This story has been covered by many already so I won’t go into great detail about it but I do want to mention it. Basically Les Otten, who is running for Governor of Maine, has put up a new website. The problem is that it looks shockingly like the website for President Obama (I also think his logo looks suspiciously like Obama’s).

Now, it’s understandable that someone would want to emulate Barack Obama’s website. Design experts agree that the Obama site has a fantastic design and the interactive aspects probably helped him win the election. The problem is that Otten and his design team didn’t just draw inspiration from the site, they completely ripped it off. From the layout to the color choices, the sites are a match. To see side-by-side images and further analysis check out this blog.

Of course politicians on both sides have begun turning this into a political issue. To me the issue is stealing a design. I’d be equally upset about a Democrat stealing from a Republican or one business stealing from another. Designers work hard to come up with a design. Yes, we sometimes draw inspiration from others, but a blatant rip-off like this is disappointing to see.

Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Design, Internet Marketing, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.