{"id":143,"date":"2008-06-12T14:12:52","date_gmt":"2008-06-12T19:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crowdspring.wpengine.com\/?p=143"},"modified":"2022-05-09T14:44:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-09T19:44:45","slug":"concept-copying-a-primer-part-2-of-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/concept-copying-a-primer-part-2-of-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Concept Copying – A Primer (Part 2 of 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In part 1 of our discussion about concept copying<\/a>, we defined concept copying, and illustrated an example, from an Apple patent application.<\/p>\n

Concept copying is a very important subject in the design community – both for professionals and non-professionals. After all, while it’s commonly accepted that all design is inspired by other design, mere copying is NOT inspiration. But it also should be said that not everything we create is unique. We are influenced by our culture, our history, and our environment. But there is a very clear difference between inspiration and influence, and outright stealing.<\/p>\n

Let’s continue our discussion by looking at an example – the logo design<\/a> for askville<\/a>, a question and answer service from Amazon that was launched to compete with, among others, Google Answers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Long before Amazon published the above design, another company, eventful<\/a> (an events website), had already been publicly using, for some time, the following logotype:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Did the designer who created the askville logotype simply copy the eventful logotype? After all, both use arial rounded fonts, both use lowercase type, both use two identical colors, and both switch colors for each morpheme<\/a>. [NOTE: the original logo for askville had the term “ask” in blue and “ville” in green].<\/p>\n

There are differences – the eventful logotype uses more compact letter spacing and a brighter blue, as well as a darker green color. There is also Amazon’s branding on the askville logotype. Are those differences meaningful?<\/p>\n

Could we agree on ANY of the following?<\/p>\n