When logos look alike
It’s becoming more and more difficult to execute original logo designs. No matter how clever your idea, the chances are someone has created a very similar logo. Why is that? We’re all surrounded by the same influences, exposed to the same shapes, forms and patterns. With the importance of branding in the marketplace, and thousands of designers working on similar projects, it’s obvious ideas will, from time-to-time, look almost identical.
Here I have compiled a few similar logos, showing them side-by-side so you can see what logo designers face today.
Sumpter & Gonzalez LLP and Stylegala.
National Film Board (recently updated) and Virtual Global Taskforce.
Scottish Arts Council and Artworkers.
One Spa, Manulife One and Penzeys One Magazine.
SimpleBits and LogoMaid (LogoMaid link directs to a Flickr thread with a fascinating commentary).
pseudoroom design and Cyberathlete Professional League.
Ubuntu and Human Rights First.
Graphic Design Blog and Peter GI.
Star Sports and maltastar.com.
Sun Microsystems and Columbia Sportswear.
Applied Materials and Planned Parenthood.
searchmash and smashLAB.
Wayback Machine and Google Blogoscoped.
Beats by Dr. Dre and Anton Stankoswki’s 1971 Stadt Bruhl logo.
Not to mention the BigFix logo.
British Paints and Pagan Osbourne.
LA Lakers and LA Clippers.
Belfast City and South Hams Food and Drink.
Blackburn Market and Barrow.
Wise words
Tell yourself at every step in the design process that someone has undoubtedly already thought of this and what can you do to really set it apart. In design, and particularly logo design, the pessimistic axiom that “everything has already been done” is becoming more and more true, and it is only the virtuous designer who can continue to stand out in a sea of sameness.
Mike Davidson
Others talking about logo originality
- Originality in logo design, from Mike Davidson.
- Sometimes a logo is just a logo, on CreativePro.com
- History of the NBC logo, on etiziano.
- The Quark logo, on Antipixel.
- Quark reloaded, on Speak Up.
- Which logo ripped off the other one? From Brian Yerkes.
- Godbit logo imitation, on Godbit Project.
- Hey Google! Where’d you get that logo? On ideasonideas.
- Intel stole our logo, on EcoGeek.
- Just how original is your logo design? On davidairey.com
Your valued input
What resources do you use to ensure you don’t infringe on copyright?
Have you seen any other similar logo designs?
UPDATE: 01 August 2008
Comments are currently disabled. Please use my contact form with suggestions for similar logos. Many thanks.
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65 excellent comments, click here to add one
Pat
I was quick once to accuse another designer of copying a logo I had done, only to realize that the element in question was really something very common. I hadn’t realized that I had basically used the arches from an RSS Icon as part of a logo I had created, as the logo was for a company that had nothing to do with blogging. I wrote a long post about it at my blog here.
I think we also need to realize when designing that we need to be designing for the market our clients are in, not necessarily the world wide market. Not every business will have exposure to every country on the planet, so building a brand that is strong in their market is probably more important than ensuring 100% originality throughout the entire world (by this I mean honest similarities. Stealing a logo from one market to use in another is still not right. I just mean we shouldn’t burden ourselves with researching every logo ever made just so that the ma and pa store logo doesn’t look the same like the shoe company in China… I hope that makes sense).
Jul 22nd, 2008
David Airey
It can be all too easy to accuse someone before looking at the bigger picture. In your case, with the RSS waves, that’s an extremely common icon, so it’s good you’ve updated your post.
You make a valid point about localities, and small businesses. The expense of indepth research isn’t something everyone wants to take on. Having faith in your designer plays a big part, which is where logo design contests can sometimes leave you in ‘hot water’.
I’m curious to know just how much emphasis other logo designers place upon trademarking, and what factors are taken into consideration when deciding. Thanks for commenting.
Jul 22nd, 2008
Rudy Vaughn
I’ve found that most of the time my first ideas for a logo are a little cliche and have been done before. It’s a designer’s job to dig a little deeper and try to find the essence of the company. It’s difficult at times but the result is usually worth the effort!
Rudy Vaughn’s last blog post…An inspired thunderstorm
Jul 22nd, 2008
liam
Interesting collection, I think the fact that there are so many concepts which are similar it really makes those truly original ones shine just that little bit more.
liam’s last blog post…125+ Unconventional Sources of Web Design Inspiration
Jul 22nd, 2008
David Airey
I go through a similar process, with most of the obvious ideas surfacing at the beginning. It’s why the sketching process is essential, and I agree, usually worth the effort.
