Over 20 designers have copied my website and I don't mind(adhamdannaway.com)
adhamdannaway.com
Over 20 designers have copied my website and I don't mind
http://www.adhamdannaway.com/blog/web-design/imitation-truly-is-the-sincerest-form-of-flattery
26 comments
The "touch of" is pretty revealing though, in the copy for the "coder" sections of the first and third.
nice catch!!!
I wouldn't be very happy if I hired a designer based partly on his website and then found out that he copied the design.
Just sayin'.
Just sayin'.
Exactly. While it may be flattering to be copied, rote copying by a designer for what is presumed to be a demonstration of creativity is not acceptable.
Some of these are perfectly reasonable adaptations, others are quite close to duplicates.
Some of these are perfectly reasonable adaptations, others are quite close to duplicates.
With enough time, I'm sure we could uncover art with the exact same design style that was created prior to his website.
That seems highly unlikely, unless he plagiarized himself. You might find something similar, but unlikely a split face with similar styling, the designer/code split, etc.
Everything is a remix. Everything we do is based on something we have seen somewhere, how else could we do it ? Hardly anything is original, creativity is just the process of knowing how to mix things in a creative way to create something seemingly new.
>Everything is a remix.
Yeah, not really. There are traces from previous works and influences in anything, but this is not it.
This is not the Beatles being influenced from Buddy Holy, Elvis, Little Richard, and co in their early records.
This is like the Monkeys. Or the 20th cookie cutter R&B outfit.
And of course the Beatles went and did stuff that nobody else has done at the time with Revolver and Stg Peppers et al. And Velvet Underground. And Kraftwerk. And tons of others.
>creativity is just the process of knowing how to mix things in a creative way to create something seemingly new.
Well, then the examples in this website is the total opposite of it.
Yeah, not really. There are traces from previous works and influences in anything, but this is not it.
This is not the Beatles being influenced from Buddy Holy, Elvis, Little Richard, and co in their early records.
This is like the Monkeys. Or the 20th cookie cutter R&B outfit.
And of course the Beatles went and did stuff that nobody else has done at the time with Revolver and Stg Peppers et al. And Velvet Underground. And Kraftwerk. And tons of others.
>creativity is just the process of knowing how to mix things in a creative way to create something seemingly new.
Well, then the examples in this website is the total opposite of it.
Musically I'd say it's like sampling a classic hit and getting rich off someone else's hook.
Derivative work, especially under the guise of a professional designer (or even 'dj' remixes) are opportunities to show creativity and craft work.
The examples given here don't bring anything to the table other than proof how lazy and sleezy these "designer / coders" are.
The examples given here don't bring anything to the table other than proof how lazy and sleezy these "designer / coders" are.
I couldn't help but think this as well.
I also don't understand how someone who is supposedly a creative type and makes their own art/copyright material be able to unabashedly steal something like this.
What's even creepier by the way, is that some people even copied his smile and hair style for their photos.
I also don't understand how someone who is supposedly a creative type and makes their own art/copyright material be able to unabashedly steal something like this.
What's even creepier by the way, is that some people even copied his smile and hair style for their photos.
Swap "Programmer" for "Designer". IP issues aside, their code/design solves the problem you paid them for.
I like how, out of the 20 examples, 10 of them essentially copied the HTML snippet in the 'Coder' section of the 2012 image. Most of them even left the "jedi" div intact.
On the other hand, only 6 of the examples copied the yellow-blue-pink splotch motif from the 'Designer' section.
(These don't have any meaning in the bigger scheme of things; they're just statistics that amused me.)
On the other hand, only 6 of the examples copied the yellow-blue-pink splotch motif from the 'Designer' section.
(These don't have any meaning in the bigger scheme of things; they're just statistics that amused me.)
he does mind, which is why he posted this; he's staking original ownership on this design in a humble way
I remember, back in 2008, I directly asked him if I could make something like his page and showed him a screenshot of my version.
Mine had a keyboard and a pencil instead of my face.
He said to go ahead. At the end I didn't, but that's a different story.
Mine had a keyboard and a pencil instead of my face.
He said to go ahead. At the end I didn't, but that's a different story.
It does make him look good that so many people like his design enough to copy it so blatantly.
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What I find amusing is the fact that quite a few people didn't even bother to change the designer blurb, which to me suggests they know absolutely f all about design and hints at why they find it necessary to copy in the first place.
Hell, a lot of them didn’t even change the face on the “designer” side! It doesn’t look like them at all, and doesn’t line up with the altered “coder” side.
Yeah, like most of all people who claim to be designers, they're not designers. They're pixel-pushers. They don't know design, they know Illustrator and Photoshop.
Having worked with and competed against some such folks, I can guarantee you that they are not fighting for the same business as you. Their clients are usually small businesses who have no idea how the internet works, or clueless 'startup' guys who had an idea once and zero clue how to implement it.
So yeah, the people they sell their services to don't care about any of the stuff you and I would lose sleep over.
So yeah, the people they sell their services to don't care about any of the stuff you and I would lose sleep over.
My favourite part is the people who imitated the facial expression. Like they saw the site and thought, "Nothing says good web designer like mouth scrunched off to the side"
It feels like maybe your site was ripped off and placed on a "free" templates site, where upon others copied it?
I mean I could be wrong, it just might explain the high number of rip offs.
I mean I could be wrong, it just might explain the high number of rip offs.
I wonder why most of those who copied his website are Indians
Filterbubbles perhaps? I never saw a website like this before. But he says he was featured a couple of times, so maybe the website was famous on some communities, but seldom seen on others.
