The Croquis

Love the mix of the flat color with the textural painting pieces…so lovely!!

Big Cartel anyone?

Hmmm similar to Big Cartel!

until i looked at bigcartel because of the comments, i didn’t even know they had a watercolour aspect to their site. i do like how it’s been put together though, really well designed site.

I hadn’t noticed the similarity until you pointed it out.

However I do think the use of watercolour here is far more relevant and effective than Big Cartel, since after all this is a site dedicated to selling watercolour illustrations…

If I was approaching this design Big Cartel would probably be my first point of call for inspiration… Same kind of target audience, same look and feel. It a bit of a classic for me.

Everything from the basic layout, typography, textures… even the bar across the top is very familiar. So not just the water colour.

Don’t get me wrong, its a nice site and perfect for purpose. Just if your going to take inspiration from a classic design, don’t make it so obvious.

Hi guys, I’m the designer who worked on this site. I’d like to try and set some things straight in regards to the comparisons between the site I designed and Big Cartel. Clearly there are similarities between the two sites; however, I’d like to point out that the design I worked on is indeed original, and was designed around the product the client is selling. I remember seeing the Big Cartel site back when it first launched, and to this day I still think it’s a beautiful site. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t inspired by it, but I’m also inspired by countless other designers on a daily basis.

As for using a watercolor background/texture behind the content area: I did that because my client is selling watercolor illustrations. It’s as simple as that. Many other websites have wrapped their content areas in similar fashions. It’s nothing new.

Hope this clears things up.

RE: “The Croquis vs Big Cartel? http://bit.ly/8qbUNV I personally feel The Croquis design is more relevant and effective…” ~via twitter.

I don’t think “being more relevant or effective” makes it any more acceptable. What would you say if Polaroid redesigned their logo and was inspired by Nationwide’s logo?

Just sayin…

Designers should be inspired by other work they see, but the best designers take that inspiration and put a spin on it. This site just needs more of a spin.