Overworked graphic designer quits job, only to discover company still takes credit for their designs five years later, gets payback by deleting the entire site: ‘They never paid for these rights’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
May 6, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Every graphic designer knows how challenging and unrewarding that job can be. If you are not careful, you can easily find yourself working for a toxic company, overworked, underpaid, and undervalued. Add to the mix the ungrateful and overdemanding clients who have no problem calling you in the middle of the night to ask for the tiniest of changes, and congratulations, you're officially a graphic designer! If you're lucky, that one job is only a rite of passage before you reach a workplace that actually respects you; if you're not lucky, well, you find yourself stuck in a toxic job for years.

Once a graphic designer finally gathers the courage to leave their terrible first job, they must be careful. If they were there for a long time, it would take much more than just quitting to finally be rid of it. Even though you might no longer be there, that doesn't mean that they can't still use your work. If you don't want them to, and especially if they have no right to do so, that means that actions must be taken.

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  • The employee in the story below left their toxic job as a graphic designer five years ago. Recently, they found out that the company still uses their designs on a portfolio site the same employee still pays for. This led the ex-employee to take control over everything that is legally their own…

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    "They're going to have a lot of explaining to do"
    via Wavebreakmedia

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    "I just n*ked all my design assets after my old agency stole years of my work"

    About 5 years ago I worked as a graphic designer for a boutique marketing agency. They paid me barely above minimum wage despite charging clients premium
    via Meiftie
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    rates for my work. I was fresh out of school, desperate for experience, and they knew it. I created hundreds of custom illustrations, logos, branding packages, and social media
    via Meiftie
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    templates. I regularly worked 60+ hour weeks with no overtime. My portfolio grew impressive but my bank account didn't reflect it.
    via Meiftie
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    The toxic workplace was next level. The creative director would criticize work in front of clients to make herself look more valuable. Account managers would promise
    via Meiftie
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    managers would promise impossible timelines without consulting me, then blame me when deadlines were missed. After a year, I gathered my courage and
    via Meiftie
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    asked for a raise, showing them how my designs had directly increased client retention and brought in referral business. They agreed I was "valuable" but
    via Meiftie
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    said raises weren't in the budget. The next week, the owner bought a Tesla. I quit two days later with no backup plan. It took months to find stable work, but I
    via Meiftie
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    eventually landed at a company that respects my time and pays fairly. Yesterday, I discovered they were still using a portfolio site I had designed AND
    via Meiftie
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    maintained under my personal domain. They never paid for these rights. Even worse, they were passing off newer designers' work as mine to leverage my
    via Meiftie
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    reputation with former clients. So I took screenshots as evidence, downloaded everything for my records, and deleted the entire site. I
    via Meiftie
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    also changed all passwords and revoked their access to the premium font libraries I'd purchased with my own money. They're going to wake up to broken links,
    via Meiftie
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    missing assets, and a lot of explaining to do to their clients. Fck around and find out.
    via Meiftie
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    Cheezburger Image 10501788160
    via DragonImages

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    CO_Renaissance_Man Good for you. Have you thought about a legal challenge?
    via CO_Renaissance_Man
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    Meiftie OP I've thought about legal action, but not sure if it's worth the stress. I have all the evidence saved just in case. Honestly, watching them panic when they discover everything's gone might be satisfaction enough though I am curious if they'll try contacting me when they realize what happened...
    via Meiftie
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    Glowing Trash_Panda If they do try to contact you, record the phone call if it's over the phone. Doesnt matter if it's a one or two party consent state at the time of recording. Just record it & save it but you only need to worry about 1 or 2 party consent if you actually need to end up using it in court. If you need to use it & it's a one party consent state-
    via Glowing Trash_Panda
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    you're good to go. If you need to use it but it's a two party consent state you can't use that recording sadly but that doesn't mean you can't use what you know from the recording to try to trip them up in other ways to get that info in a way you can submit it to a court
    via Glowing Trash_Panda
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    Meiftie OP That's a great tip about recording. I've already started documenting everything in writing too saving emails, screenshots of the site they were using without permission, and copies of all the files with their original creation dates. If they contact me, I'll definitely be prepared
    via Meiftie
  • 20
    NorthernPufferFL Plz provide an update. We want to know how they respond.
    via NorthernPufferFL
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    Meiftie OP I'll definitely post an update if they reach out so far it's been about 24 hours and nothing yet. My guess is they haven't noticed or they're scrambling behind the scenes trying to figure out what happened before contacting me.
    via Meiftie
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    Soggy-Isopod9681 Just as long as it is your intellectual property on YOUR system or a system that you pay for that isn't your former company, you might be fine.
    via Soggy-Isopod9681
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    Otherwise, you committed a possible civil or criminal offense. Your work product becomes the property of your employer unless you have it in an employment contract that states otherwise.
    via Soggy-Isopod9681
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    Meiftie OP My contract specifically stated I retained ownership of work created on my personal time/equipment. The portfolio site was on my domain that I paid for, not company property. I checked with a lawyer friend before doing anything, so I'm confident I'm in the clear legally
    via Meiftie

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boss workplace-stories employee manager job tales-from-the-workplace client reddit story overworked-employees workplace website Reddit company graphic design funny quitting
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