That's not the real reason. There's no shame here in copying even if it's a total ripoff.
We copy assignments,lab reports,project work , designs , everything. We get the job done.
Originality ? Who gives a shit.
We copy assignments,lab reports,project work , designs , everything. We get the job done.
Originality ? Who gives a shit.
Everyone that has intellectual honesty and wants to feel pride of himself.
You are just saying that intellectual property worths zero. I wonder if somebody wants to travel somewhere and to make it more easy to accomplish, he steals your car. "Who gives a shit", "he got the job done", he is on his way! You worked your ass off to buy it but that's not important.
If everybody would be behaving like this what world would we get? Soon there would be nobody to copy and all the world would be like Asia.
You are just saying that intellectual property worths zero. I wonder if somebody wants to travel somewhere and to make it more easy to accomplish, he steals your car. "Who gives a shit", "he got the job done", he is on his way! You worked your ass off to buy it but that's not important.
If everybody would be behaving like this what world would we get? Soon there would be nobody to copy and all the world would be like Asia.
Indian here. Finding good designers has become the bane of my existence. We don't have a strong design culture. What designers we do have are amateurs fighting for $5/hr projects on Elance. Their work is mostly borrowed and their skills limited to a handful of Photoshop effects and good Google skills.
The good designers we do have are almost never without work, and if they are available, they find other avenues to market their services than tacky, borrowed sites.
Plus, plagiarism isn't really looked down upon here. It's even the accepted norm in certain places.
The good designers we do have are almost never without work, and if they are available, they find other avenues to market their services than tacky, borrowed sites.
Plus, plagiarism isn't really looked down upon here. It's even the accepted norm in certain places.
Well it isn't like we have freedom to explore an idea either. I was a designer in a past life and gave up designing as neither did I want to compete with $5 designers nor did I want to copy a site as most clients insisted.
India's startup culture itself is hugely local copies of existing business models. Unless we realize this and address the fundamental issue we will be stuck in Copyland.
India's startup culture itself is hugely local copies of existing business models. Unless we realize this and address the fundamental issue we will be stuck in Copyland.
Looks a lot like a Mercedes Benz ad I saw the other day :
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/mercedes_benz_left_brai...
That left brain/right brain design has been done to death: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=left+brain+right+brain...
I would have certainly agreed if I had of see 'and a touch of jQuery' in the copy.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"
I'm wondering how you've found about them?
"Over the years, people have informed me of websites that they felt looked similar to mine."
A while back I got really annoyed when two of my competitors copied the buttons, pricing table and the content of two of my websites. This guy is handling it well. I understand getting some inspiration, but copying the whole thing is just too much. They are "designers".
I found one especially ironic, where the guy has the nerve to call himself a "Creative Visionary"... He must be capable of some impressive doublethink if he's not just outright lying to his clients.
I'm with you. I'm sure his results are the size of his creative vision.
Related: On that left-brain right-brain roles split(it's not really that way): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8989685
I wonder if there is a free Wordpress theme out yet based on this design..
I have always felt that a lot of designers tend to copy stuff. But then again, perhaps coders copy code too. I guess, it's just easier to spot copied designs than copied code.
If you didn't mind you wouldn't have posted all the other copies ;)
It's alright to mind, and it's alright to complain sometimes
Great to read this. I admit, I pretty much copied you too:
http://www.zubairquraishi.com/
:)
http://www.zubairquraishi.com/
:)
Is there a way to fingerprint the code in such a way that it's quite difficult to detect/remove but easy to trace?
Why do you care? Isn't it better to just focus on perfecting your art, or your code, and not waste time trying to prevent people copying it in some way.
People are going to copy anyway, everything is a copy of something. But if you create your own style so perfected that it cannot be copied without tremendous amount of time, you are already ahead of everybody else in your skill.
Also, more time to develop your skill than to waste time on trying to prevent somebody else doing the same thing.
People are going to copy anyway, everything is a copy of something. But if you create your own style so perfected that it cannot be copied without tremendous amount of time, you are already ahead of everybody else in your skill.
Also, more time to develop your skill than to waste time on trying to prevent somebody else doing the same thing.
You could imagine using a special filter to pass your html/css/js though that applied a special transformation that you could later on try to recognize. Perhaps it renames all of the variables with some pattern or from some dictionary that you could later try to use to see if the code matched the pattern. This is along the ideas of stenography.
My guess is even basic obfuscation of his code via minification/compression would eliminate the majority of these copies. The version of his portfolio linked in the article has no obfuscation (granted it could be in dev mode)
No. But you can just diff the code and see it's XX% the exact same code.
Sure you could, if the code is complex enough you would hide dead code acting as a signature, which would be somewhat analogous to mapmakers inserting false towns in their maps [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street
This is what I was looking for. It seems like a common copyright problem in bunch of applications.
Do these kind of personal sites help in finding/attracting leads? (for programmers)
All those Wordpress coders, who focus on clean, elegant and efficient code …
... with a touch of CMS and jQuery! :)
Guess it's time to design yourself a new website.
the multiplication of mediocrity miracle
#humblebrag
Repost.. jk
Let's hope they made theirs faster than yours because your website is painfully slow.
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http://www.adhamdannaway.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/desi...
http://www.adhamdannaway.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/desi...
http://www.adhamdannaway.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/desi...
I can only guess why they weren't included, but it does seem like they're less blatant rip-offs than the others.