Can I copy the look of someone else’s website?
Most good websites borrow from somewhere. A designer sees a layout they like and uses the idea. That is how style moves. The line is between borrowing a style and copying someone’s identity, and it is easy to keep to once you know where it is.
The prompt
“Here’s a screenshot of a site I admire [attach it]. Tell me which parts of its look we can borrow for [my site], and which parts belong to them and must stay theirs. Don’t change anything yet.”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
Fair to borrow
- The layout idea. A large photo with one line of text over it. Three columns of short sections. A narrow column of text with a lot of space.
- The colour mood. Warm and earthy, cool and calm, dark and dramatic. Your AI uses your own colours in that mood, and keeps any colour you have marked as fixed.
- The feel of the type. “A classic serif for headings and a plain font for everything else.” The feel is fair to borrow; a paid font is not (see below).
- The spacing and rhythm. How much air there is, how sections are separated, how large the buttons are.
Theirs, not yours
- Their logo and name, and anything that looks so close to them that a visitor could mistake you for them.
- Their words. Headings, descriptions, taglines. Your site keeps your own words. If their words are good, ask why they work and write your own.
- Their photos and drawings. A photo on someone’s site belongs to whoever made it. See Am I allowed to use this photo?.
- Paid fonts. A font licence usually covers one business’s site. Ask for a free font with a similar feel instead.
- Their scripts and moving parts. bernard does not copy code from another site onto yours. If you want something that moves, such as a gallery that slides, ask your AI what bernard can switch on. See What can my site do with JavaScript?.
How to ask so it stays fair
Send a screenshot of the part you like, not the whole site. Then ask:
Borrow the layout, colour mood and spacing from this. Keep my words, my photos, my logo and my own colours.
Your AI describes the look back to you before it changes anything, so you can check it has understood the style and not the content. The steps for the restyle are in Copy a design you’ve seen.
Your own sites are different
If the page you like is on one of your own bernard sites, it is all yours. You can match its look (Make this page look like my other page) or copy the whole page, words included (Reuse a page or photos from my other site).
Questions people ask
- Is it legal to copy another website’s design?
- Borrowing a general style is normal: a calm layout, a warm palette, large serif headings, a lot of space. Copying someone’s logo, words, photos or a distinctive design so closely that people mistake you for them is not. This article is a plain guide, not legal advice. If a look is central to a dispute, ask a lawyer.
- Can I use the same font as the site I like?
- Sometimes. Many fonts are free to use. Others are paid for, and the site you admire paid for the right to use it on their site, not yours. If a font is paid for, ask your AI for a free font with a similar feel. You approve the change on a preview first.
- Can my AI see a website just from its link?
- It can read the words and the list of images on a public page from its link. It cannot reliably see the look that way. For the look, send a screenshot of the part you like.
- Can I copy a page from my own other site?
- Yes, and all of it, words included, because it is yours. Copying between your own bernard sites is a separate job with its own steps, and the copy waits on the new site’s draft until you approve it.