Plagiarism is one of the worst things you can do to your graphic design assignments. It is illegal and could get you kicked out of school; it is also very unprofessional. When designing for a specific class, use proper citations and acknowledgments. And do your research. Borrow only what is absolutely necessary, and always credit your sources. You must be original in your designs, but you can speak of influences and how they contributed to what you created.
Plagiarism can be an extremely serious offense since it falsifies your credibility as a writer and makes it impossible to show your work is original. It is even considered a form of cheating. And there are many ways to plagiarize, whether it is copying a graphic from a website, taking someone else’s words, and putting them in your work, or using someone else’s design as a template for your work. Luckily, it is easy to avoid plagiarism in graphic design, provided you carefully check your work and you do not knowingly lift other people’s work and place it into yours.
Do not just copy
You should not be copying designs you find online. While it may be tempting—especially if you are in a rush—copying a design you found online (and passing it off as your own) could easily land you in trouble. For starters, it is illegal and may bring with it a lawsuit depending on the circumstances. It is also unethical and can lower the bar for design expectations. Plus, copying a design can negatively impact your credibility as a designer—especially if you are starting out.
Use a range of sources.
Although it might seem obvious, always cite your sources when designing your graphics. While several online tools can streamline the process, the most important thing is to always reference your sources either in the footer of your document, as a citation to the source, or as a footnote so that readers know you are citing sources correctly. While it is important to cite your sources, you should also be conscious of avoiding plagiarism. Using a range of sources is a great way to avoid plagiarism, and this is one of the most common statements you will find in articles and designs that are avoiding plagiarism, as they know that every step of the way they must write down what they have done.
Develop your style
To create your style, you really need to know and understand what it is to be a graphic designer. As a famous author, Mark Twain once said, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” This quote is especially true when creating graphic designs because there will always be someone or some company that can do better than you. So, you need to reach beyond your current capabilities and be willing to try things you have never done before.
Keep good quality notes.
When working on a graphic design project, keeping good-quality notes is important. Details are saved into most people’s notepads, but this can quickly become a jumbled mess of information. This makes it easy to lose significant information and forget details that had been essential to the project.
Use quotation marks
To properly cite sources in written and online publications, it is imperative to cite your references. This promotes research ethics and helps to separate your references from your thoughts, which are essential when writing/designing a topic or graphic. To avoid plagiarism, always put your references in quotation marks. Use quotation marks to denote direct quotes and paraphrased information. So, when you have designed a piece of art, you may need to write on a separate document where you got the inspiration from and what influenced certain aspects of what you produced.
So, if you are just getting into graphic design and are planning on making various pieces for clients, then you will need to make sure that you are following the guidelines set out and are not directly lifting work from another source and passing it off as your own. Creating your own path and your own designs is essential in this line of work. Plagiarism will get you nowhere