When I was a student a wise old owl remarked to my work ‘if you can’t be original, make sure your source is.’

As back-handed compliments go, it took (and still takes) quite some beating. 

It was also painfully acute an observation as I’d not really had an original thought up to then, and rarely so since.

Inspiration does strike occasionally, usually with cricketing-based effects (i.e. manage to hit the ball on the inside edge, sending the ball into the sticks. Stumps. Wickets.) 

Mind you, it’s been an awfully long time since anyone asked me to make it look like (insert brand-name here) so I guess I should be grateful. 

Aside from the tram-line-like patterns of guidelines that it, and I guess there’s comfort in knowing (at least), if you’re working on a set of instructions or something that needs to be repeatable, familiarity is the least worst path to take. And I don’t recall contemptuous being a strategy to win over an audience, at least not in designLand.

However it does make you think (well, makes me ponder) what the price for originality is - and where the benefit of copying outweighs it (aside from the few companies currently on the second round of funding for the next release of the plagiarism apps. Now there’s money for nothing.)

Or if, as actual designers, as opposed to prompt-burps, can indeed find some solace in a middle ground. 

One where the creative work of authoring something balances out the secret loathing of having to make the next project same-same-only-different. 

I think you could find a way. The clue’s in the title - it’s a bit of both.

And keeping you sauces secret ;)