a lovely bit of plagiarism

I’ve had clients who take a Nokia phone out of their pockets and say, make my stud finder or mp3 player look like this. I reply by saying, why do you need to hire a designer for?

The funny thing is, that on the gardening hose it somehow works as styling element.
Wouldn’t look that bad if you hadn’t shown the close stylistic resemblance.

As these product groups are so much afar it will be no problem with the target audience.
Some kids might notice. But the pop, who buys the cheap hose from xxxstore doesn’t.

I think it works better on a spray-thing than a computer. Having said that, I’d rather something else.

Story: I had a boss once that wanted to buy a 3D scanner to scan the competition. First of all, that wouldn’t even work because by the time you rebuilt everything around your 3D data, you might as well start from scratch. Second, how f***ing offensive to tell your IDer.

We do have a 3D scanner in the workshop. It’s a hell of a gadget. But using it to scan a bunch of competition would
be such a waste of time, ridiculous. But, hey- we get copied every time. Wouldn’t it be funny to scan those copies in and
start an infinite loop?

Think it would turn out something like this? What Happens to a YouTube Video After 1,000 Uploads? | Mashable

Those vents are supposed to evoke “Alien eyes” which makes perfect sense for the computer manufacturer named “Alienware.”
On the power-washer they’re just meaningless shapes.

I agree with cg, for a computer brand trying to differentiate itself as being gaming focused and so technologically advanced it has “alien levels of technology and influence” the bug eyes make sense and fit into the alpha gamer demographic they are going for. The power-washer should have been more influenced by ease of use, clean up, transport, and storage. The bug eyes do none of those things and they would have been much better served by doing something in a more sophisticate Rams-ian, Bauhaus, Fluke type of zone. Not to mention those bug eyes on the power-washer, whether extra parts or a spray operation, just add cost.

That said, both could be much better better in both concept and execution but outside looking in, it is always easy to say that.

bngi wrote:

Think it would turn out something like this? > What Happens to a YouTube Video After 1,000 Uploads? | Mashable

hahaha, great ! Cool artistic approach to plagiarism.

That’s exactly what I thought of yesterday. The other thing,[ that I thought of this morning], was, that little failures
and artifacts could built up from cycle to cycle. Which of course would make the endresult more a “release B” than
a copy of “release A”.

mo-i

cg: inside of a brand strategy, I agree. If I just look at them as stand-alones, I’d prefer the vents on the washer. BTW, on the washer, I think they just look like meaningless vents, not eyes. In fact, if I didn’t know the computer was an Alienware, I would read them as vents too. Organic shaped vents, yes. Eyes, no.

Do you really think that this was a case of plagiarism? I can understand the direction for the computer as already noted, but nothing from either product screams individuality. To me this seems like a pretty common design direction. Without searching around on the internet for images I have a to say that its reminding me of a number of different products. That “bug eye” design detail is nothing new and I’ve seen it factored into a variety of objects. One that comes to mind that is a completely different product might be those hand held sanders - but the “eyes” are the tactile points. I think black and decker might make them? I could be wrong, but either way, that’s the first product it reminds me of. My point, I dont think its a case of direct plagiarism as suggested. just my opinion…

My impression of the power washer appearance is overall positive considered in isolation. The black corrugations look like pump bellows, inline with the two hoses entering directly below, echos the shape in the handle, all seems to work together. And the vents are a nice shape.

My impression of the Alienware cases are negative. The alien eye shaped vents strike me as gratuitous, superfluous, over-the-top, and teenage, which is why it probably meets the needs of its target and misses me.

The power washer seems to be a clear lifting of the proportions and shapes and design direction. However, there is no confusion or mixing of the branding or the field of use.

A lovely bit of plagiarism indeed, looks good.

Smooth . . . Great artists steal right? :stuck_out_tongue:

It would technically be infringement of copyright… given it has a design patent. Otherwise fair game.

It also says they must be substantially similar. I would need to do more research to find out what that exactly meant.
What I’ve heard is that once a certain percentage of the product is different it is no longer infringement of that patent??

Make it exactly like this, BUT DIFFERENT!

oh no’s! it’s spreading!

I just came across a Black and Decker product that has a somewhat similar ‘vent’ treatment:

The black sidepanels were non-existent in their product line-up before. So I’m guessing the designers were directly influenced by the powerwasher I started this thread with, which was directly copied from an Alienware design. Ah well, they must not have wanted to venture too far out of the box…

Ah come off it, I doubt that Black and Decker has any connection to the PC case or the pressure washer. Vents like that are a pretty common styling feature - something to accent the durability and toughness of a product.

connection? no. influenced by? maybe.

i just did a quick google image search on pressure washers and distinctive side panels with crossbracing/vents are not a common trait at all. so all i’m saying is that i’m noticing a similarity, and possibly a trend (if it starts showing up on more models/brands). or i might be reaching, also entirely possible. :smiley:

holtag: I think this shows how much of a trend setter the Core77 boards have become. We are changing design!

I do some work for a former Alienware guy, and he has a few of the original towers at his place. They are actually surprising nice in person. They look more like a classic streamlined appliance design than a tacky PC tower.