At 99designs by Vista, we strive to deliver clients unique work that is tailored to their needs. To achieve this, it is vital for our designer community to comply with intellectual property regulations and refrain from any form of copy.
All designers in the 99designs by Vista community must introduce and sell only their original work when asked to do so. Using others' work or elements from others' work without appropriate permission and/or introducing such work as your own is strictly forbidden and will lead to penalties.
You can review our penalty guidelines here.
1 - Originality and conceptual development
Originality refers to the process of coming up with new ideas, developing them, and putting them into action in a way that hasn't been done before.
While we understand that getting inspiration from various sources is important for the creative process, the end result must be distinct and individual enough to be seen as original.
Providing clients with a design that resembles or copies another design or artwork is considered an infringement of third-party intellectual property rights and therefore a violation of this policy.
The above principles also apply when you are using AI-generated materials to create a new design: you always need to ensure that your concepts still result in a bespoke and original execution.
2 - Common Concepts and Generic Designs
A common concept is an idea or theme widely recognized and used because it's tightly associated with something else, such as an industry. For instance, using a tooth for a dentist logo is considered a common concept because people can easily associate teeth with dentistry.
Generic design refers to the execution of a common concept in a way that lacks unique or distinctive features. Generic design tends to be ordinary and predictable, resembling existing designs rather than standing out with their own creative identity.
Even if a client requests commonly-used concepts, we encourage designers to offer innovative implementations. For example, when designing a dentist logo that includes a tooth element, you should consider ways to integrate the imagery into the name or find/develop abstract representations of the tooth in a way that distinguishes it from generic alternatives.
Although the use of generic design is not entirely forbidden in principle, creations that are too similar to other designs or artworks on or off the 99designs by Vista platform, could be treated as a copy and may trigger the application of penalties.
3 - Originality in Design Contests
Concepts that are obvious to the Contest are open to be developed by all Designers. For example, using flowers for a flower-shop logo or a dog illustration for dog-food packaging.
However, Designers must create their own unique implementations, and must not merely attempt to replicate the decisions made by other Designers.
Any concept that was originally presented by a Client in the contest brief can be developed by all Designers. Unique and original concepts must be respected and only developed by the Designer who introduced them.
If you see or suspect a Client asking yourself or other Designers to copy each other or any other artwork in a Contest, report the situation to 99designs by Vista Support so we can help resolve it. Contests can be reported through this form.