should be and how you should refer back to it and all that jazz. Um, but I think I’ve learned even more from Miley as well as, um, Shealeen, and how much it just really, it’s such a downer. It like bums people out. It hurts. It, it’s, it’s a violation. It’s somebody coming into your car and stealing your radio and your laptop and all your crap inside your car and then just like whatever with it, you know, and then selling it for themselves, like you’ve been violated.

Brandi Sea: 26:19 Yeah. Yeah. So it’s, it’s really, it’s really hard for me because, um, I’ve had, and I know that we’ve talked about this before and I can, we can reiterate it just a little bit for those that, you know, haven’t heard all of our episodes, but, um, I’ve had, um, to basically report students for just flat out ripping something off. Um, you know, saying that it was a style reference or not even saying that it was a style reference and just like presenting it like it was their original idea, whether it was a logo or like a poster or an ad layout or something. And it’s like, um, it’s, it’s hard because, um, you know, without, without sketches, um, you know, so there have, and I think I’ve said this too, like there’s definitely been times in my career where I have gone through my entire process even with style references and created something. Um, and someone has said to me, you know, this looks like, and it’s never looked exactly like if they’re like, it reminds me of kind of thing. Um, where I didn’t even, I never knew that thing existed.

Michelle: 27:30 Yeah

Brandi Sea: 27:30 And I went through my process and I am, you know, I don’t plagiarize other people’s work, but you know, it was inadvertent. So there’s, there’s that where it’s like, okay, so you could be completely doing things very removed from someone else’s work and never see it. And then, you know, it could look like you took it. But that’s an other reason why you should always do sketches and work from sketches to, you know, the next step in iterating, which is just a, you know, putting it on the computer and putting it together in a rough form because then you, it’s like it’s basically evidence that this was your idea.

Michelle: 28:12 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 28:13 And if you have your style references, you’ll be able to go, look, these were the things that I was, you know, putting in my brain and your thing isn’t on this list. Now obviously people could try and you know, sneak past that and just not put the thing that they actually stole from, but it would be pretty evident and sketches.

Michelle: 28:31 Right.

Brandi Sea: 28:32 So that’s just like a, a side tip to like if you are, if, if you want to just be like above reproach as they say, like just make sure that you have the proof that like your intellectual property. Cause that’s what is, that’s what all this amounts to is your intellectual property. That’s what design is. That’s what art is. Um, books and things like that. That’s all intellectual property. It’s not physical. It’s not always physical property that you can hold like a CD player, you know that someone stole from you. Um, but if you have that, like if there were ever any kind of dispute over who actually created this thing, that’s what the courts will use is like, okay, where’s your file that shows that you created this thing first and you have to show the date. Like it can get pretty intense.

Michelle: 29:16 Right. And that’s just like it goes for like all work places with just like anything. You will have a paper trail. I know paper doesn’t necessarily mean paper but emails

Brandi Sea: 29:25 Well digital paper trail. Yeah.

Michelle: 29:27 So all of that is important wherever you work and take it into design with you.

Brandi Sea: 29:33 Right. And if, if you’re, if you’re the kind of designer that has no process and you basically go on, you know, Behance or you know, any place online, Pinterest in some and look at something and then go from there to your computer and start creating, a one that is just straight up stealing someone else’s idea. And two, there’s no proof for you that you just created something on your own. Because you didn’t

Michelle: 30:00 Right.

Brandi Sea: 30:00 So there’s no sketching, there’s no process, there’s no ideating to show that this idea came from your brain. So, um, there’s, there’s a few things that are also like, um, I don’t know that we need to establish necessarily, like what is stealing? Um, I mean, I guess we can if, if, if it’s not pretty clear as far as design and creative type work goes. If it looks exactly the same, it’s stealing.

Michelle: 30:28 Yes.

Brandi Sea: 30:29 Like if it has the exact same look and different colors, it’s stealing. If it has the exact same fonts and colors, but just slightly off, it’s stealilng.

