There’s a quote by Picasso:
“Good artists copy, great artists steal.”
While I whole heartedly agree with the second half of the statement, the first half of it seems off. Anyone can copy someone else.
I can take your graphic and duplicate it with ease, as can most people who know how to use any sort of design software. That doesn’t make you a good artist, it makes you a good user of software, and if you chose a good design, it may even mean you have a good eye for design at most. (I suppose it’s harder to copy in traditional art formats so they may take some skill. Even then, it doesn’t seem like it would make you a good artist.)
There’s another quote I often remember by Paul Rand:
“Don’t try to be original; just try to be good.”
(or something like that)
This ties into the “stealing” portion of Picasso’s quote. None of us are reinventing the wheel here. We’re designing with shapes and colors and usually fonts someone else designed. We’re hardly, if ever, going to design something original. Our “original” pieces will always contain something stolen but it always pains me to see people blatantly COPY people.
I’d rather see designers try to be original and put out bad design than copy another designer. Especially in this day and age, you’re not gonna get away with it without anyone noticing.