share, don't steal (why we copy)
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Share, Don’t Steal (why we copy)Share, Don’t Steal (why we copy)
I’m totally guilty on this one Your Honor. I have copied si tes before, b ut I have learned my
lesson and I will never do it again. I promise.
Why do we do it?Why do we do it?
As designers w e have all done it, we have all blatantly copied somebody’s design. Why
do we do this? Are w e not brilliant visual composers? Can’t w e create our ow n w eb
masterpieces? I believe w e do this for one of three reasons:
We are just starting out in the w eb design wor ld – design immaturity .
We think successf ul or popular w ebsites have great design – design popularity.
We are told to from the client or management w hat to design – design pressure.
The first reason, design immaturity, is a natural thing. When w e first start out w e really
w ant to impress our managers and/or clients. We tend to look for divine interw eb
inspiration only to wind up ripping someone’s design off . We don’t really know how to
properly f ind inspiration so we default back to mimicry. Hopefully w e all go through this
phase quickly in our careers. But designing for popularity and design pressure are
battles that w e w ill fight through out the remainder of our careers.
Taking on a new design project can be a daunting task if you have no ideas and you have
no inspiration to draw from. When you can’t f ind inspiration and ideas are just not coming
to you, its easy to take a popular w ebsite and copy it in order to get the project rolling. This
kind of thing always leads me dow n the path of self doubt, w here I question my w orth as
a designer. I get stuck not knowing where to start and if nothing stops my self loathing I
start feeling the itch to copy.
But sometimes as designers w e have brilliant ideas but due to pressure f rom management,
partners, or any other stake holders w e are forced to copy. This recently happened on a
project I was w orking on. Our client w anted me to straight up copy a really popular design
of our competitor, font-for-font, color-for-color. I felt I had some great original ideas, but I
knew the fight wasn’t w orth it so I threw in the tow el and w ent for the direct copy.
WEB DESIGN January 7, 2011 by Patrick Cox 8 Comments8 Comments
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Since that experience I have come to realize the damage copying another design can do.
Picasso said that a bad artist copies and a great artist steals. This phrase has often been
used in the design world as w ell. I don’t think this is true in all cases, I believe great
designers are original thinkers w ho don’t determine a design’s success on its popularity or
how it’s received by a mainstream audience.
Great de signers have an uncanny ability to ignore everyone and do what is best for the
project, they let the design guide them. This kind of originality pushes the rest of us lackies
to the next level, hopefully, unless w e keep copying from them.
Why it’s badWhy it’s bad
You’ll never know whyYou’ll never know why
It’s like cheating on a test. When you cheat on a test you don’t know w hy the answ er
is w hat it is, and chances are you’re not going to take the time to find out, cause if you
w anted to know you w ould have done it in the first place. Copying design or copying
answ ers to an exam are not any different.
The designer you are copying made his or her choices for a reason and you’ll never know
that reason. Worst case, the designer you are copying, copied their design. When you
copy f rom someone else you don’t know w hy they used the design pattern they did or
w hy they used a particular font or even w hy they used a gradient. This not only hurts the
original designer, but it hurts you even more. Next time when you are designing a site, you
may not know how to fit in that cool gradient eff ect or f ont choice correc tly.
Design is subjective and knowing w hy choices are made is one of the most valuable toolsyou have. Know ing why a composition is so engaging or w hy a color scheme works so
w ell is never learned through copying, its learned through criticism, evaluation,
experimentation, and tes ting… but never copying.
You’ll get stuckYou’ll get stuck
If you copy a design you w ill inevitably get stuck. Getting stuck in a design is like getting
lost in a maze . Let’s say you show up at the client design meeting with your copied
design to show to the client. They see the design and love it, but like all great clients, they
w ant you to make a handful of changes. When you start w orking on the revisions you
can’t quite figure out how to make the new changes feel like they belong. Its not so easy to
make changes to an already f inished product w hen you have no idea w here to begin.
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You’re stuck in the middle of the maze and you don’t even know how you got in. I know
this feeling w ell, I’ve been there a few times.
When you create designs based upon your ow n ideas you why the design works or
doesn’t work. You know the genesis of the concept and you know w here and how the
concept can be altered w ithout losing its appeal. When you ow n the design, you own the
map to the maze, you know w here you are at no matter w here you are. By ow ning the
design you have the know ledge to better discuss the clients revis ions right there in the
initial design meeting.
You’ll homogenize everyone elseYou’ll homogenize everyone elseThis happens in the music industry every few years . One great example is the mighty
grunge era of the early 1990′s. You can debate all day w ho w as the f irst real ‘grunge’
band, but Nirvana w as by the f ar the trend maker. Af ter Cobain’s music became so
popular you had this onslaught of other bands from the Seattle area that looked and
sounded very s imilar. By the time Cobain had killed himself in 1994, grunge music w as no
more original than it was good. The copy cat bands of the day had taken every original
lyric and chord out of the grunge movement. Copy cat design creates the same effect. If a
particular look or design element becomes trendy, no matter how innovative, pretty soon all
the websites that copy it will eventually blend together.
