Take inspiration but please stop stealing what doesn’t belong to you.
The line between being inspired by and plain ol’ design theft is often blurred. It’s hard to shout thief! when something is heavily influenced by and not an out-and-out copy.
Bumping the hex value hides nothing
I stumbled upon entropydigital.co.uk and immediately recognised it as a rip of carsonified.com. The blue background on the index was an immediate clue which was confirmed by running my mouse over the menu. Unmistakable. The array of colours used through the site have had their hex value bumped by the smallest of amounts. Point of this is what?
A few other minor adjustments have been made which disguise nothing yet ironically spoil the original design.
I’ve mentioned on Twitter that I’m working on a web tool that will accompany AntiSpec.com to enable the design community to highlight design theft. I think a tool of this nature needs to have a voting system in place as the line between inspiration and theft is often blurred. This is a personal project and I’m trying to find time to complete but it’ll be launched shortly. I’m open to ideas/help so please do .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Design theft is rife and has recently been the focus of the talented Jeff Fisher of LogoMotives. Jeff discovered handfuls of his own logo work that had been stolen by LogoGarden. This is just one example of an ongoing battle.
Quote by Elliot Jay Stocks
I decided I’d had enough. I’ve learned to live with the fact that this stealing and copying goes on, but when someone else is offering their services as a freelance designer and advertising themselves with my work… that’s crossing the line.
Google image search is a fantastic tool to discover your artwork online where it shouldn’t be. Simply drag your artwork from your desktop into Google and it’ll help track down thieves.
Surely the pride in creating something yourself outweighs the desire to steal. If you’re starting out as a designer don’t take the easy option just because you’re not good enough. Practise. Practise. Practise. You’ll get found out eventually if you don’t.
