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Design

Posted by amseroedd da
amseroedd da
11,021 Points

Is it common or not for webdesigners to use free fonts, icons, vectors, brushes, patterns, images etc. in client work?

For example if you use something from a website like freepik.com or webdesignerdepot.com which allow you to use their work for free only if you cred it them through an anchor tag, is this usually done when designing a website for a client?

I am pretty new at this and I don't know how do most web designers do it. Do you design every single pixel from the website yourself, or do you occasionally use somebody else's work and, of course, give them credit?.

If you indeed occasionally use someone else's work, how do you make the attribution (creative commons liscense) not intrusive to the client design?

Thank you very much!

1 Answer

Juan Ferreras
Juan Ferreras
28,028 Points
Juan Ferreras
Juan Ferreras
28,028 Points

In my humble opinion, I'd say it's fairly unusual to do so, for those that require intrusive creditting.

Fonts does not really apply here, in general you'd be using fonts from google fonts or third parties like Typekit, where no attribution is entitled. I personally either design the icons I'm going to use (so they fully fulfill the client's brand) or purchase a kit that gives me enough legal rights to use it without disturbing or damaging the client's image.

I can't really think of many examples for using brushes on a design, and for patterns you have certain places like subtlepatterns that ask attribution in a non-harmful way by asking for comments instead of active links.

Images is a whole different topic, you must license stock images properly unless you're taking the picture yourself, and the 'free stock images' are quite not common, although there are a few like this may be an useful place for some.

So, TL;DR, I'd advise you to avoid creditting via active links unless the client is fully aware of that and/or has been presented with an extra proposed-price for licensing an alternative.

amseroedd da
amseroedd da
11,021 Points

Thank you for this informative and very useful answer! I understand how things work now.