One of my favorite authors, Oscar Wilde, has this interesting quote about how "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness." From repeated designs on fashion runways to attempting to assume somebody else's identity on social media, I always thought this was stuff for celebrities and folks in fashion. I never thought it would apply to me.
This is all quite new to me, and it's a strange feeling, which is the reason why I'm writing this post. Now relative to the people around me, I'd say that I create a lot of things. Site designs, photos, apps, videos, stories. I pull inspiration from my environment, Instagram, and other creatives who accomplish what I can only hope to achieve. But when creating work, what is the line between inspiration and imitation?
As an aspiring designer, so much of my work depends on people's opinions and feelings. My tech projects are often based on the user sentiment, and criticism carries a significant amount of weight in the design and re-design of my products. It's the whole principle of user-centered design-- and it means always trying to please someone. This is not a bad thing. In fact, it's the whole concept behind solving problems, and it's the thing that I love most about Human-Centered Design. But at the same time, sometimes I just want to create something for myself as a form of expression.
My photography and this blog are creative outlets that I turn to as means to express my feelings and ideas. In a way, it's my escape. These hobbies are valuable to me, and after receiving significant hate and judgement from the people around me, these outlets only mean more because it was a long struggle to learn how to defend and stand up for the content that I create.
You really don't need to keep reading, but below, I've written my experience with idea theft. If this had happened to me a year ago, I think I would have let it slide, but I think I've reached a point in my life where I'm actually proud of what I've accomplished, and I'm not going to let anybody else take credit for that.
xxxxxxxx
STORY TIME
THE PHOTOS
This past summer, I thought of a photography project and decided to contact my friend who I thought may have been interested to work with me. I've learned that projects are easier when accomplished in teams, and having known my friend since high school, I was excited to have her on board. This project combined contemporary social issues and fashion, and over brunch I suggested several shoot locations and outfits. We parted ways, agreeing to work on it more later in the month.
However, I found out through a third party that she was hanging out with my ex-boyfriend Alex (who has changed significantly and now apparently ridicules my faith, likes to laugh at rape jokes, and slut-shames his female roommate-- she knows this and it puzzled me why she was contacting him). I attempted to confront her about this and ask about why they were hanging out, but she ignored my messages.
A few days later, she posts photos on Instagram of a shoot with another photographer, and they happen to be at one of the locations we planned to shoot at, with a shirt pattern we had planned to shoot at that location (more specifically: striped shirt at the Seattle Public Library). Granted that the 'social issues' aspect was not incorporated into the photos, I was still surprised to see part of my project's plan on somebody else's Instagram feed, executed by a different photographer. Underneath, there was a sub-caption directed at me.
These photos are really good, and they were actually shot by someone's work I admire, and I don't think the photographer was aware of this. Still, it hurt to see that she had approached somebody else with a form of my idea and had taken credit for it.
WEBSITE
A week later, I find out that she was hanging out with my ex because she was building a personal website. This is odd because she knows I do web development, but she never asked for my help. I had stumbled upon this discovery by accident, and I was shocked to see that the web layout was nearly identical to my personal site.
Aside from the content, it was clear that it was the same theme. I built my personal site from the ground up (as in I opened up Notepad and started from scratch), and admittedly it's not a 100% unique layout. She and my ex implemented a pre-made theme online that looked similar to mine. I was not aware that such a theme could be found (I based my design off how I wrote notes in my notebook), but it was too much of a coincidence that they had chosen this particular theme out of many other options.
IMPACT
Truly, this is the biggest compliment anybody has ever given me. I'm actually quite glad that my content and ideas are creative enough to create a "copycat" who wants to be just like me. Still, this was frustrating. Though my volume of ideas are limitless, and I was taught that ideas are dispensable, this is my primary way of expressing myself. I hold my ideas and work very close to my heart, and it saddened me to see that a friend (and an ex) had conspired to try and take that away from me. This was no longer a question between inspiration and imitation. This was between inspiration and falsification.
In a way, I'm not angry. I feel that this type of plagiarism stems from jealousy. I am aware that she is stuck doing a menial retail job, but although I always encouraged her to pursue more, I could not have anticipated that she would be trying to move forward by imitating my work.
This is disappointing to me, but on the brighter side, I suppose it means I'm doing something right.
