While extensive research has been conducted on text-based plagiarism in tertiary education, with corresponding clearly defined rules for avoidance, far less scholarly material exists concerning perceptions of visual plagiarism. Accordingly, this study investigates ethical considerations specific to applied arts education via three information-gathering focus groups and a subsequent online survey. The resulting qualitative data was analysed using Grounded Theory Methods and revealed significant discrepancies in knowledge. From this analysis, four broad experiential themes were identified: Local, Definition, Honesty, and Education (LDHE). Based on these findings and the underpinning literature, this paper puts forward a conceptual framework for addressing visual plagiarism. The LDHE framework was developed in direct response to the identified experiential themes and their respective concerns, thus providing art and design faculty with a foundational tool to generate and critically analyse pedagogies for preventing visual plagiarism in the context of applied arts tertiary education.