Comments on: YouTube rips off Pixelodeon

By: John B.

John B. — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 22:43:25 +0000

Well, at least they used a Courier font instead… :/

By: Mike P

Mike P — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:06:45 +0000

V-

I generally agree with you on your (sometimes very off the wall) observations, but this time, I have to say I don’t see it. I see a similar style to the intro, but not enough to cause concern.

By the way, kick ass job on the PC Gamer article…. just got done reading it! Are you going to be a regular contributor? If so, I may renew my subscription after all.

By: Vance

Vance — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:17:37 +0000

At the risk of feeding conspiracy theorists, I think that the logo is SO similar, that it must have been intentional and that it might point to something more sinister. Is there a reason why YouTube would want to undermine them?

And, Veronica, you raise another point: why *don’t* you respond more to the comments to your blog? You obviously found the topic interesting enough to write about, so why not interesting enough to discuss further? Especially with those “like-minded” enough to have you on their list of blogs to read?

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:49:50 +0000

Just to dog pile on the whole “rip off” thread, here’s Sony’s user created video submission web site:

http://crackle.com/

…replete with…wait for it…wait…star bursts and beige!

By: Steve Kwan

Steve Kwan — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:17:13 +0000

Wait a minute…YouTube didn’t rip off Pixelodeon. Both YouTube AND Pixelodeon ripped off BioShock!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 03:45:43 +0000

Would you all be more or less upset if youtube had actually designed a decent looking site?

By: Steve Woolf

Steve Woolf — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:30:02 +0000

Thanks for blogging about this, Veronica. Like I wrote in the comments on my post, our only concern is possible confusion between the two events. People following Pixelodeon could conceivably see the YouTube contest and think that we partnered with them or in some other way have a relationship where there is none.

Two online video events with such similar visual approaches seems an unlikely coincidence.

By: Veronica

Veronica — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:08:26 +0000

@Googleman - why are you always the most difficult commenter EVER?!

By: Googleman81

Googleman81 — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:41:39 +0000

@veronica - ok, if it´s only about the title screen design you have to admit that the colors are opposite… 0.o

By: Veronica

Veronica — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:29:09 +0000

@Googleman - It exactly the DESIGN than I’m talking about! The content isn’t the same.

Man, this is the most I’ve ever commented on one of my own posts.

By: Googleman81

Googleman81 — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:43:19 +0000

ok so the title screens look kinda similar besides different titles and the fact that one is sponsored by hp the other one by apple and then in the youtube video there is a director guy with an obviously staged background telling people about some sort of movie competition and the pixelodeon video starts off with a very metro looking guy being beeped out, then a girl enters and they curse a little… and thats stealing for you? i dont get it.

By: Steve Kwan

Steve Kwan — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:54:49 +0000

@Tomaz: Veronica never fails. She’s the anti-fail.

@Veronica: See above.

So there’s a similarity in the opening animation. In my books, that doesn’t count as plagiarism. If design trends weren’t emulated, we wouldn’t have the pastel coloured, rounded-corner goodness we call Web 2.0.

By: Fabian

Fabian — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:33:23 +0000

I see the similarities. Idk, maybe when watching both, you have to get the love you have for youtube out of your head.

By: Veronica

Veronica — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:46:36 +0000

@tomaz - get your eyes checked. epic fail.

By: Art

Art — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:41:09 +0000

Everyone seems to have there own opinion but I find it extremely cheesy, regardless of who owns a specific color or design. Some original work on youtube’s end would have been just!!!

By: revenue robot

revenue robot — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:40:04 +0000

ahhhh… empires stealing(”ripping”)from empires… it’s a dog eat dog world… i love it! however hate it when it happens to little guys such as myself…

By: Tomaz

Tomaz — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:38:39 +0000

not a single thing in common. you fail

By: Dom

Dom — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:26:45 +0000

This looks like one of those things a designer has seen and ended up using without realising where he/she had seen it. Designers are like that - they store up ideas all the time, without intentionally copying.

But there’s no doubt *someone* at YouTube should have noticed the similarity and said something. Projects like that don’t just go live without going through multiple levels of management, so someone should have noticed somewhere along the line.

By: Nick Schmidt

Nick Schmidt — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:23:19 +0000

I wonder if Jay & Ryanne & Zadi know about this..

I will tell them..

By: Veronica

Veronica — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:12:26 +0000

@Tyler - No, obviously they do not. But to use such a similar design when doing a video showcase especially when they were (or at least, should be) aware of Pixelodeon’s existence takes it past the line.