Michelle: 30:46 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 30:46 Like you know, it, you can take the, the whole, part of the reason that, that the, the process is what it is for me, um, is because it’s easy to steal and not realize you’re doing it

Michelle: 31:00 Right.

Brandi Sea: 31:00 You can look, you look at something for so long that you can stop looking at it. And if that’s the only style reference you had was just the one thing, you don’t have to be looking directly at it. Especially as designers, we have great photographic memory and that will just come out. So you’ve got to have multiple styles, multiple, you know, same styles, but multiple references in the same style. Put those all together and then you can, you know, attempt to come up with something sort of new under the sun because it’s, it’s all differently mixed by you.

Michelle: 31:35 Yeah. And I mean I think it’s important to, to like, I, I, I want to encourage people and say like, whatever came out of your brain is awesome, but you have to, you have, we live in a world that you have to double check and triple check this stuff.

Brandi Sea: 31:53 Yeah. Well, and it’s also what you put in is what comes out. Like, like, you know, not just garbage in, garbage out, but certain kinds of inspir. You know, if you only look at one kind of inspiration, that’s all you’re going to be able to output. It’s like listening to one song always is gonna always be the song in your head like, and there’s nothing that you can do about that. And you know, songwriters encounter this all the time. You know, I’m sure, I know that we’ve talked about that, that Kelly will do it inadvertently. Sometimes he’ll go, what do you think about this tune or whatever and you’re like, ah, I think that’s actually already a thing.

Michelle: 32:27 Yeah

Brandi Sea: 32:27 And it’s like, oh shoot, you’re right. And so it’s, I don’t, I don’t believe that the majority of people are doing this on purpose. I do think that there are tons and tons of lazy designers or people think they’re designers just because they know how to replicate someone else’s design. And that makes me crazy.

Michelle: 32:45 Yeah, that me too.

Brandi Sea: 32:47 Cause many anybody can do that. It’s like, okay, if you know how to use the program and you know how to use your eyeballs, like you can copy someone’s work and that’s, that’s the majority of, you know, those 99 designs and a Fiverr and all the stuff that that gets put out by those people. It’s because, you know, they don’t have skills in ideating and concepts. They just have skills in the technical stuff and they know how to copy and there’s no, it’s very hard. It’s really hard for, um, you know, I follow another designer, um, his, he’s, his name is a logo, logomotives like locomotives on Twitter and his, his stuff has been ripped off by those kinds of companies, especially the overseas ones that just have tons of people working on that stuff, which super cheap all the time. And there’s not a lot of recourse unless you want to spend tons of money on a lawyer and get very little.

Michelle: 33:48 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 33:48 So like the, the best thing right now is like people online, like they did for the ones that you found, like call them out

Michelle: 33:55 And you spent, you’ve had some of your stuff ripped off too and used in portfolios as their own stuff. So

Brandi Sea: 34:01 Oh, I didn’t know we were going to go there. I wasn’t prepared for that

Michelle: 34:06 Well, you’ve been there, you’ve been on the side of, hey, that’s my stuff and you’re just stealing it. Cool. And you couldn’t do anything about it.

Brandi Sea: 34:13 Right. Well and the worst, the worst part about that for me, um, was that it was somebody that I worked with. And, um, when I left a job, I no longer had access to those files, but they did. And so they took them with them to their next job and put them up on their portfolio on Behance. And I was like, oh my gosh

Michelle: 34:36 Nope.

Brandi Sea: 34:37 Like you’re literally getting jobs on my work. It’s like you are literally getting paid for the things that I created. So yeah. And there was no, I mean, I, besides the fact that I don’t have this person’s contact, you know, like to be able to ask them, can you please take that down? Like there’s not much that I can do.

Michelle: 34:57 Right.

