Something felt off. All these demands, in this short of a timeframe, for nothing? I wanted this job though, so I swallowed my suspicions and got to work. Thinking they would be using my assignment purely for skill assessment purposes, I told myself the lack of compensation was justified.
I spent my next two days sleepless and wholly dedicated to the assignment. I titled my campaign “The art of coolness” and presented a deck of over 30 assets centered around ice and snow themes, including an image I created of the protein bar suspended in a frosty block of ice. I emailed my work in, then went two weeks without a word from anyone. Stress dominated my Christmas and New Years, as I constantly wondered when I would hear back.
My design eventually landed me a final five-hour long interview, where I met with the CEO and members from the creative team, responded to more questions, and underwent a mathematical test of weighing metal balls – the most vital qualifier for any potential graphic designer. I didn’t land the gig, however. I was told that since I have never had a job that demanded five days in an office, I wouldn’t be a good culture fit. Trying to justify the effort I’d exerted, I put my work up on my website, hoped it would positively contribute to my portfolio, and did my best to forget about David.
Fast forward to March 2026.
I’m scrolling through my Instagram explore page one afternoon when a familiar name and image pops up. It’s a David Protein ad, of a blueberry flavored bar suspended in an ice block. I recognized the composition, art direction, layout and crop. I recognized the size of the ice block, size of the bar, and angle of the bar in the block. I stared at my phone in shock, thinking, “Oh my god, that’s mine.”
I felt like I’d just seen a ghost, or worse, an ex in public. My proposal sat there on my screen mocking me, calling me an idiot for ever applying for that job. Freezing things in ice isn’t a new concept, but the similarities between David’s post and the proposal I made for them four months prior were uncanny. They didn’t even try to hide themselves, and the biggest stab in the back was that their image looks like they’d just thrown the concept into an AI generated program and used what it spat out as a depressing dupe, all for the purpose of filling their Instagram feed.
In my anger, I posted a few stories on my feed and received support from friends and fellow designers on the internet. One friend connected me to a candidate who’d gone through the same job interview process and not been hired, and through talking with her I learned that David had decided to head “in a different direction” with the role. We hadn’t gone through a job application . . . We’d put ourselves in a free labor experiment. I emailed the main person I had corresponded with during my application to talk about this, to state my case or get clarity. He never responded.
Usually, my friends and I won’t talk about the jobs we don’t get. We’ll complain about bad dates but applying to jobs, putting in hours of work, and getting rejected has become commonplace. This instance in particular, however, boiled my blood past my usual silence. We young designers in the city just want to do good work for exciting companies and make enough money to stay in New York.
Every time I do talk to a friend who’s job searching, we’ll fit buckets of swear words into our opening sentences. You’re one of hundreds of applicants chasing a single posting, you’ll most likely get ghosted, and if you’re lucky enough to make it far, they may change their mind and hire no one . . . Then take your idea as their own, apparently. Since when did large companies think they can abuse their applicants like this? In a world increasingly defined by AI slop and challenged authenticity in creative fields, having designers robbed of their original work in broad daylight may seem on trend, but needs to end now. I never would have applied for David’s designer job had I known they’d pluck my ideas while leaving me high and dry, and I’ll never put myself in a position like that again.
Here’s the thing: We don’t have to take this…we don’t have to settle for idea-stealing just because it’s hard to land stable work. We don’t need to accept mistreatment like my experience as the new norm. To other designers and creatives: Decline tasks if you think an ask is unfair and demand compensation of some form if you’re being asked to produce work that will be used. Respect your talents, instead of only acting out of a scarcity mindset, because look what happens when you don’t. Rejection is an isolating feeling, but you are not alone. Think about it this way: young designers trying to land solid work is synonymous to calories in a David Protein bar. You may think there aren’t many – you may even have been told so – but in reality, there may be a shit ton. ∎
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