Is it that hard to be original?

[Southerner]

What does anyone think of this blog? Don't skip the animation!

Is it really hard to be original in the creative sense today? I believe so.

I am going to be honest and say this got me thinking about my creativity. It hasn't been a easy ride due to similar looking designs out there including the fear of being accused of plagiarism. I can say I am not a fantastic designer or being considered as one of the greatest, there were times I did think I wasn't really up to the job that I was more of an artworker but I cannot really see myself doing anything else other than graphic design. I've had my fair share of praises and criticisms which I've always been used to hearing.

I put my hand on my chest and swear I don't go looking around at other designers' work by purpose before maliciously copying these off which is a really wrong thing to do. But the annoying thing is for example I design a logo for some company without realising an identical or similar looking design is already out there! Despite having done my research sometimes small things like this can be easily missed out. Like the embarrassing Quark logo debacle?

There was one experience that I refused to repeat ever again which I was forced to a create a similar looking poster from another by this client "Do the same as that". Then I explained how wrong it was and the consequences of plagiarism but at that time I was hard pressed for cash and the client said he would take the business elsewhere if I didn't agree to do this and I couldn't afford to let this one go.

Sometimes I get quite tired and fed up of coming up with some ideas then becoming deflated that someone has already came up with this, I just want the creative freedom of being able to design whatever I like also whatever comes out of my mind without the fear of getting unwittingly caught up in a lawsuit.

I have seen similar looking designs out there all the time despite the slight changes such as the colour & typeface - such as the Morrisons and Waitrose supermarkets websites.

What are your opinions and how would you overcome this problem?

 

[fluidedge]

interesting - the best way is to name and shame i think!

there seems to be a lot of use of these sort of brushes about in print adverts at the moment (i call it "happy grunge" ):

 

[LeviG]

My opinion: the problem is designers revolve around designers, so theres going to be a recycling of ideas, designs, styles etc. Look at fashion for example, most of the current style is from about 30-40 years ago, and its been like that for a while, just waiting for the shell suits to come back
Think about it, how often do you look at magazines/ads etc and think thats cool, how would I do that and then consider it for the next project, I bet its more often that you think.

Another way to look at it is this: client sees design they like by another designer and says you do that style so obviously its going to make it more common so to speak.

Personally I feel that I'm both in a rut and trying to do things different, my personal style is quite minimalist, however I also think I need to 'expand' my style to include some of the new 'fashion' thats being included in art work (ie the grunge look which I'm not personally overly keen on). The problem is that minimalist and grunge doesn't always gel well in 3D work

 

[YuriVoorhak]

Fine artists can be great designers.
This doesn't tend to work in reverse, though.
Creativity and design have a weird relationship, IMO. Design is solution oriented, and while you can have a creative solution to a design problem, the fact that you're looking for a solution at all tends to limit your creative freedon whether you want it to or not. Be an artist, and then steal shamelessly from yourself when you do design work.