A great post on why businesses and especially startups should not copy.

Here’s the problem with copying: Copying skips understanding. Understanding is how you grow. You have to understand why something works or why something is how it is. When you copy it, you miss that. You just repurpose the last layer instead of understanding all the layers underneath.
 
The article is referring to ideas and business models, but I think *interface design is an example more people can relate to*. Have you seen an interface that was obviously copied from someone else’s interface? The copy usually lacks depth and detail. They miss the spacing, the proportions, the relationship between colors and objects and buttons and links. It’s usually pretty close, but there’s something not right about it.

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So bottom line: Copying hurts you. You miss out on what makes something good. Instead, try to be exposed to a variety of perspectives and points of view. Take whatever you find useful and leave the rest behind. Fill in the gaps with your own ideas. In the end you have make your own way forward.

im my everyday job, so many times people ask by giving examples of other sites and product UI to just do it like them, they ask - this looks like it worked for them, why cant we just do that? Im sure many user experience designers and UI people out there working in startup and small companies will relateto this.

for me there are clearly two aspect to learning something from successful designs and great UI.

1. Understand the pattern, don't copy the UI or the design.
2. see how you can improvize and then test to validate.

via SvN and OnStartups