Review images
Do not know how to describe the mood of the translation of this article, it is mixed feelings, there are a lot of things to work hard! In fact, this phrase comes from Picasso: “Good artists copy, great artists steal”! In the process, I thought of a word: Innovation comes from life! Users have been used to some experiences in life, and when we transfer these experiences to the Internet, it greatly reduces the learning cost of users, so that they can quickly learn and use the product. Of course, this is Internet product design. But the idea is the same! More discovery, more attempts, also can be possible to achieve original! Or should be more persistent!
The following is the translation:
You may often hear designers say, “Good designers copy, great designers steal!” Good designers copy. Great designers steal.
Designers who say this tend to fall into one of three categories: designers who copy all the time; Designers who have been stealing; There are those who admit that it is very difficult not to copy and steal but still insist on refusing to do so!
For some reason, many web designers firmly believe that there is no such thing as completely unique to create or absolutely original design!
I disagree about that, at least I don’t accept that notion, and neither should you!
Designers who copy
Designers who are constantly copying
These designers are at the bottom of the pyramid, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, you have to start there!
Designers who are constantly copying are often novices, because they don’t know how to create a good design, and they don’t have the ability to control it. So they imitate!
They frequently browse online portfolios, looking for sites they like and then looking to reinvent and adapt them to the project and work they’re currently working on. This is how many people learn things. In fact, this is how we learn other things, just like babies learn to walk. From imitation we can build up a base of experience.
One of my earliest hobbyist websites for my favorite Japanese anime, Dragon Ball, learned HTML by copying code from other favorite Dragon Ball websites during the design process.
I copied and pasted everything word for word, but then I went through it line by line, learning what each line did. By the time I was designing the second site, I was not only able to understand the code but to write some of it myself.
Designers who steal
Designers who keep stealing
Of course these people say “good designers copy, good designers steal!” As filmmaker Jim Jarmusch once said:
“Nothing is original, steal from something that resonates in your spirit and ignites your imagination. Taste old movies, new movies, music, books, paintings, images, poetry, dreams, casual speech, architectural art, Bridges, road signs, clouds, water, light or shadow, find what triggers your inner feelings and steal it. If you do this, your work (or plagiarism) will be very credible and authoritative, and credibility and authority can be very useful. Originality doesn’t exist, and don’t hide your plagiarism, enjoy it and celebrate it if you feel like it!”
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with Inspiration or fuels your imagination. Romance old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light, and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; Originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery; Celebrate it if you feel like it.”
That’s a pretty good summary of stealing. Once a designer copies another designer’s work and perceives what makes it look good, they are instinctively inclined to create and design their own unique and great designs!
But they soon discover that it’s not as easy as watching other designers do it, and they discover that the dirty laundry of many good designers is that they steal!
In terms of design, stealing is taking inspiration from other designs. Most designers steal from online work, just like those who only copy, but those who steal know how to hide their sources.
“The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” — Albert Einstein
“The secret to Creativity is knowing How to hide your sources.” — Albert Einstein
They just steal parts of the site or just a whole concept or something else about the theme. In 2003 designer Cameron Moll wrote an article: “Good Designers Copy, Great Designers Steal” in the article, he showed the information source of a logo he designed!
Moll explains: The chances of someone else had used this particular piece of clip art were very slim. And The chances of The Intended audience — or anyone else, for that matter — being familiar with such a piece were even slimmer. Translation? A perfect source for stealing.”
Designers who try not to copy or steal
Designers who don’t copy and don’t steal
In fact, we are always unconsciously influenced by our surroundings. Designers don’t realize they’re stealing.
A designer might look at moll’s logo curve and a month later design a logo very similar to it, without actually remembering where the idea came from.
Designers in this category know this habit, and they know it’s almost impossible to create something truly unique and original, but they still try!
To try, they might try to look at print work online instead of web work, they might look at packaging design, architectural art, graphics, even nature, but not web design. Try to motivate yourself instead of simply stealing. It’s not just about making designs that work, it’s about making them look good!
When we walk in a park for blog interface design for inspiration, a designer may be used pictures of grass and dirt decoration at the bottom of the blog to make them look like the feeling of the ground, they may also add some birds at the top, or sitting on a stool and then noticed the foreground of the relationship between the world in front, they may be, and the user feel some joke. A designer is more likely to create original designs by stepping away from the surrounding web design work to further think and get inspiration.
To sum up…
conclusion
The pursuit of originality in design is not a futile task. The Internet is still very young, and there are still a lot of things that haven’t been tried!
Once you understand the basics of design, think outside the box and try something new and different. Use some atypical and unique expression to design. Experiment with design and don’t be afraid of your deepest thoughts, but remember this:
Something that is different for different’s sake is often not good, but something that looks very good is often in its own way! – Dieter Rams
“Things which are different in order to be different are seldom better, But that is made to be better is almost always different. “– Dieter Rams
It wasn’t that long ago that we thought the earth was flat and the center of the universe, and it wasn’t that long ago that designers started using tags and tables to create web pages.
Theories and conventions will always be questioned, challenged and broken, and so it should be, and if you think this better way is possible, you will often find yourself in a new direction too!
“The most innovative designers are very conscious of rejecting basic rules. They have a strong desire for trial and error!” – Marty Neumeier
“The most innovative designers consciously reject The standard option box and cultivate an appetite for thinking wrong.” – Marty Neumeier