It should, we loved their layout and used it as a design inspiration. What I have found as someone doing a lot of design work (but I'm not a designer) is that if I start from something similar to other designs I can work my way to something that works and is more unique.
To be clear, this process will never produce truly great design work but it is way better than we staring at the blank screen and producing nothing. I'm getting better every day.
True. I've used the same technique when doing Balsamiq mockups. Though I'm pretty sure the UI/design person I'm going to work with will make it fairly different.
I'm certainly liking what I'm seeing, though hopefully down the line the typography can be worked on a bit more. It's not very "warm" -- the whole layout is a little hard-hitting on my eyes. But still pretty solid!
To be clear, this process will never produce truly great design work but it is way better than we staring at the blank screen and producing nothing. I'm getting better every day.