Contrary to popular belief, imitation is not the highest form of flattery – it’s simply annoying and makes things that much harder for the up and coming designer to distinguish him or herself from the hordes of copycats.
I could tell you to just suck it up and move on when it happens to you (and it will, if you’re popular enough), but that’s not very helpful when you’re feeling cheated and robbed, and the thief is off getting paid for your hard work. This is a common problem with a few unconventional solutions, which we will now explore.
1. Let Them Take The Fall
If your idea wasn't very good in the first place, you’ll soon know from the response your competitor will get. They’ll try to get validation from others, either clients or fans. They’ll be roundly criticized for presenting such a bad idea, or, if they’re really unlucky, others will point out publicly that they stole the original idea from you (which, if it’s bad, is not a good thing).
If your idea doesn’t work for your thief, you now know what to do better. You can tweak your own work and avoid the mistakes they made. If it does work… you now know what to do better. You come up with an even better idea and execute it in a way that leaves people with no doubt as to who the better designer is.
2. Kick Their Ass
Stealing an idea is easy but actually making a design do what it’s supposed to (solve a problem) is hard. When you get ripped off by an inferior designer, it can feel like being hit in the stomach. How dare that hack think he can copy your genius and get away with it? Doesn’t he know how hard you work to develop the perfect design solutions and earn the highest praise from your viewing audience?
You can hit back by being a thousand times better than anyone who would steal your idea. If you’re really committed to making this idea of yours work, you owe it to yourself, and your client or viewers to go above and beyond anything the other party would even think to do.
You’re the better designer, after all. Send them home with their tail between their legs.
3. You’re The Architect
Just because someone “stole” your “idea” doesn’t mean they know what to do with it or how you arrived at the idea in the first place. You’re the architect of your idea, not your copycat. That means you have the blueprint from which to generate a new one (there’s more where that came from). If you have the framework in place for generating even better ideas (which you should), you have nothing to worry about.
Even if you don’t have the framework for generating ideas, you have an entirely different and more fundamental problem than someone stealing your ideas. I’d recommend going back to the drawing board and developing new ways of brainstorming and cataloguing your ideas so that you get the best ones flowing to you when you need them.
What Do You Think?
Have you ever had an idea stolen by unscrupulous competitors? What did you do about it? Do you think stolen ideas are worth getting upset over, or do you simply let it go with the confidence that you can come up with something even better?