Brandi Sea: 34:58 Except that the, the, the terrible thing is that I feel weird about putting it on my website, even though I actually created it because I, you know, even, cause I do have a couple of the things, um, that I had taken with me when I left that job that have, you know, this design or these designs and I’m like, I don’t want to put that up because then it’s gonna be like, Oh, I already saw this and you know, whichever one they see first becomes the one that is the originator.

Michelle: 35:28 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 35:29 And I don’t know what that’s going to be. So yeah, it does. It does really, it, it really stinks when you see someone steal something that you worked really hard on. Um, but you know, there, there are some easy ways to like avoid, avoid that besides the obvious, like I stated before of just directly copying. So, um, I highly recommend as always checking out the process episodes, specifically the ones on research

Michelle: 35:58 They’re helpful

Brandi Sea: 35:58 On the research phase. Um, yeah, because, you know, the whole idea is that you’re, you’re researching different things before you go to bed. Um putting the book away, sleeping on it, waking up, and then, um, doing your best to not open those books again and just go with whatever ideas, um, came to you. Or if you can’t, like, if, if you don’t have a photographic memory and you can’t not look back at the books, look at two different things and ask yourself how you can merge those two designs into something new for your own sketch instead of just sketching it out right. Um, because I know not everybody works exactly like I do. Um, so there’s that. Um, the other thing, if, you know, there are some times where it’s okay to copy, um, and that’s when you’re learning. So in when I teach, when I teach, um, design at the college or when I did teach, um, there were some, there were some projects where, um, it was, it was like necessary for them to copy a style, um, so that they understand the techniques so they understand the aesthetics. Um, this is something that’s been, you know, that’s been a thing. As long as humans have taught other humans, it’s like, okay, if you want to learn how to do this, copy me.

Michelle: 37:17 Right

Brandi Sea: 37:17 Like, here’s how I make this pot. Make this exactly like I made it.

Michelle: 37:21 That makes sense.

Brandi Sea: 37:22 And you know, so even like Rembrandt, some, some sometimes they’re not sure like which Rembrandt’s were actually Rembrandt’s and which were his students because they were trying to copy him exactly

Michelle: 37:34 Interesting

Brandi Sea: 37:34 Um, but then there comes a point where they go, okay, I know this technique now I’m gonna make it my own. So when you’re in school, and this is why it’s so important, um, gosh, there’s a lot more sidebars in here than I expected there to be. That’s why it’s really important to like on your portfolio to specify which works. We’re, um, school projects, um, so that people are, you know, perspective clients or, um, employers are aware that you are not just copying because you’re a cheater. Like maybe this was a specific style that you were instructed to do, but it looks really, I’d almost identical to something else. And it’s like, okay, but you know, this was an assignment,

Michelle: 38:23 Right

Brandi Sea: 38:23 This was something that you were learning from, but then your own work should be, you know, have some of those skills but not look like that. Does that make sense?

Michelle: 38:33 Yeah, that does.

Brandi Sea: 38:34 Yeah. So I mean it’s, it’s okay to copy when you’re learning so that you can understand those techniques and it’s good to copy the greats and then you, you, you become familiar with those things and then you can even like speak to those things when you’re, when you’re talking to clients, you have an understanding of how that person works.

Michelle: 38:52 And sidenote, there is a really great post on Instagram about this. Um, I sent it to Brandi awhile back, but I have the reference up. So it’s how to safely copy the works of another artist by

Brandi Sea: 39:06 Oh good. I forgot about that.

Michelle: 39:08 Yeah, um, and it’s @mollyjacques I can’t I, there it goes. My poor French m o l l y.

Brandi Sea: 39:17 It’s probably Jacques

Michelle: 39:18 J A C Q U E S

Brandi Sea: 39:22 Looks like Jacques to me.

Michelle: 39:23 All one word. So

Brandi Sea: 39:24 In my mind

Michelle: 39:24 Yeah, she, she posted like a nice little three step and a conclusion. Um, post on how to copy correctly and what the point of it is.

