Sometimes they say the imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but no honest man wants to be a thief but where is the line drawn.

Many times when browsing around the web and I see something that looks unique or find I really like I find myself thinking "I like that, I should do something like that in my next project" and then I might bookmark it to re-examine in detail later.

For example I really like the header here at WHT so when I was doing a draft for a design in Photoshop I made it look similar in terms of look here is a gradient, here is a bold color, here is a font size in proportion to it all.


At what point does a case of mere inspiration cross over to one of plagiarism for you when it comes to web design?

Its a tricky question.
Inspiration or Plagerism?

I see what your getting at, I think you can copy styles, for example, the WHT header modifying colours and dimensions whilst your page style is copied from another website, what you have created would be a mix of both, I dont believe that would be plagerism,

When someone can pretty easily recognize the inspiration, that's when you may have come close to or crossed the line. So, if someone's initial reaction to a site you've create is: "nice site! That reminds me a lot of WHT," you've probably created something a little too inspired.

The best way to gain inspiration and still create original works is to identify exactly what it is about a design that you like, write it all down, then surf away from the inspirational design and try to develop your layout based on the criteria you've identified.

Going with your example, let's say you like the WHT header. Write down everything you like about it:

"I like:"
1. how the subnavigation and active tab are the same color and connect together.
2. how the logo area has a subtle gradient behind it.
3. how the main navigation uses larger, "chunky" text, and the subnav is normal reading text.
4. various shades of blue, or more generally, various tones/shades of a single color (so as not to limit your creativity)
5. the centering of the header with the background extending the width of the page.

Now, close down your browser, set your list in front of you, and create a header that meets the criteria of that list. You could probably create 1,000 headers that meet all five of those criteria and look nothing like the WHT header.

A bonus to this method - you can also identify any elements you don't like, so your end result looks even better to you than the element you're using for inspiration.

"I don't like:"
1. the position of the search bar - it should be lower.
2. how the logo doesn't align with the left side of the navigation.
3. the underlines under the subnavigation.

Now, the product you create will be even more unique from your inspiration. :)

When someone can pretty easily recognize the inspiration, that's when you may have come close to or crossed the line. So, if someone's initial reaction to a site you've create is: "nice site! That reminds me a lot of WHT," you've probably created something a little too inspired.

I would definitely agree with that statement, if the first impression is that you think "wow this looks like ..." then maybe it has become plagiarism.

I tend to find that for inspiration I will look around all over various design sites until something strikes me and then sketch something around that framework.
But then after browsing for an hour or so you can have about 5 sketches which can meld into a nice unique design (hopefully).

This is one nice and very simple site I use when I have a coffee in my hand, an hour to waste browsing and want some inspiration for later: http://www.webdesignerheaven.com/

All in all though, I think very little on the net these days could be classed as totally "unique" and perhaps there is a little plagiarism in everything. :think:

Thanks for that wipemedry preety decent site!

Every web page can't be different, there is always similar aspects, using same color scheme isn't stealing :P

Every web page can't be different, there is always similar aspects, using same color scheme isn't stealing :P

This is what I was trying to get across in my post, good way of putting it rcallaghan :)