Why we don’t knock off other designers.

Lately, we’ve been getting a lot of requests from visitors to our site asking if we can knock off a design. As we’ve explained on our FAQ page, we do not knock off the work of other designers. Since we’re being asked about it a lot, I thought I’d take a minute to explain why this is one of the core values at Design Pool.

Why don’t we knock off designs?

It’s very simple, actually. First and foremost, it’s illegal. A lot of people like to roll their eyes when we say this. They don’t see the big deal, but we can’t put the health of our company at risk.

Also, it’s unethical. We respect the work of other designers, and we want our work respected too. Maybe call it good karma, but we think there’s a place for everybody’s work in the world. We believe in our skills at Design Pool and know we can make something beautiful for everyone, without having to steal other people’s ideas or work.

How is knocking off different from a historical reproduction?

There have been times in the past that I have worked on recreating historical designs to be reproduced for today’s market. In all of those instances, the company who hired me owned the copyright to the item being reproduced. This was the case when I worked with Airstream on a reproduction of one of their vintage campers. It was also true when I worked with Museum L-A so they could print vintage patterns from their archives.

So, what are your options?

If you want to work with Design Pool, I suggest searching through our licensable library to see if there is a pattern in the same spirit as what you want copied. Maybe it’s a polka dot you love. Well, we have lots of dot patterns. Use our filter tools to search through our large library of patterns.

Didn’t find anything? We can work on a custom design together. For this option, we would begin with a call to discuss what you’re looking for. You can show me the design you like and we can discuss what it is you love about it. With this information in mind, I can create something brand new that will work for your end use. Keep in mind, I do charge a fee for custom design work. This varies depending on the scope and complexity of the project and is something we’d discuss before getting started on any work.

Together, we can help keep the design world a supportive industry where we all appreciate and value each other’s work.