Brandi Sea: 39:36 Yeah, I remember that being really good. Do you, do you want to read any of them or should I

Michelle: 39:41 Oh, I can read it. It’s a lot of what you said. She said the reason we copy while we’re learning is to have a solid understanding of how techniques work and how an artist achieved a specific aesthetic within their art. Um, she said the practice is extremely common in art school. For example, copying a portrait painted by who? Bouguereau

Brandi Sea: 40:02 Sure

Michelle: 40:02 With the aim to learn more about hard versus soft edges and painting and how to achieve that technique successfully. Step two is sharing copied work. It’s safe to say that it is completely unethical to share any copy piece of work and claim it as your own. Ever. If you’re sharing a practice piece that was copied, please make, please make that you are, that you’re please make sure that you’re completely clear so that there is no confusion whatsoever. If the work was copied from an artist who was past state, that the work is a copied piece from said artist and she goes on and how to do that. Um, and she tells you all the other steps that you need to do. And um, continued sharing, copied work. She says before copying the work of a current artist and sharing it online. Ask permission and tell the artist exactly what you hope to gain from copying their work. And um, step three, if you are unsure about whether or not you can or should post a practice piece copied from another artist, keep it to yourself without posting it. Um, conclusion copying should only be done when you are still learning. If you shared copied work and claim it as your own it not only, it’s not only extremely unethical and illegal but also damaging to your career, the career of the copied artist and careers of artists everywhere, which is exactly what you just said, Brandi. Stay smart. Kind of curious by friends. We are all in this together so let’s act that way is how she ended it. So

Brandi Sea: 41:28 Yeah, what I wrote down, cause I have, I have my own notes here. What was, when in doubt, when in doubt don’t or ask.

Michelle: 41:37 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 41:39 Like if you are, it’s one of those things, it’s sort of one of those things and you know, there’s areas of your life where if you have to ask if this is okay, it’s probably not

Michelle: 41:49 Right. Exactly, like keep it to yourself.

Brandi Sea: 41:51 If you have, yeah. If you have that like that, like check in your mind or in your heart that’s like, should I say this or should I do this or should I watch this or should I go to this place? And it’s like if you’re, if you’re doing a double take on that, there’s probably a reason.

Michelle: 42:11 Right

Brandi Sea: 42:11 Um, so if you feel like, Oh man, maybe this looks a little bit too much like this thing, then either just keep it to yourself as practice and figure out a different way to do it next time with less influence from that. Or be like, “hey, so and so I saw this thing that you made and I really thought it was cool and I thought I would do my own sort of version of it. Is it okay if I share it?” And they have every right to say no and you have zero right to be upset if they do.

Michelle: 42:43 Yeah. So there ya go.

Brandi Sea: 42:46 Yeah. Yeah. So, um, intellectual properties a thing, uh, always give credit. Those are my other notes. Um, yeah, I’m needing needing clear permission. Clear written permission is the only thing that is, that is going to get you out of anything if there were to ever be some sort of legal

Michelle: 43:08 Right. Powerful.

Brandi Sea: 43:09 So, um, yeah. So I feel like I’m missing something, but I think that that’s, I think that that pretty well covers a lot of it. I just, I come across just so many and as soon if I see a designer who, who copied something that I’ve seen already and I know that they didn’t create it, they are immediately a hacked designer to me. And I know that sounds terrible. I’m just like, nope, we’re done. No respect. I will not send you any work.

Michelle: 43:37 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 43:38 Like if this is the kind of thing you do. Sorry.

Michelle: 43:41 Yeah, good. I mean that makes sense. It really does

Brandi Sea: 43:44 It’s a fine line between inspiration and stealing. Um, so

Michelle: 43:50 It is

Brandi Sea: 43:50 Just saying, just saying like, I was inspired by this or you know, having a mood board with like some ideas that you like and then yours just looks the same, just different colors and I’m like, you realize that inspired by and copying or not same

Michelle: 44:08 Yeah, and some people really don’t know the difference. The lines are so blurred. Um, but

Brandi Sea: 44:13 It’s like an essence.

