In the graphic and web design industry, we like to think of ourselves as “creatives” who constantly keep the creative juices flowing and come up with original, well-thought out ideas. So why is it that even the best of graphic and web designers are approached by a client now and then who says something like:
“I really like the look of this design.
Can you just copy it?”
I was asked about this just the other day on twitter (follow me). The following was the question I got from @zooperswede: “What would you do if a client that comes to you with a magazine clip and says…’design me something like this’?” I would like to present my thoughts on the issue according to the experiences I have had. In addition, I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter.
First things first, is it okay to copy designs?
Great Designers Steal
There has been a lot of controversy over the notion that “great designers steal”. Cameron Moll, web guru, speaker, and author wrote an article clear back in 2003 titled “Good Designers Copy, Great Designers Steal“. In it, he adapted Picasso’s statement that Great Artists Steal to modern web and graphic designers. The point of the article is that copying others’ work is a great way to create top-notch material especially for those who are just starting out in design.
Is it okay to copy?
Is it every appropriate to copy the design of another? Yes. Why do I say this? Because, frankly, as designers we are constantly mimicking what we see in the world around us. We peruse the internet searching for “inspiration” and, as we collect this information, our brain remembers the elements we like and those we dislike. The more time we spend with certain styles of design, the more our design starts to imitate it. Is that a good thing?
Of course it is.
The wonderful thing about the online design community is the wonderful ability we have to share ideas quickly and feed off of each others’ creativity. A few opportunities in which I would say copying another design is appropriate are as follows:
- When you are trying to master a new technique
Nothing will help you learn a new technique better than really digging deep into how the original designer achieved the effect. By dissecting the design and recreating it yourself, you perfect the process. It’s much like taking apart a vacuum cleaner or toaster oven. The further you get inside, the more you understand the basic principles that govern its success. - When the author intends for you to borrow or copy
There are countless online resources that provide designers with tutorials, code snippets, downloadable source files, free stock photography, and more. In these situations, this material is there for your gain–so really try to take advantage of it as much as possible.
But is it okay to steal?
Let’s face it. Stealing is wrong. Never in the history of the world has it been inherently right to steal. Using another person’s work and claiming direct ownership of it is not ethical and is usually illegal. So what do we do when a client approaches us with the request to “make it look exactly like this”?
The solution
I discussed this same issue early on in my design career with a professor of Graphic Design. The advice he gave me has stuck with me to this day and has helped me out of some pretty tight situations. He gave me a simple procedure to follow when approached with a request to copy someone else’s design.
FIRST, Commend your client for putting forth the effort in deciding what kind of design they are looking for and what style they like.
SECOND, Explain to your client the laws of copyright and the problems associated with plagiarism.
THIRD, Kindly help your client understand that while you cannot explicitly steal certain elements of the design itself such as actual shapes in logos or images from the internet (without purchase a rights managements), you would be happy to identify the elements and principles of design that you can use to get the same effect.
FOURTH, and this is the most important, sit down with your client and talk with them about why they like the design. Talk less about physical traits and more about principles and emotions. Do they like the color pallet? Do they like the arrangement of elements? Maybe it’s the typography or photography. Possibly they like the amount of white space or the textures. List all the reasons your client likes the design they present to you.
FIFTH, after the meeting, sum up all the points you have made about the design. Their likes, their dislikes, and how you intend to achieve a similar effect without copying the design directly.
SIXTH, After designing the piece according to the specifications at the meeting, review the design with your client and point out the elements that you previously discussed. More than likely, they will love the new design because they now have something just as appealing and beautiful but that belongs completely to them.
Case in Point
I’ll finish off with a design project I recently completed. The client came to me and essentially said, “We want our site to look like the Apple web site.” Let me demonstrate below:
There were some obvious elements found on the Apple web site that I knew the client wanted to apply in their web site. Obviously the Apple site uses white space effectively, has a minimalistic color scheme, and is simple and easy to navigate.
While I didn’t want to explicitly copy the Apple site, I took some of the elements I mentioned previously and applied them in the design above. The client loved the design and the site launch was a smooth success.What would you do?
At the end of the day, this is all my opinion and experience. I am anxious and curious to learn what you would do (or have done) in this sort of situation. Please share your thoughts with the rest of us.
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@carlinscuderi
This is great. I had a client want to do this for a website.
But he didn’t want just the design, he wanted the content and everything too. Basically, a 100% carbon copy of the site with the content changed to show his business instead. He didn’t want to do it because he liked the content or design, but rather because it was a competitor’s site and he wanted to be 100% sure that he was at least as good as his competitor. I remedied the situation by telling him that the site I was going to create for him was going to take into account his audience, and was going to be BETTER than the site he wanted to copy. He agreed, and he’s happy with the new design!
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Simon Taylor
@Simlikes
@Carlin Scuderi, Good work Carlin. It begs the question ‘Why did your client not just have faith in you to do a better job anyway, without seeking the false assurance of attempting a straight copy.’ The work of educating clients is never ending.
