Posted:
13 years ago
Wonderful discussion. I've been away for ages, so I'm sorry I don't keep up. But I'd love to chime in on this question.
I think it's a great compliment to any designer when they see that others are inspired by their work. First of all, designing, like any creative work, is one that takes a lot of attention to detail. And particularly doing stuff for free, just out of passion or interest, is quitely honestly a labour of love. The thing that keeps IF creators going is the appreciation they get, on top of the fact that it is rewarding to bring something into the world that you think is lovely. I think the quality of thoughtful work always, always, shows.
So many designers on this site really push the envelope with their creativity, and that's one of the reasons I'm proud to be one among them.
That said, there are always some problems. First is that the nature of this site does not truly open up a lot of creativity. That is to say, that most of our audience is centered around TV/entertainment, so our designs are limited to promoting artists/shows. Not that that is a bad thing, but it's definitely a limitation. Secondly, there are definitely people who don't appreciate the work that goes into designing because they copy the work.
The difference between copying and being inspired is that there is no thought behind copying. There is little creativity involved in copying. It's just seeing something you like and taking it. Inspiration is taking something someone made, even if you use portions of it, and turning it into something of your own. I think it helps even the original artist, because another artist took some part of your work, or some idea in your work, and took it to another level. Maybe you won't always agree that they improved upon it, but the idea is that it changing and transforming through another person's mind. There's something very cool about that. Our work goes around this site in some form or another, someone we don't even know might see it, and be inspired and do something somewhere else, or even within IF that takes it to another level.
Great artists have been inspired by other great artists. Without inspiration, we'd all be stuck in a vaccum. If we start to police how people generate work, then I think we'd be stuck with low standards.