Michelle: 44:14 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 44:14 Think of it as like an, it’s like got an essence of some things.

Michelle: 44:18 Yeah

Brandi Sea: 44:18 So like, but it

Michelle: 44:19 It’s like La Croix

Brandi Sea: 44:19 Should remind you, yes. Being inspired by is like Lacroix, Lacroix is inspired by something that actually tastes good.

Michelle: 44:29 Lacroix is inspired by watermelon and cucumber and peach and pear and blackberry.

Brandi Sea: 44:35 Like if they just breathed on it, that’s all

Michelle: 44:38 They breathed.

Brandi Sea: 44:38 There’s just like an after breath, like your breath after you, you eat a watermelon.

Michelle: 44:42 But you know what,

Brandi Sea: 44:42 Smells like Lacroix

Michelle: 44:43 There is nothing like Lacroix. So they’ve done their job.

Brandi Sea: 44:47 Thank God for that.

Michelle: 44:49 I will buy all of the Lacroix.

Brandi Sea: 44:52 I don’t know, isn’t there that one that Michael Bublé did an ad for? It’s like bubbly.

Michelle: 44:57 Oh yeah. I’ve been seeing that

Brandi Sea: 44:57 There’s a bunch of things that are trying to be Lacroix and I will try none of them. So I’ll leave that to you. You can tell me if they’re stealing.

Michelle: 45:04 I don’t know. I’ve tried other ones and they’re okay. But it tastes fake. Too sweet for me.

Brandi Sea: 45:12 I, I’m just, I wonder like how it works. I’m just so curious as to like how it works with like Coca Cola and Pepsi are

Michelle: 45:22 I don’t get it

Brandi Sea: 45:22 Super similar, but they do taste different.

Michelle: 45:25 They do.

Brandi Sea: 45:26 They’re like the same but different. So think, think about that.

Michelle: 45:30 Very weird

Brandi Sea: 45:31 Chew on that.

Michelle: 45:31 What do they do differently?

Brandi Sea: 45:34 So I guess, I guess that’s it. Um, I feel like if you’re in doubt, just check, like, and

Michelle: 45:41 Do your research.

Brandi Sea: 45:42 If, if you, if you copied something, just keep it to yourself and chalk it up to experience and do something better.

Michelle: 45:51 Yeah, exactly. So the end. Thank you.

Brandi Sea: 45:54 The end. I think, I think we, I think we beat that dead horse.

Michelle: 45:58 Good. I’m glad, I think I needed to be beaten and I still don’t think it’s dead. I think it’ll rise again.

Brandi Sea: 46:05 I am like really, really annoyed though that somebody at the level of Miley Cyrus’s um, people they would, would dare

Michelle: 46:15 Right.

Brandi Sea: 46:16 Would dare. It’s not like they’re somebody who is like this, this just out of school designer in some town that maybe doesn’t even have like an internet account. But even if they do their stuff probably won’t be seen by the person who created it. Like not that that’s okay. But you know what I’m saying?

Michelle: 46:35 It’s a little bit more discreet.

Brandi Sea: 46:36 Yeah, the person, I’m like whose bright idea was it to like copy this exactly like letter for letter, color for color and be like, here, let’s put this out for 50 million people.

Michelle: 46:50 She has on this one post, she has thousand million. She has 4 billion likes on this one post, you know

Brandi Sea: 46:58 On the one that that got Rep.

Michelle: 47:00 Yeah. And

Brandi Sea: 47:00 The rip off design

Michelle: 47:01 The woman, I don’t know how many followers she had beforehand, but right now she has 124,000 followers that the woman who got her work stolen. So it’s not like she’s not like, like small town girl, you know?