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@jon_patterson
Great read.
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@zooperswede
I work in wood or “architectural elements”. I am a carpenter that designs build. I am always getting clients showing me photos of bookcases ect. that are shown in a room that are twice the size of their room. I tackle the perspective issue first then attempt to take some of the notable elements and incorporate it into a new design that takes some of my ideas and some of other artists to create a new look.(Mix Gustav Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe WALLA.. Arts and Crafts on Steroids) I say this is “custom” for them. Take it maybe from a business perspective. Do you want your client to be “as good” or “better” than the competition?
You guys need to use the word “custom” more. Just my opinion.
“To sticktly copy is to be stricktly copitulated”
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@ptamaro
Great post. I had a recent design “stolen” directly from my client, who is an Intellectual Property Law firm. It was both a little upsetting and a bit of a compliment. Needless to say, once we discovered the theft — my work was removed from their servers the next day. Worst part of it all was that it wasn’t my best work…
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@gmsdesigns
Preston,
A great think piece as usual. I have a story to share but no time to do that right now. I will say though that too many clients have the idea that just because something appears in public it means “Public Domain” or mine for the taking. Sometimes a primer on Intellectual Property is the only way to go.
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@NeuralCorrelate
I am not a designer at all but I think these are good principles for any creative endeavor. It is also very interesting to get a professionals take on his craft. I like the design of this blog…maybe when I have the money I will have you design me a copy of it :P
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@jorgesarcos
Well… here in Venezuela almost no designer respects that, i myself encourage my client no to do so, whether recommending something better or simply not getting the job, but sometimes when your budget is low you need to take some jobs, i dont make them “carbon Copy” though as that would not be legal, but its has happened… sadly…
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@thecybertramp
good post, nice piece of advice there from your professor. Would probably be the best way of dealing with any ideas they have: helps get to the root of the matter and get more information than they may be able to articulate, whilst making them feel like they are being very helpful.
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@cocoonmediauk
I’ve had this happen quite a lot over the space of the last year, and I assume the more web conscious clients get the more they will see things they like. From the other perspective I have had clients tell me that friends of theirs have been inspired to have websites like the one I created for them done, which is quite a compliment!
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Good tips to copy someone else design, thank you for the information.
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It is really great having opportunity for reading this great information’s. I like reading it because it is brief and step by step well explained, so everyone can understand it. It is really great tips for everyone, Thank You.
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@wongpk
If anyone want to copy my design, go ahead. If I want to copy other’s design, I’ll cut to the minimal similarity istead :P But it is all ok for copying here and there, that’s how thing evolve after all…
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@subbutwitts
Stealing is really bad think I don’t want to talk about that but I do speak about copying (this itself is an art). Don’t we need any brine or any skills for that? I don’t want to use “copy” word rather I can use getting some good form someone or something and making or adding some better to it according to our need.
The end goal of us is to give the best to the Clint in this thought process is like this.
1) Good artists copy, great artists steal (Picasso)
2) Good Designers Copy, Great Designers Steal (cameron Moll)
3) What to do when a client wants you to copy other designs (Preston D Lee)
4) Copy or getting the idea (Subbu)
1 after > 2 after > 3 after > 4 after > 1 after…………
Me after > you > someone > again may be Me…………. Circle goes like this, isn’t it?
We could not use great libraries or tutorials if someone is saying this is copy or we can say there will not be any improvement in anything.
I have given comments 2 or 3 times and 2, 3 words (good, great etc) for other articles, because I have a fear of my English language. But could not control for this article and wrote some thing I felt, please excuse me if I miss spelt or grammatically wrong.
Hi Preston if you add fans-club let me know, to be part of it.
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@ekmedia
Great list and tips on how to steer your client away from copying another site directly. I’ve been thru this quite a few times, and have used some of these techniques. If I can’t convince the client not to completely rip off someone else’s site, I’ll just walk away from the job. I’d rather work with someone who has higher ethics.
Great article.
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I open http://www.remmelspear.com/ in chrome web browser and saw errors, the gray background of the top menu its moved up below the company name. I IE and Firefox the page looks good. Check your CSS.
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Mandy
@Mandy, Sorry was an error on the browser when loaded the page.
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Preston D Lee
@prestondlee
@Mandy, That’s okay. Thanks for your concern. Glad to hear the site is actually working fine. Cheers.
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@lukemeister
Hey this is a great read. Personally, I try to encourage clients to give me something to copy, that way I know what they really want. I don’t copy, but more look at the elements and style much as you did in your example. Great way to get a starting direction from clients.
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@unfallenart
Thanks for this. You make some good points. I would also add that it is ok to turn down a client who is committed to the idea of stealing others’ content.
I had a client who wanted to use a bunch of photos that they did not have permission for. I explained why that was not ok, copyrights and all, and they said “That’s stupid, where do people get all this stuff then?” And refused to be reasonable. I turned down the project, thank God, and later discovered they had gone ahead with their copyright-infringing design with someone else.
