copy cats

If you like a particular something that someone has, you go buy the same thing because you want it. If you go eat with someone and you don't know what you want, you just order the same thing as your friend. If someone has a cool piece of code that makes the "comments" appear and dissapear instead of opening a new page, you copy it to your own blog (amber). This is all good things to do. However, if you are a TV station, and you like the looks of another TV station's graphics in the same market, you don't copy them. That's just distasteful. Flattering, but still wrong. Here

I have a screen shot of a competing station's "new" graphics with my graphics that I've been using for more than a year above for a Stacked Comparison.

Click on the picture to see it bigger. It is very easy to see that the colors are basically the same. This isn't a problem since it is a common palette and it is probably the best color scheme (duh, why do you think I used it). But the similarities don't end there. Everything from the subtle arc off the right of center to the white frame fading out. So I called Channel 10. I spoke to a fella I know who will remain nameless because he's still a cool guy. I said to this chap, "So, I saw your new supers yesterday. They look beautiful." He said thanks. I said, "They look just like mine." He threw all kinds of diversions but we both know he copied me. He said they were going to have new opens soon. I said, "do you want me to send you my files?" It's pretty sad when the number 1 station takes ideas from the number 3 station.