Brandi Sea: 47:17 Yeah. Unbelievable

Michelle: 47:19 Like she does this for a living. So it’s, it’s just, it’s mind blowing. But it happens.

Brandi Sea: 47:23 Um, I didn’t read through the Co the comments. What were any of the comments like besides saying like, Hey, we’ll, we’ll credit you, here you go. Happy Birthday. Like

Michelle: 47:35 I, it was pretty much

Brandi Sea: 47:36 Were people pretty much like, don’t be a baby about this or were they like, this is ridiculous. This is stealing

Michelle: 47:41 Yeah, it was, um, it was both. In fact, the woman who called Miley and her team out got a lot of death and hate, um, death threats in like hate comments.

Brandi Sea: 47:54 Oh my gosh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.

Michelle: 47:55 It was kind of crazy. Um, but she, she did call her out and people were like, this is ridiculous. I can’t believe this happened. But then you had like the die hard fans. So just humanity at its core.

Brandi Sea: 48:07 Yeah, I was just curious if there was a lot of support, but I guess not

Michelle: 48:10 Um, I think there’s probably a lot more support on her actual profile.

Brandi Sea: 48:15 Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, that makes more sense.

Michelle: 48:17 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 48:18 See, but she had it, she had the proof that this was hers.

Michelle: 48:21 Yeah. Oh, so Miley said on her post, she said, hi, we saw the image online and didn’t realize it was yours. We will absolutely tag you for your work. This image is not on the Marc Jacobs slash whatever Hoodie we made to raise money and awareness for Planned Parenthood. We may, um, which I know is also close to your heart. It is just on the post and not on the merchandise, but we will absolutely tag you and give you the credit for your art if you could please correct your post as we’re going to make sure you have all the credit you deserve. Thanks for sharing your art and inspiring us. That made my jaw drop all the credit you deserve.

Brandi Sea: 48:57 Oh, oh my gosh. So it sounds to me like someone got on the fricking Google and was like, oh look, this looks cool. Let’s do this.

Michelle: 49:07 Yep. Sounds like it.

Brandi Sea: 49:09 That’s why. And that was actually literally one of my talking points at, at my thing was

Michelle: 49:14 Yeah.

Brandi Sea: 49:15 Um, no Google the end. Like stop searching for inspiration on Google because

Michelle: 49:20 That’s where everybody goes.

Brandi Sea: 49:21 PS. That’s where everybody’s going. You’re not going to have anything original.

Michelle: 49:25 Nope

Brandi Sea: 49:25 That’s a whole, Google could be a whole other topic. All right, so Michelle, where can people find besides in our beds and like five minutes

Michelle: 49:34 Oh my gosh. Which I don’t want to tell you guys that.

Brandi Sea: 49:35 Well, I hope people don’t find us. That’d be weird.

Michelle: 49:39 Um, I just want to sleep. Um, people can find us on all forms of social media specifically. I think the best one is Instagram. Um, there’s @brandisea go ahead and spell your name.

Brandi Sea: 49:53 B. R. A. N. D. I. S. E. A.

Michelle: 49:53 You can also follow us on @designspeakspodcast and check out our playlists on Spotify. It’s music by design, speaks podcast question mark. Um, music by music from music from design Just look up. Look it up, you’ll find it. Um, it’s a great playlist and you won’t regret following that because you could just hit play and it’s good music all around

Brandi Sea: 50:15 Yep, I do it all the time.

Michelle: 50:17 Um, but otherwise you can give us a rating on iTunes if you’d like, which would be really, really great. We love your feedback and we love your support and any, you know, anything you got to say, just tell it to us straight. We don’t mind. Um, so give us a rating on iTunes. Leave us a comment. You can email us brandi@brandisea.com if you’d like. And I think that is it. A huge shout out to Vesperteen for allowing us yo use his song Shatter in the Night as the into and outro to Design Speaks.