A great visual idea sometimes invites imitation

As I write this blog post I have no idea which of these magazines published the concept of the “mask” around the face of Chinese President Xi Jinping, but apparently it was a visual concept that appealed greatly to art directors at three iconic magazines: The Economist, Time and L’Express.

This is not the first time that a good visual idea is echoed by more than one newspaper or magazine. In fact, there have been times in the past when both Time and Newsweek magazines would come up with exactly the same headline for their cover story.

Sometimes it is plain coincidence, as when one obvious visual icon is what comes to mind first to tell the story—as could be the case here.

In more unfortunate circumstances, a “good idea” is “localized” by an art director who simply finds the idea too good to pass. That, of course, is referred to as plagiarism.

I repeat: I have no idea what happened in this case, or who published the visual concept first. So, for now, I’d like to think that it is a good visual concept that made sense.

You take a look here!

Here is the same concept as used by The Economist in 2012

The Economist also created this illustration concept for the current Coronavirus in China.

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