Take the Web 2.0 movement as a case study. The real substance of the Web 2.0
movement was about dynamic sites, user-centered design and open communities. But
w hat do we all remember about Web 2.0? Rounded corners. Why did this design
element become so ingrained in our minds? Because it w as popular. Rounded cornersw ere innovative at the time and so designers started adding this new design element to
their w ebsites. Then one day, all the w ebsites looked the same and no particular w ebsite
stood out. Now , every time w e see a rounded corner we think “Ugh, Web 2.0. Blech!”
You’ll devalue yourself, me, and the rest of the communityYou’ll devalue yourself, me, and the rest of the community
If I spend thirty hours in Photoshop designing a mockup that looks identical to iTunes for a
new w eb app project, w ouldn’t it just be easier for me to screen shot iTunes and send it
over to the developer? When you copy, this is actually w hat you are doing. Do yourself
and everybody at the company a favor and take a screen shot, it saves them a lot of
design time and you can get back to w hat you do best, playing Angry Birds. When w e
copy designs w e are essentially devaluing the craf t. At some point, someone is going to
question w hy they have designers if all they do is w aste time copying. A lot of managers
and clients already think design is over rated but w hen you copy it just proves them right.
This can be hard if you w ork for a company that doesn’t understand the relevance of
design. They may w ant you to copy everybody else. If that’s the case my suggestion
w ould be to run, run fast and never look back . You don’t need to spend your time as a
designer copying others, there are plenty of other companies that appreciate original
thought and design.
You’ll devalue the productYou’ll devalue the product
Most importantly, w hen you copy designs, you devalue your site. The real value of any
pow erful site or app is its originality. Copy cat design only cheapens the site, it makes the
site feel dirty on some level. Its like when you take an hour picking out a rad shirt to w ear
to a concert and your f riend shows up in the same shirt, now the shirt doesn’t mean
anything. Okay, bad example, but you get the point. When your site looks identical to other
sites, it has lost its pow er. The value of Amazon.com is its originality. They are the w eb’s
marketplace leader because they continually want to be better and more innovative than
the others.
Original sites w ork because they are original, they are designed for and around their ow n
ideas. Sites that are truly created mean more, not only to you but the user. They have
deeper value, they have meaning and they have a life of their ow n. Copied designs are
just that, copies, they are meaningless representations of other ideas and concepts. When
a design is copied, you not only copy the good elements you copy the w eak elements.
Share, don’t stealShare, don’t steal
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The web design community is such a great source for sharing ideas. That is the
greatest part of the interwebs, designers can share ideas, concepts, patterns, elementsand graphics in a very open environment. Copying breaks down these open channels and
forces designers to blockade their ideas. Lets keep these channels open and respect the
designs of others so that w e can continue to steal inspiration from them.
Related Articles:Related Articles:
http://w w w .useit.com/alertbox/copy-big-sites.html
http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/copy-great-designers-steal
http://52weeksofux.com/post/1014189735/copycat-design
Jack Black on Piracy
TAGGED WITH:TAGGED WITH: COPYINGCOPYING,, WEB DESIGN WEB DESIGN
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKEYOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Patrick Cox is a UX enthusiast, w eb designer and front-end developer Patrick Cox is a UX enthusiast, w eb designer and front-end developer
for for PMA Media GroupPMA Media Group . Besides being passionate about all things. Besides being passionate about all things
interw ebs he's also a musician, snowboarder, and f ootball fanatic.interw ebs he's also a musician, snowboarder, and f ootball fanatic.
Follow him on tw itter Follow him on tw itter @pcridesagain@pcridesagain..
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JOIN THE DISCUSSIONJOIN THE DISCUSSIONDISCUSSIONDISCUSSION88
JANUARY 7TH, 2011 AT 17:38JANUARY 7TH, 2011 AT 17:38
TRULY AGREE WITH YOUR STATEMENT, I AM ALSO WITH YOUTRULY AGREE WITH YOUR STATEMENT, I AM ALSO WITH YOU
GUYS. AS FAR AS I SEEN, MANY FREELANCE DEVELOPERS ANDGUYS. AS FAR AS I SEEN, MANY FREELANCE DEVELOPERS AND
DESIGNERS JUST STEALING STUFF FORM OTHERS AND SHOWINGDESIGNERS JUST STEALING STUFF FORM OTHERS AND SHOWINGAND SELLING AS THAT THEY MADE….AND SELLING AS THAT THEY MADE….
