First off I must apologise for the lack of content on the blog. To cut a long story short I’ve been concentrating on my time at University and have only recently decided what to do. Expect major updates to Rawkes in the coming future, including a much more regular blog and a massive shift of focus in the website. I’m pretty hyped about it myself and I’m pretty certain what I have planned will go down well.
Now, back to the topic of this post… the blatant theft of the Rawkes layout by Daniel Saxil-Nielsen and which can be found at Proton Gun (Google Cached version incase it goes down).
Update: Daniel got in touch with me recently after this post went live and immediately took down the entire site. I would like to thank him for doing so in a mature and prompt manner. However, I will be keeping this post online as I feel it highlights an issue that means a lot to me.
It’s incredibly similar don’t you think? Luckily it’s a fairly low quality rip-off and the site hasn’t been updated in a long time, but all the same it’s not nice to see your work stolen like that. On the flip-side it is a compliment and normally I’d let something like this slide, but Daniel has taken me over the line and he won’t get away with it.
The whole issue has already caused quite a stir with friends and colleagues on Twitter, who have in turn re-tweeted and spread word about it. It’s quite heart-warming to see how an event like this can rally people into a common cause to help out someone else. I’ve also been quite fascinated in the methods people have suggested getting at Daniel, going as far as public humiliation. I haven’t quite decided how I’m going to deal with the situation just yet but I won’t just let it drop. I may email his host as I’m pretty certain they’ll have an interest in copyright infringement on their servers. We’ll see. For now I’ve attached some interesting comparisons between the two websites detailing his mistakes.
The Favicon
What stood out most to me that this website was based on mine was the ballsy use of the Rawkes rocket in the favicon. It’s pretty much a direct copy of it!
Background Colours
Now although this background is a slight variation of the one here at Rawkes it’s obviously a copy. The colours alone prove that to anyone with an ounce of sense, the stars just put the nail in the coffin.
Logo Shape
I like the way Daniel butchered the logo into something that on first sight looks different but on further examination is based on exactly the same font. Now I hope he paid for the font because it’s quite a rare one from a small font foundry. The chances of him stumbling across this font on top of all the other coincidences would be minuscule.
Typographic Style
Not as obvious as the other elements but parts of the type are definitely based on that of Rawkes. In particular the bullet points, link colours and link underline styles. It all builds up together to produce a design that is directly based on mine.
A word to the wise. However much you like my designs, please don’t steal it. Just email me instead and tell me. It’s a lot easier!