Mar 17th, 2007
Inspiration vs. Emulation
In the world of design, creatives are constantly looking for sources of inspiration. Whether it be nature, reading books, or looking at architecture, we all look for inspiration whenever and wherever we can. There is nothing wrong with getting inspired by a great design; it happens all the time. However if you take inspiration too far, and start to emulate a design, that’s where you get into trouble. First though, we have to define what emulation is. Basically, it’s copying something original. This is a very gray area, as far as defining copying, or how “inspired” a design is, compared to another, but take a look at these two menu examples.
Sure, there are similarities. They are both tabbed menu, and they both have rollover effects. That’s about it. The first has nice gradients, nice custom icons, and the font is an image. The second is very simple, but very clean at the same time. There’s a very slight gradient, and regular text is used. Their style (tabbed menu) is the same, but they are very different designs. Take a look at the site, and you’ll see that they have nothing in common. These two sites (and their designers) may have seen the others work, but definitely did not emulate it at all. Their designs are unique.
Now, however, take a look at these two designs.
In case you haven’t already noticed, these two designs are very, very similar. Too similar I think. Here is what’s the same about both.
- Both have their Logo top left
- Product display box with screenshot
- Both have product/service name at top
- Followed by a short description
- Followed by a “Create Your…” button
- Both are gradients, dark at top to light at bottom.
- Both have almost the same angled screenshot.
- Both menu’s are very similar
- Darker hue (in comparison to the gradient immediately above it) with white font.
- Menu strip height is virtually the same
- Both have product screenshots below the menu
- Both are on left side
- Followed by descriptions/more info on the right
Decide for yourself, is the second design simply inspired from the first (or visa versa), or does one copy almost blatantly the layout and style of the other. I think one of the designs emulates and copies the other. It’s obvious why copying another’s work is wrong, so I won’t go into that, but be careful when you design, not to get over inspired. Flipping through CSS galleries is a great way to get inspiration, but don’t turn to emulating another design just to make yourself look good.
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