CHEERS AND HAV E A GREAT WEEKENDCHEERS AND HAV E A GREAT WEEKEND
YOOSUFYOOSUF
HTTP://MAGPIELABS.CO.UKHTTP://MAGPIELABS.CO.UK
YOOSUF YOOSUF
JANUARY 7TH, 2011 AT 20:43JANUARY 7TH, 2011 AT 20:43
That’s the disease this days. But some manage to break the habitThat’s the disease this days. But some manage to break the habit
and eventually came out w ith something similar, but much moreand eventually came out w ith something similar, but much more
brilliant. That’s what w e call improvise.brilliant. That’s what w e call improvise.
IDRAKIIDRAKI
JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 05:32JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 05:32
sharing is caring but copying others material is not acceptable..sharing is caring but copying others material is not acceptable..
thanks for the info… :) just sharing what we ow ned..thanks for the info… :) just sharing what we ow ned..
LAZAACLAZAAC
JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 05:53JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 05:53
I never copy a full website…. but I definitely grab elements thatI never copy a full website…. but I definitely grab elements that
stand out to me, manipulate them to my liking, and piece them allstand out to me, manipulate them to my liking, and piece them all
together into one big collage of “stolen” elements. Obviously… I addtogether into one big collage of “stolen” elements. Obviously… I add
my ow n touch and creativity to the entire project as w ell.my ow n touch and creativity to the entire project as w ell.
Nonetheless… I never just steal a whole site.Nonetheless… I never just steal a whole site.
I like to look at the best designs, and try to make something better or I like to look at the best designs, and try to make something better or
atleast as good as them. I went to the “college of Google” andatleast as good as them. I went to the “college of Google” and
learned everything I know f rom forums and tutorials. I have beenlearned everything I know f rom forums and tutorials. I have been
designing for 7 years now am I am making around $50,000 per year.designing for 7 years now am I am making around $50,000 per year.
I think looking at good design… and taking a little mini bite out of it,I think looking at good design… and taking a little mini bite out of it,
and making it better or making it your ow n to help a project you areand making it better or making it your ow n to help a project you are
w orking on… doesn’t hurt. As long as w hen you compare w hat youw orking on… doesn’t hurt. As long as w hen you compare w hat you
took from another design to your ow n, it isn’t a blatant rip off .took from another design to your ow n, it isn’t a blatant rip off .
Great article though!!!!!! I do agree w ith 95% of w hat w as said! :-)Great article though!!!!!! I do agree w ith 95% of w hat w as said! :-)
JB
JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 15:48JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 15:48
Lol, is this for me ? :DLol, is this for me ? :D
Thank youThank you
DESIGN CAVERNDESIGN CAVERN
JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 16:20JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 16:20
If I copy something then it is NOT the design itself, only functionsIf I copy something then it is NOT the design itself, only functions
and/or the layout (w here is w hat).and/or the layout (w here is w hat).
I am not sure if that is “stealing”. I do not like copies of competitorsI am not sure if that is “stealing”. I do not like copies of competitors
sites.sites.
MICHAEL PEHLMICHAEL PEHL
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JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 20:24JANUARY 8TH, 2011 AT 20:24
Well, I w anted to say that I am identified w ith Patric at several thingsWell, I w anted to say that I am identified w ith Patric at several things
described in the article. I copied over and felt pretty stuck and mixingdescribed in the article. I copied over and felt pretty stuck and mixing
rusulting nothing but nonsense. But now I think it’s better to stayrusulting nothing but nonsense. But now I think it’s better to stay
w ith my ow n original ideas, because as Patrick says, I know thew ith my ow n original ideas, because as Patrick says, I know the
roots and complete anatomy of design, and then i know how to takeroots and complete anatomy of design, and then i know how to take
better steps.better steps.
MARCELO MIRAMARCELO MIRA
JANUARY 9TH, 2011 AT 16:09JANUARY 9TH, 2011 AT 16:09
Nice article Patrick!. But let me tell all of you something, having totallyNice article Patrick!. But let me tell all of you something, having totally
against to copy entire w ebsite as it is and call it your ow n, shouldagainst to copy entire w ebsite as it is and call it your ow n, should
not stop ‘sneaking’ their codes and see how it is done, and inspirednot stop ‘sneaking’ their codes and see how it is done, and inspired
w ith it, and come up better site that can be completely original. Howw ith it, and come up better site that can be completely original. How
many of you have not click “View source”!? and please don’t tell memany of you have not click “View source”!? and please don’t tell me
that you did not copied piece of code (css, jquery, etc.) from the sitethat you did not copied piece of code (css, jquery, etc.) from the site
and implemented your site. In my opinion, a good designer shouldand implemented your site. In my opinion, a good designer should
have curious mind, who goes beyond the original, but inspired byhave curious mind, who goes beyond the original, but inspired by
others.others.
DKMDKM
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