Design is a profession that thrives on creativity. Us designers are constantly trying to innovate by thinking outside the box. We’ve seen design evolve across all sectors — print, digital, product, architecture etc. We have gone from typewriters to sleek laptops; from clunky handsets and landlines to compact mobile phones; and socialising in person to poking each other on Facebook.

设计是一个依靠创造力而繁荣的职业。 美国设计师不断尝试创新思维。 我们已经看到设计跨越了各个领域 -印刷，数字，产品，建筑等。我们已经从打字机发展到时尚的笔记本电脑。 从笨拙的手机和座机到紧凑型手机； 并亲自进行社交，以便在Facebook上互相戳戳。

Brands that have lasted all this while have adapted themselves to stay ahead of the curve. Let’s take Coca-Cola for instance. The image below shows how the brand logo has evolved. What is noteworthy that though the font has changed drastically over the decades, Coca Cola chose to retain the color red as their primary color over the past 70 years. This is solely because the corporation believes that the color red distinguishes them from their competition.

历经如此艰辛的品牌已经适应了潮流。 让我们以可口可乐为例。 下图显示了品牌徽标的演变方式。 值得注意的是，尽管数十年来字体发生了巨大变化，但可口可乐在过去70年中选择保留红色作为其主要颜色。 这完全是因为公司认为红色可以将它们与竞争对手区分开。

JioMeet，镇上的新模因 (JioMeet, the new meme in town)

I came about writing this piece when ~3 weeks ago, my social media was flooded with memes about JioMeet, a video calling application launched by Indian telecom giant Reliance Industries.

大约三周前，我开始写这篇文章，当时我的社交媒体上充斥着有关印度电信巨头Reliance Industries推出的视频通话应用程序JioMeet的模因。

JioMeet, as we see in the image above, seems to be a replica (down to the icons) of Zoom — an application being used across the world for video calling in personal and professional capacities. Zoom usage reached its peak when the pandemic hit and employees were forced to work from home. The Zoom desktop and mobile applications have proven to be extremely intuitive and straight-forward, making it the go-to choice for video calling and screen-sharing.

正如我们在上图中所看到的，JioMeet似乎是Zoom的副本(图标下方)，该应用程序在世界各地用于个人和专业人士的视频通话。 当大流行和员工被迫在家工作时，Zoom的使用达到了顶峰。 事实证明，Zoom桌面和移动应用程序非常直观，简单明了，使其成为视频通话和屏幕共享的首选。

So when JioMeet allegedly ripped off Zoom’s design, their counter argument must have been — ‘Why not?’

因此，当据称JioMeet撕毁Zoom的设计时，他们的反对论点一定是-“为什么不呢？”

When an organisation is looking to build and launch a product, one of the most important steps in the process is user testing. Products are tested for weeks and months before being released into the market. Success after testing with real users is what decides the fate of the product.

当组织希望构建和发布产品时，该过程中最重要的步骤之一就是用户测试 。 产品在投放市场之前要经过数周和数月的测试。 与真实用户测试后的成功决定了产品的命运。

So if Reliance Industries found a tried and tested application for a product they were building, why not use a design that is tried and tested successfully with people across the globe? (Apart from the obvious ethical implications)

因此，如果Reliance Industries找到了他们正在构建的产品的久经考验的应用程序，为什么不使用已在全球范围内成功地经过尝试和测试的设计呢？ (除了明显的道德影响外)

寻求“灵感” (Seeking “inspiration”)

We have all been in a position where we have browsed Dribbble to get over a design block. We do this NOT to find a solution, but to see the creative alternatives put out by people across the world. Perhaps looking at some variation is what helps us oil our thought machine.

我们一直都在浏览Dribbble来跳过设计块。 我们这样做并不是要找到解决方案，而是要寻找世界各地人们提出的富有创意的替代方案 。 也许看一些变化可以帮助我们为思想机器加油。

That being said, we also find ourselves using design elements and patterns that we end up noticing.Let’s take TABS as an example. Tabs are used commonly across domains and devices. We see tabs being used in websites, mobile applications, transactional portals, etc. I personally have used tabs without giving a second thought because they work so well for a requirement.

话虽如此，我们也发现自己使用了我们最终注意到的设计元素和模式，让我们以TABS为例。 选项卡通常在域和设备之间使用。 我们看到在网站，移动应用程序，交易门户等中使用了选项卡。我个人使用这些选项卡时没有三思而后行，因为它们可以很好地满足要求。

So would that mean I plagiarised a design? Probably not.

那是否意味着我窃了设计？ 可能不是。

取得平衡 (Striking a balance)

I too, like most my peers am a flag bearer of innovation and blue sky thinking. Us designers are taught to constantly push ourselves to put our best design forward. But we are also taught to create the best possible solution for our users. In another post, I spoke about how users more often than not cling to what is familiar to them. Steve Krug published an entire book telling designer to not make their users think.

我也像大多数同龄人一样，是创新和蓝天思维的旗手 。 我们的设计师被教导要不断推动自己，以提出最好的设计。 但是我们也被教导要为我们的用户创造最好的解决方案。 在另一篇文章中 ，我谈到了用户如何更多地坚持不熟悉他们所熟悉的东西。 史蒂夫·克鲁格(Steve Krug)出版了一整本书，告诉设计师不要让用户思考。

While it is 100% unethical to simply copy paste a design, a good designer should always keep their eyes open for the best possible solution for their user, even if it means using an idea didn’t stem from their minds.We need to strike a balance by using design elements or components that work best for our users, while brainstorming to come up with multiple other mind-blowing solutions.

尽管仅复制粘贴设计是100％不道德的做法，但优秀的设计师应始终睁大眼睛为用户提供最佳解决方案， 即使这意味着使用的主意并非源于他们的想法 。通过使用最适合我们用户的设计元素或组件来实现平衡，同时集思广益，以提出其他多种令人振奋的解决方案。

An example of this could be, while designing a mobile application, I ended up using a hamburger menu to incorporate all my menu items. This is an element that users have seen before, and use frequently. Thus I am confident about my decision to use it. The landing page on the other hand is something I will willingly break my head over. This page being specific to my application isn’t even something that could/should be plagiarised. So I end up focusing all my creative energies creating a great landing experience, than trying to figure out an alternative way to do up my menu.

例如，在设计移动应用程序时，我最终使用了汉堡菜单来合并我所有的菜单项。 这是用户以前见过且经常使用的元素。 因此，我对使用它的决定充满信心。 另一方面，目标网页是我愿意打破的。 特定于我的应用程序的页面甚至还没有/可能/窃。 因此， 我最终将所有精力都投入到创造出色的着陆体验上 ，而不是尝试寻找一种替代方法来准备菜单。

In conclusion, just remember to ALWAYS think of what is best for your users first, and then decide the route you need to take!

总而言之，请记住始终要先考虑对用户最有利的选择，然后再决定需要采取的路线！

Drop a comment and tell me what did you think about this ethically on the fence article!

在围栏文章上发表评论，并告诉我您对此有何想法！