When does Inspiration become Designer Plagiarism?

Recently I came across an outdoor advertisement for the upcoming Touchstone Pictures, “Surrogates”. The tear sheet for the film, a science fiction thriller starring Bruce Willis, depicts a woman partially disrobing and revealing that she is not human. Thematically, it fits the storyline of a society that has created the perfect “human” to only lose control of the creation. But, when looking at the poster, I couldn’t shake a sense of déjà vu. I felt like I had seen a very similar poster in the past.

And, then it hit me. The tear sheets for the Fox Television serial, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” used a poster that was much the same to promote their 2008 season. The Terminator poster, depicting the  lead “artificial” character’s head and torso hanging from wires with her innards falling to the ground, looks to be eerily akin to the new “Surrogates” campaign. And I began to wonder… when should inspiration be called plagiarism?

Where is the line drawn between inspiration and plagiarism?

Daily, we all try create a piece of original art, whether for ourselves or a client. But, let’s face it. As designers, we are probably not going to reinvent the wheel. The real possibilities of creating something nobody has ever seen are very slim.

And, we’ve all had those days when our brains are mush and we just cannot conjure one single original thought. When this affliction, I like to affectionately call “designer’s block”, strikes, it leads us to look for external inspiration to kick start out process. That inspiration can come from books, magazines, television or just walking around your neighborhood. Plus, when you toss the internet into the equation, we have 24 hour access to endless visual inspiration, especially within the countless design galleries that seem to manifest on a daily basis. So, it is natural that we will turn to one of these outlets to to cull a little stimulation.

But, I would argue that there is an inherent danger to our own organic creativity when we do this. Subconsciously, we all copy to some degree when we use other designers’ work as inspiration. Let’s take website design, for example. How many sites have we seen with paper airplanes flying around or cartoon characters as mascots? These are all pretty prevalent today. But someone had to have been the first to have spawned so many “copies” of the element. Thus an original/copy paradigm is created.

Does that mean that the designer who uses paper airplanes as a flourish is guilty of copying? Yes, if we are to go by the strict definition of the word. But, is this plagiarism? This is where I think the line becomes blurred. I believe if a designer is “inspired” by one of these elements, and uses it in their work in a fashion that is not a direct carbon copy, then it isn’t plagiarism.

Splitting hairs

Of course, you can argue that I am splitting hairs here and this is simply a matter of subjective opinion. But, let’s go back to what started this train of thought. The two posters are very similar in theme, layout and typography hence my feeling of déjà vu. This, to me, is a classic example of designer plagiarism. So many elements of the “Terminator” poster were copied for the “Surrogates” poster that I have a very difficult time finding the differences between the two, aside from the model.

As a designer, it is our responsibility to police ourselves to avoid committing this type of plagiarism. It is perfectly fine to be inspired by the multitude of great artist around us. I definitely have been and I hope it shows in my work. But, we cannot take the easy way out and simply copy other artists’ work. As artists in our own right, we must constantly strive to find our “voice” and carve out our small place in the designer universe. We won’t be able to do that if we simply plagiarize what came before us.

So, the next time you see something that inspires you, make sure you make it your own and not a xerox copy.