Great Artists (Designers) Steal

1. Framing

2. Why Artists Steal

3. Welcome to the Family

Goals:

1. Better Understand Design

2. Encourage active collaboration

3. Further discussion on standards in structured borrowing

Contexta.Historical Contextb.Definition of termsc.Comparing communal standardsd.Role of an Artist

Jobs vs. Gates

• Influence pervades

• “Fair Game” has many meanings

Problem:

While development can be deemed open and thus benefit from a diverse community of contributors, design has always inherently been open in nature.

Questions:

1. Is borrowing permissable?

2. How can we borrow, but still innovate?

3. What should our attitude be toward those who borrow from us?

4. When does borrowing become theft?

Design verses Development

Development

- Needs collaboration

- Values efficiency

- Behind the scenes: self-value ethic

Design

- Seeks independence

- Values originality

- Center stage: judged by all

Designer Responsibility

• Continuation of storytelling legacy

• Derive elegant solutions to real problems

Design is directed toward human beings. To design is to solve human problems by identifying them and executing the best solution.

Ivan Chermayeff

To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.

Milton Glaser

Artist’s Tools

- Perspective- Awareness- Empathy

The latest incarnation of Oedipus, the continued romance of Beauty and the Beast, stand this afternoon on the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, waiting for the traffic light to change.

Joseph Campbell The Hero With a Thousand Faces

Why Artists Steala.UX Benefitsb.Efficiency and expediencyc.Setting the bar

Why do artists steal- Familarity - Memory Mapping

- Conventionality- Cameron Moll on

foundations

- Efficiency- Artists as curators

Benefits of Familiarity

• Two systems of decision making• Concious vs. Unconcious• Our culture functions primarily on instant impressions

Daniel KahnemanNobel Prize-winning researcher

• Design decisions fail when they do not leverage their predecessors

Dr. A.K. Pradeep, study of GAP failed logo launch

“Designers are often reluctant to take advantage of them (conventions). Faced with the prospect of using a convention, there’s a great temptation for designers to reinvent the wheel instead, largely because they feel (not incorrectly) that they’ve been hired to do something new and different, and not the same old thing. (Not to mention the fact that praise from peers, awards, and high-profile job offers are rarely based on criteria like “best use of conventions.)”

Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think!

There are more than a billion pages on the web - for your inspiration

Seth Godin

Great Design Ships

• We are not always the gatekeepers• Stand on the shoulders of giants

Nina Paley

Iterations on accepted and familiar patterns have a better chance of making it to market and of being accepted

Types of theft

• Not all theft is conscious

• Theft differs from appropriation, iteration, and improvement

• Fork designs, push changes back to help others

Ethical Theft

- Steal inspiration instead of outcome- Reverse engineer final products

- Always cite, Always give back- Make designs available to others, give credit

One of the surest of tests is the way in which a poet borrows. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.

TS Elliot

Goals and Best Practices

- Curate intentionally- Work within community

- Continue to innovate- Great design sets the bar higher

- Look outside your comfort zone

Where to steal from- “if you’re designing for the web, why look at

loads of design portals that show loads of web sites that essentially all look the same? […] Surely they offer too narrow a view to be really inspirational.”

Brendon Dawes, Analog In, Digital Out

Protection from Theft

- Notriety protects from plagiarism- Edison and the patent clerks

- Use tools, know your rights- Read copyright laws http://www.sitepoint.com/the-web-designers-copyright-crash-course/

- Always have a contract- Document everything

Summation:- Theft Happens:- It’s at times involuntary - It comes in many varities- It’s part of designing

- Steal Better- Follow ethics, follow laws, copy inspiration

- Stealing is good- Stolen products often work better

Joseph Gagliardi

@jsphgag

jgagliar@westga.edu