Too Close? The Thin Line Between Inspiration and Copying
As a designer working on a design crowdsourcing platform, it's normal to seek design inspiration from different places: Pinterest, Behance, Dribble, hard copy books, magazines, music and even nature. An idea can be found where you least expect it! The internet is a great source of inspiration as there are a great number of websites such as stock logo marketplace, BrandCrowd.com where designers can display their work and share it with the world.
One design can inspire an idea for a new concept. However, it is sometimes easy to confuse being inspired by a design versus copying a design and simply changing some of the elements. The first case is perfectly natural (great artists throughout history have been inspired by other artists) but the latter is not.
So, how can you, as a designer, avoid crossing this thin line between inspiration and plagarism when you bid on logo design?
Get Inspired!
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Need a quick refresher? Read the DesignCrowd Design Quality Standards Guidelines here.
1. Stay away from the free/overused concepts
Be careful where you take inspiration from, and be aware of these overused concepts. There are a lot of websites offering "Free Logo Designs" that are mostly overused concepts and have lost their creative impact.
Unless you have a very unique approach, we suggest staying away from them. You can view some samples on this article: Free Logo Design: 5 Common Free Logos to Avoid. |
Submit original work!
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2. Don't Take Inspiration From Only One Source
If your brain has only one reference, it will be more tempting to simply copy the design. On the other hand, if your brain has many images as reference it will start creating an idea of its own. Put your brain to work!
3.Get Outside & Seek External Inspiration
If you are talented in using design software, it is very easy to trace an existing design and just alter some elements (shapes, colors or adding effects) and pass it as your own work. To avoid this, why not seek inspiration from photos, music and literature? There is a whole sensorial world out there ready to inspire you. Grab your sketch book and explore your local park, shops or coffee shops and fire up your imagination!
4. Be a Critic and Compare Your Own Designs To Source Work
If you took inspiration from another design(s), compare your own design to it; the design source serves merely as inspiration for your design. There should not be any tracing similarities/execution between them.
Show your design to others and ask them if they can find similarities between your output and the inspiration for it. This will help you know whether your design is unique or simply a copy of a different one.
Taking these tips into account will help you take inspiration responsibly and grow as a designer.
Need more logo design tutorials? Check out this guide from sister logo marketplace BrandCrowd:
Looking for graphic design projects? We have over 700 design projects open now that need designers. Find a design job today - Start Now!
Written by Jo Sabin on Monday, December 23, 2013
Jo Sabin is Head of Designer Community at DesignCrowd. She's led the company's public relations and social media programs since 2012. With more than ten years' experience working with Australian and international tech startups in the creative industries, Jo has been instrumental in meeting DesignCrowd's objectives in Australia and abroad. Get in touch via Twitter.