Those type of people aside, I think you have a great process written out that can lead to some really great projects growing out of a seemingly terrible proposal.
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@New2WP
This is a great post. And yes, everyone does steal and take and do everything everyone else does, all the time.
It’s how I’ve learned to do things. You can’t learn if you don’t have an idea of what you are trying to learn… if that makes any sense.
I think it does :)
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@New2WP
Oh, I forgot to mention that my design of New2WP.com was based on MetaLabs design as you can tell. Same idea as what you did by using Apples site design.
http://new2wp.com
http://www.metalabdesign.com/
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@phil_dionne
Great post ! I’d prefer not to have to work with a client who wants a copied design !
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@MissCath
This is so very true. I am in my early years as a graphic designer and studying Multimedia at university. Designing something truly unique is a challenge and it is soo ironic how the university and others tell you to look at other peoples work for inspiration but yet if the university thinks you have even just slightly gotten an idea from another artists work then you are shunned upon.
It’s important to keep originality and your own personal style to your designs but as long as you don’t breach copyright or blatantly COPY their design then you are fine. Most of the best and most widely known logos started out as an idea formed by a logo the creator saw.
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@SativaBella
You may need to proofread your caption under the Apple website: “There were some obvious elements found on the Apple web site that I new the client wanted” — ‘new’ should be ‘knew.’
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Preston D Lee
@prestondlee
Thanks Monika. Problem fixed. I appreciate your help there.
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@brandensilva
I think copying and stealing are basically the same thing when it comes to digital bits. Let me explain before you jump in on the conversation.
The reality of the situation is that the designers who designed Apples web site were likely coming from other inspiration from other designer web sites as well, which accumulated into it’s sleek looking design it is now. If I didn’t know about Apple and I just happened to randomly design something 99.99% exactly like Apple purely out of coincidence, I’d be ragged on pretty hardcore by the design community. The chances of this happening are very slim, but it’s possible. It would be just like winning the lottery but different obviously. Granted, Apple is the only one that makes Apple products so it wouldn’t be an exact replica without their product images but I hope you understand my point.
Another example, if I don’t know what a notepad is then I can’t design it. But I know what a notepad is because someone created one previously. But that person created the notepad off of other creativity from someone else, etc. Nobody ever just creates something from nothing. That would be like saying you were the creator of all things, which ultimately resulted in you creating a notepad from everything you previously created. One last example… it would be like someone saying “you said something funny”, but how could you say anything funny if you didn’t know how to speak your language — which was made up through time from multiple people throughout our history.
Now with that said, I think it’s rather rude to replicate someone’s site completely and really detrimental for a beginning designer to do so for work and should only be done for learning purposes only.
I totally get what you are saying in the article too, but the reality is that everyone steals design work. They just do it in bit-sized chunks so its labeled “copying” instead of stealing.
Just my two cents.
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@bryanthompson
If you have a stubborn client that really thinks they want a copy of someone else’s design and they seem reluctant to budge, try this: In Photoshop, make an exact copy of the site they like, and start swapping in content. It shouldn’t take long, and it will definitely look bad, but then put more effort into one that might be inspired by that design that uses their content more appropriately. They’ll always pick the right one.
The problem isn’t that they want you to copy, it’s that they have no idea how to express what they’re thinking. They like one site because someone at some point put some thought into the content _and_ the design. It’s pretty easy to illustrate the point without talking down to them or trying to convince them.
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@vidibell
Oh yeah! I remember when my boss after 10 designs i originally made for him, he came with “You know..I don’t like that designs..I want a clone of this website…100%”
…that expression transform me in some kind of hulk-girl.
It was so offensive for me, the fact he ask me that… but after made the design, I add some changes, it looks pretty similar to the website he ask me, but I learn a lot another techniques in Photoshop to create the effects.
At the end…I discover that the principal reason why he wanted that design was because the menu was better than my designs.
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@dldesign
Superb advice Preston! These are issues that I cover with my clients right at the outset of any project, I had learned my lesson!
I had a situation where a client wanted me to use written content they copied from a competitors site on their own, this after I had explained to them that if they wish to supply me with content that it must be authentic, and not a copy of someone else’s work.
Well, I must have not made my point clear enough, because the client sent me a direct copy and paste from another site (I always check, just in case, to cover myself from a legal standpoint).
I had to write the client back and explain to them the reasons why this was just such a bad idea: The legalities such as copyright infringement, that using copied content from competitor sites has a tendency to cause mistrust in users (people do surf to competition sites), but also that duplicating content from another site is just not going to do their own web site any favors in the search engines.
Once the client had this information (especially once they understood the potential negative impact of using copyrighted material), they of course promptly sent me original copy I could use on their site.
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@colharris
As someone who has both had his work copied, and been asked to copy another site, I appreciated this article, and the step-by-step hints. Thanks for the sanity.
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Preston D Lee
@prestondlee
@Colin Harris,
Glad you enjoyed it, Colin. Thanks for visiting!
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