Copy Cat

I took a trip back to Oregon to visit my family - which was why I haven't posted in two weeks! My wonderful mother took Bradley and I shopping various times and once to my favorite place - Anthropologie! I'm not into the clothes there - though they are cute they are way out of my price range- but I am into all their Home Decor.
While in school I fell in love with installation art- which is the kind of art that transforms the perceptions of a space usually by adding different elements. Well Anthropologie is a great example of this! Their store always has these wild essentially art pieces that totally change the feeling of the store. AND they are constantly changing their store! It is like interior design on drugs.

ANYWAYS, my mom bought me this way cool notepad while we were there.

I can be a printing snob and I love when something is well done and well designed. This notepad is supremely designed- Neat neat image combined with simple typography, its got this cool custom calendar thing at the top and is printed on NICE paper.

Then... Yesterday I found THIS at Michaels:

WHAT!? It is like the same thing but for way less. Slightly more ugly, cheap paper and cheap ink... but really pretty much the same thing. Now of all the Michaels version the "B" was the best. The others were pictures of tacks, or glasses, etc. (Good thing I was giving this one to a friend with a B name!)

So the fancy, well designed one was $7.95... and the Michaels one.. was a dollar.
Ugg. You do the math.
Here's the difference for me. I saw the tiger one from across the store walked over and picked it up and KNEW I was going to buy it (til my mother offered). It feels special because special care was taken in selecting the images, the paper, and the printing.
The Michaels version is clearly a knockoff, but... for the average person is equally cool and unique. And for the awesome price of $1 they get to have something that approaches neat design.

I guess it is sorta like seeing a the painting Starry Starry Night, and then seeing it printed on a purse at the mall. Good design + cheap execution= a happy customer.
Weird.



PS, while we were outside taking pics brad re-discovered my slightly flattened spoon garden markers-  he still thinks they are pretty cool.