Giving Credit

[Elsieanne]

Got a question -- I usually start with a designer's template, but I almost always make significant changes (delete/add photos, rearrange the layout design, delete most of the elements). At what point does a template become so changed that it is no longer the designer's template?

Please understand I WANT to give appropriate credit, but I worry if I make significant changes and then link the design to the original designer that it might be falsely advertising.

Please help me understand so I do not make a mistake.

 

[karlimarie]

Got a question -- I usually start with a designer's template, but I almost always make significant changes (delete/add photos, rearrange the layout design, delete most of the elements). At what point does a template become so changed that it is no longer the designer's template?

Please understand I WANT to give appropriate credit, but I worry if I make significant changes and then link the design to the original designer that it might be falsely advertising.

Please help me understand so I do not make a mistake.

I struggle with this too. If I start with a template I always credit the designer, but if I’ve moved the needle so far that it hardly looks like the original, or I’ve meshed two templates together, I change the wording to something like: inspired by Xtemplate by Ydesigner.

 

[Romajo]

If the changes are really big, I just add something like (modified) to my credits.
If I've used 2 templates, I credit both designers.
I also made a folder with cluster templates from templates made by designers. If I use these I credit them with the template title, but add 'cluster' template to my credits.

 

[AmieN1]

I like both of the previous ideas- giving credit- but then adding either inspired or modified so someone isn't looking for that exact template. I don't often change much since I'm usually doing creative team work & need to show the templates as they are, but I think if your intentions are good- that's fine for crediting!

 

[EmStafrace]

Great question.

Technically templates are kickstarters so almost always people will make either light or heavy modifications to customise them to their needs.

So I think it is good practice to credit the template designer and make mention that you were inspired by and used a template by them no matter how much you altered it.

 

[Cheryl Ashcraft]

Great question.

Technically templates are kickstarters so almost always people will make either light or heavy modifications to customise them to their needs.

So I think it is good practice to credit the template designer and make mention that you were inspired by and used a template by them no matter how much you altered it.

:thumbup:

My thoughts as a template designer are the same as Em's! :wub:

 

[Sherly]

I usually still credit the template designer and put (modified) at the end of the mention.

 

[Elsieanne]

Thank You, I love the advice of adding "modified or inspired" to the credits

 

[Amber Dixon]

Great question.

Technically templates are kickstarters so almost always people will make either light or heavy modifications to customise them to their needs.

So I think it is good practice to credit the template designer and make mention that you were inspired by and used a template by them no matter how much you altered it.

Ditto!! :wub:

 

[EmStafrace]

If the changes are really big, I just something like (modified) to my credits.
If I've used 2 templates, I credit both designers.
I also made a folder with cluster templates from templates made by designers. If I use these I credit them with the template title, but add 'cluster' template to my credits.

Aww thanks for doing that. Often I see clusters or photo masks, crumpled or torn edges from templates I've designed in pages but there's no mention of where those came from so I really appreciate it when you awesome creatives credit us even if its just a small part of a template. Crediting us really helps with exposure of our products. x

 

[Romajo]

Aww thanks for doing that. Often I see clusters or photo masks, crumpled or torn edges from templates I've designed in pages but there's no mention of where those came from so I really appreciate it when you awesome creatives credit us even if its just a small part of a template. Crediting us really helps with exposure of our products. x

You're welcome, it's jut a simple thing to do, but it can make a huge difference.
Even if I use just 1 flower or piece of foliage or anything like that, I try to add it to my credits. The only thing I don't always do (esp. when using only 1 piece from a kit or just a small part of a template, so anything that's not really a big part of the layout) is linking to the designer's gallery.

 

[cherrygutz]

For me, I still credit the template and the designer no matter how slightly or heavily I modified their template, I will just note of that.

 

[GraceJ]

I always credit the template, although I use only a part of it (like the mask), and I add modified.

 

[bestcee]

:thumbup:

My thoughts as a template designer are the same as Em's! :wub:

Which is why you keep me! I have a habit of changing templates a lot.

On one of my recent layouts, I actually just wrote "Used the background pages and the photo frame from: Template". I figure it's no different than crediting a kit when all I use is 3 flowers.

 

[Cheryl Ashcraft]

Which is why you keep me! I have a habit of changing templates a lot.

On one of my recent layouts, I actually just wrote "Used the background pages and the photo frame from: Template". I figure it's no different than crediting a kit when all I use is 3 flowers.

Yes, yes, and yes!