Not-So-Unique Designer Ripps Off Several Stationers

We’ve been ripped off! I get Google alerts for my businesses so I can keep track of any media hits or blog mentions we get, but also for products that we make so I can stay on top of what our competition is doing. On Friday, one Google alert came up for Mama Calling Cards. I clicked on the link, and lo and behold, I was staring at an online boutique selling quite a few of my exact Mama Calling Card designs…but they were supposedly designed by someone else in Bellingham, WA! NOT COOL!Now there are a few of us who have similar design styles, but these designs were nearly exact replicas of my own…and apparently of several others.

I posted this shocking news on Twitter because I was so upset. Turns out, this same designer (whose tagline on her design website states “Unique Graphic Design”… nothing unique about your “design” work, honey!) had ripped off at least three other stationery designers and sold off similar designs to this same online boutique as her own! The nerve! The balls! WTF?! We designers are supposed to look out for one another. I have such high respect for my colleagues and could never think to do such a horrible thing!

The owner of the online boutique, Shelly at Kangaroodle, has been fantastic. She apologized as she had no idea that the designs this designer was selling to her were not her own. Shelly immediately took down the images of Mama Calling Card, Birth Announcements and other paper goods this designer had ripped off from several of us. Kudos to Kangaroodle for being so prompt in their actions.

Other designers have written and sent their Cease & Desist letters to this “designer,” but I haven’t heard what her reaction has been. I hope she is remorseful and has learned her lesson. The world may seem large, but it is, in fact, tiny. We are all connected to each other in some way, and somehow, our paths will most likely cross. Play nice, and please don’t steal. We work very hard on our designs, and take great pride in our work. To see someone rip off our labors of love is heartbreaking.