There plenty of sites out there showing sites that have been “inspired” by other designs, but are really nothing more than pure rip offs of the code and design elements. So where does stealing stop and inspiration begin?
My question is this; if you copy someones layout is that stealing? I’m simply referring to the layout of the site, not the code or any visual elements, just the way the site is laid out.
What do you think?
13 Responses to “Discussion: Is copying a layout stealing?”
Down here at cssmania.com we showcase sites and tagged some of them with a “Copy” ribbon when we consider they are a copy. But for us, a copy is when a layout is the same as other site, and it is not even mentioned in the css/xhtml. We wouldnt tag a site as “copy” if they give credit to the original developer.
The line between “inspiration”/”copy” is thin. A copy is when noone gives credit to the original developer.
It depends on how basic you get in the sketch of the layout. Most websites, for example, have a header, below that some horizontal navigation, then 2-3 columns for information and for blogs, they often have a footer. That describes this site, my blog, and almost every other site out there. I guess sometimes copying just becomes a design convention!
I think you can learn a lot from copying the layouts from other successful designs. I wrote an article recently about copying good examples of layout to learn from them. And copying a layout is different than copying the style. The underlying structure could be identical, but if you skin it differently, then you’ve made the design your own. There are only so many ways to layout the same elements on a page!
I’ve discussed this point on my blog (see the original article). My point is threefold: similar layout is not copy, similar design elements (typography etc.) is inspiration and similar layout + design elements = copy.
i understand English but im too bad talking/typing so there you go:
Creo que como dicen arriba la linea entre inspiración y copia es muy fina. Yo soy diseñador y muchas veces me inspiro en otros trabajos. Si veo que se parecen mucho, suelo contactar con el autor original y si el me lo pide y al cliente no le molesta, doy crédito. Hablando se entiende la gente.
I recently read on a blog where the designer spent post after post finding sites that came out after his and reemed them for having similar design elements. I didn’t find the sites all that similar. They were in black and white and had a column layout that wasn’t too unusual
I can’t remember the site at the moment, which is really too bad since we could look and see if you all agree with the author.
What makes something original is often just putting together individual elements that have been done before, anyway. When I design, I tend to look for inspiration. I’m not a skilled copyist and I can’t help but find my own solutions. By the time I’m done, I think things are changed and tweaked to my own way so far that it’s pretty unrecognizable. Artists who do very original and recognizably styled looking work don’t live in a vacuum.
It’s hard to determine where exactly that line is.
What’s original nowadays? Even if you designed a site without looking at anything else, chances are there will be a site out there that might look the same as yours. Think of it as designing shoes. Most of them look the same as they work for a specific purpose, but sometimes you get original and different ones! (strange explanation but it kind of makes sense?!).
When you are designing a chair there are certain obvious principles that you have to take into consideration, 4 legs, arms or no arms and something to support someones back. Every chair ever made takes these design principles into consideration, it’s the same with a website. Somethings have to be created as a foundation for the design.
@ Lauren Great article. I think everyone should check that out.
For me, if you see a layout which you feel could work elsewhere there is nothing wrong with producing something similar.
Nobody can own a layout, and most of the time there are things which you could improve upon. Copying code and graphics for example is a completely different story and is unacceptable. But getting ideas on layout or positioning in my opinion is perfectly acceptable.
The way I look at it is like this:
Think about how many magazines and newspapers exist today. Now, how many of those have the same layout? Essentially, all of them are similar. Think about all the products out there that are pretty much just copies of the other. I think of the web the same way.
Like someone already said, A popular design trend is the header, followed by the nav, and 2-3 column layout. You can only have so many sites that aren’t similar. Everyone wants to have a popular website, so they compete by creating similar ones.
At the risk of “stealing” the ideas other commentators have already expressed - I agree with the shoes/chairs metaphors. I also agree with Nemetral, with the caveat that *similar* design elements are different than using the *actual* site elements - unless they are public domain or the “copycat” has usage rights, nabbing elements could very well be considered stealing.
It’s interesting to see the various examples posted on sites - with so many sites using wordpress/drupal/typepad/etc., there’s bound to be overlaps resulting from using existing templates as a launching pad. Similarly are the open source CSS templates or templates shared by sites such as SmashingMagazine, etc.
I get stuck when a template is offered under a creative commons “no-derivatives” license. I rarely want to use something exactly “as-is”, am I violating the license terms by changing some icons or remove underlining from the links? If I like the way the nav is set up, and look at the code to figure out how to achieve a similar effect, but my site has no visual design similarities, is that still considered “derivative”?
Another gray area to me is the use of patterns. Granted, some backgrounds are unique. Where it gets fuzzy are patterns that are “retro”, striped, or polka-dotted. Clearly redistributing the pattern files without permission is uncool. But surely someone cannot lay claim to black & white polka dots as their own, can they? It would be like Breyers telling Ben & Jerry’s they already have created ice cream.
My personal rule of thumb is if I’m not sure, I get permission or don’t use a resource. Last thing I want is my own site ending up as an example on some blog - a client’s site would be even worse!
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