Borrowing is part of the job

When you hire a team to extend your design capacity, you probably expect them to bring in new ideas. So it can feel a little strange when the process starts with looking at what others have already done.

Looking at existing solutions is a normal part of designing something useful. The value is in knowing which ideas fit your business, understanding why they work and adapting them to the people you want to reach. So in essence — it all comes down to judgement.

In 2026, the web is crowded with products and websites drawing from the same pool of ideas. You’ve probably seen plenty of pages with a large headline, a product screenshot and a row of logos. You’ve used apps with familiar sidebars, search fields and nav menus.

Some of these choices have become conventions because they help people find their way. Others have spread because they’re fashionable or easy to reproduce. A designer’s job includes telling the difference.

It would be a stretch to say everything has been done. There are always new problems, new technologies and plenty of room for better ideas. But much of everyday design involves working with things that already exist. Trying to make every part of a website completely original can be an expensive way to make it harder to use.

Your customers arrive with habits and expectations.

In his book Steal Like an Artist  , Austin Kleon makes the case for learning from other people’s work and building on it. The phrase sounds more reckless than the practice needs to be. In design, it can mean paying attention to good work, learning from it and bringing those lessons into a different situation.

Take a pricing page. A designer might notice how another company makes a complicated offer easy to compare. The useful part could be the order of the information, the way it explains limits or how it helps someone choose a plan.

Applying that lesson still takes work. Your pricing might be different. Your customers might need more explanation. They might have to get approval from a manager before buying. A layout that works beautifully for a simple subscription could fall apart when those details change.

This is where borrowing becomes design. The reference gives you a starting point. Your business gives you the conditions it has to meet.

Whether you’re in the middle of an initial launch or facilitating the evolution of your website, your customers have things to learn. They need to understand what you offer, see why it matters and figure out whether they want it. Familiar mechanics give them a head start, so they can spend less effort finding their way and more time getting something done.

This also helps the design team spend its time carefully. Using a familiar pattern where it fits leaves more room to work on the things that need attention: tailoring the storytelling to your customer, improving the first few minutes with the product or making a difficult task easier.

Your business should guide where the design needs to stand out. An unusual flow or interaction might call for a new approach. A crowded market might call for a stronger voice and a more recognizable experience. Familiarity gives you a useful foundation to build on.

A polished website is easy to admire without knowing much about the company behind it. We rarely see the compromises, the customer feedback or the reasons a particular choice was madeю That makes copying appearances risky. A sparse page might work for a product people already understand. Your business might need room for examples and a proper explanation. A playful tone might suit one audience and make another hesitate.

References are useful when they lead to a conversation about what your customers need. They become less useful when looking like the reference becomes the goal.

There are boundaries here too. Original writing, illustrations, branding and distinctive creative work deserve care. Borrowing a familiar interaction pattern is one thing. Reproducing another company’s identity can create legal problems and leave your own business looking interchangeable.

You should expect a team to explain its choices in terms you can assess. Why does this approach suit your customers? What has been adapted to fit your product? Where does the design need to feel familiar, and where does your business need something more distinctive? The answers should connect to the things you care about: helping people understand your offer, making the product easier to use and giving them confidence in your company.

Good designers use references because there is a great deal to learn from work that already exists. They also know when a reference has taken them as far as it can.

Borrowing is part of the job. Taking responsibility for what gets borrowed, how it changes and whether it works for your business is a part of the same job.