Copyright infringement – Gina rants

I am a big fan of photographer Sarah Andrew, and there was a comment made on one of her photographs about the huge copyright notice plastered across the image. Folks said that it would be so much nicer if that wasn’t there to distract from the picture. Others chimed in – implying that photographers and artists who use those huge copyrights on their work are a bit pompous / too proud of themselves. I was immediately horrified for Sarah, as I know the real reason that’s there. To keep people from using her images without paying her and/or giving proper credit.

So I fired off a retort in her defense. I said that I make part of my living designing and selling custom business cards for the farrier industry. And that frustratingly, I could go into any Tractor Supply in the country, check out the bulletin board (usually back by the restroom) and find at least one farrier’s business card sporting one of my logos – that was not purchased from me. Grrrr. Of course, any Tractor Supply in the country was a sweeping generalization. But it was based on my experience – and nearly every farm/ag store that I’ve been in indeed does have farrier business cards with pirated logos tacked on the board.

After that – I got to thinking… “I wonder how much that really adds up to?” – and now I wish I hadn’t. I discovered that Tractor Supply has 1,967 stores in 49 states – source. HoofPrints’ minimum order of business cards is $120. (for 500 cards) so if you do that math it comes out to $236,040.00!!! OMG, how I wouldn’t love to add over two hundred thousand dollars to the bottom line each year. Isn’t that amazing? I knew this was a problem, but I never sat down and added it up before.

Now, doing what I do, I know how easy it is to snag an image off the web, paste it into a Word document, stick a fancy background behind it and add the type of your choice. That’s exactly what someone has done in the picture here. (This card came from a Dollar General Store bulletin board, of all places…) A person can buy pre-perforated business card stock at the office store and print all the cards you want on an inexpensive home printer. Voila – nearly-free business cards! But most of the time they look exactly like the amateur job that they are. Those pre-perfed cards have a tiny ragged edge that you can spot a mile away. The marble background on the above art might have seemed like a good idea, but it forced the logo so small that the wording around the tools is nearly impossible to read.

Does the person who created this know that 6 point type is a no-no? Probably not. Did they place correct emphasis on the farrier’s name and phone number by judicious use of bold and italic fonts? No, they did not. I spent 4 years in college learning stuff like that, and then another 30+ years on the job practicing that knowledge.

Did the person who made the above card carefully craft that logo using the actual tools as reference? By balancing the arrangement and colors so that it all flowed together nicely? They did not. I did. This is my Tools of the Trade logo; I sell it embroidered on garments too, here.

Did this person spend hundreds of dollars for Adobe Photoshop – so they could include subtle shadows around the logo and type so that appropriate emphasis can be made without looking gaudy or amateurish? Obviously not.

Here’s another one. The art is from my BC4 logo, which started out as Rejoice! one of the very first Christmas cards that I began selling nearly 30 years ago. Original art painted by me. Whatever they took this from must’ve been well worn, as the scratches and scuffs were reproduced along with the now-blurry art. Most folks live their whole life without ever thinking about typography. I am not one of those folks. I spent those years in college learning about it, then more years on the job practicing what I learned. And that would be to never, ever use 8 different colors, sizes, fonts and iterations of type on a single printed piece. Black backgrounds can be dramatic, but in the hands of an amateur they more often turn out hard to read. And they took the wording, verbatim, from my business card back print idea 9, and added random capitalization that is truly cringe-worthy.

Business cards from HoofPrints include a proof (mailed, texted or emailed) and as many revisions as you need to get it perfect – for no additional charge. Included also is a copy of the latest print flyer.

$120. can seem like a lot to spend for a box of business cards (that’s HoofPrints’ price). It’s no secret that there are places out there that are cheaper. But when you order from HoofPrints, you are also getting my experience as a designer and a farrier’s wife. I fix typos, I change / rearrange wording so it sounds better and looks professional. Those cheap places won’t fix a mis-spelling of “therapeutic”. They don’t know the names of the farrier associations and schools – so they won’t abbreviate them correctly if needed. They won’t make suggestions on how your card can best sell your unique skills/expertise. They can’t because they don’t have the experience with the farrier industry. OK. Rant over. (almost)

What I’d like for you all to do, the next time you’re in a farm/tack store check out the bulletin board and see if there are any farrier business cards that look like these, but not quite. Grab one and drop it in an envelope to:

HoofPrints Business Card Rant
13849 N 200 E
Alexandria, IN 46001

I will send you a little gift for your trouble. And don’t worry, I’m not planning an attack on the infringers to get my $236,040.00; I’d just like to send these folks a copy of our catalog to let them know that next time they need cards they can leave the design work to me.

Photo by Lou Stine, card is #BC38, more info here

Wanna read more?

• Is this all I do? Post pictures and stories about life here on the farm? Nope! HoofPrints.com is my “real” job.
• You can read more posts about horses here
• For more fun on the farm, go here
• Adventures in remodeling are here
• Is the house haunted? There are some stories about that here
• Laughable housekeeping advice is here