Liam,
So true. It takes a design you either haven’t seen before, or have very rarely seen in order to shine.
Jul 22nd, 2008
Daniel Campos
Great post!!! I’ll link this in my blog, ok!
Regards
Daniel
Daniel Campos’s last blog post…Equação dos logos: Logólogos
Jul 22nd, 2008
Kyle Anderson
Wow, some of those are really close, especially the first one. I guess a good question would be, which one came first?
Kyle Anderson’s last blog post…Improving Magento Speed & Performance With MySQL Query Cache
Jul 22nd, 2008
Bas
About two years back I designed the logo of a simulation company during my studies, ten months later I saw a very similar design within the logo of a product I used much. Never my intention to copy it though; I suppose the shape was just in my subconsciousness.
Funny to see more famous examples.
Jul 22nd, 2008
David Airey
Glad you enjoyed the read. When referencing my content on your own blog, I’d appreciate if you don’t copy the entire article, instead keeping it to around 10 or 15%, and by uploading my images to your own server, rather than hotlinking, you’ll be able to keep your posts looking just as you want them to. Cheers.
Kyle,
the first one is incredibly close, although that’s a particular issue where monograms are concerned. There are only so many ways to arrange two letters.
Bas,
Ah the power of the subconscious. Subliminal advertising can affect us more than we realise.
Jul 22nd, 2008
Cory Mathews
How about Overstock.com and Opera.com Both the same red O
Cory Mathews’s last blog post…Searching Tips for Opera
Jul 22nd, 2008
Sean Hodge
I’ve always been concerned about companies I’ve designed logos for trademarking their logos. To a certain extent this is a lawyers job though.
I typically only research their main competitors. There is no guarantee that the original logo I’ve designed will by trademarkable.
I’ve always thought that the more illustrative you make a logo, and the less reductionist, the more likely it will be unique. Though often the simpler a logo is the bolder it stands.
I tend to design more icon style logos for this reason. They have some illustrative flair, but are still bold and simple.
I’m curious, have you ever had an issue with a client not being able to trademark a logo you’ve designed? Thanks.
Sean Hodge’s last blog post…Inspiration - Doodlage
Jul 22nd, 2008
Tracey Grady
This is a tricky part of logo design. Another challenge for designers is when the client wants to incorporate a visual element because it’s in fashion right now (despite their logo needing to be, essentially, timeless), or wanting a local icon which many other businesses have already used e.g. mountains if there’s a mountain range in the region. Creating something which stands out becomes very challenging.
Jul 22nd, 2008
Pat
Thanks, David.
The main reason it took me a bit to realize the RSS Icon thing was because my head wasn’t in “blog” mode at the time I designed it. I honestly did not even think about the RSS Icon when I designed the logo, as the logo was for an audio company, not a blog. It wasn’t until Maarten (the designer I complained about) pointed out the RSS Icon thing that I realized my complaints were totally unfounded.
Pat’s last blog post…Developing a Theme - Colours
Jul 22nd, 2008
cyclocross
Wilde said it best:
“Talent borrows, genius steals”
Jul 22nd, 2008
Peter Sullivan
Sean brings up a great question. I wonder if trademarks passed for both logos in the examples above? I know markets are taken into account. I’m currently awaiting my trademark acceptance for my company’s logo and it makes me wonder…
Jul 22nd, 2008
Peter Chon
Great article.
I’m currently working on a logo for a SMS company that I felt was rather unique and original only to find out it looks exactly like the blackberry logo. (Doh!)
I think having so much information available makes us lazy in coming up with fresh new idea. I’ll be the first to admit searching through google images for logo ideas. (and monkey see, monkey do)
However, I think by repeating the same style of logo it helps in identifying the industry as a whole. (i.e. RSS swoosh for anything related to SMS, internet, broadcasting, telecommunication) Not necessarily a bad thing.
*shrug*
Jul 23rd, 2008
Bob
Here’s another one:
archive.org (the wayback machine logo)
blogoscoped.com (the blogoscoped logo)
Jul 23rd, 2008
Sean
I like the applied materials and planned parenthood examples.. lol -
Jul 23rd, 2008
Nick
I have a third item for the “ONE” logo: Penzey’s Spices magazine called “One”:
http://www.penzeysone.com/
It even has your own website’s heart logo incorporated into it! Freaky.
Three in One .. truly a holy trinity of logos.
Jul 23rd, 2008
Trish
Coming from Phoenix, AZ, where every logo has a sun in it, I probably saw more similar designs there than anywhere I have lived and designed. While still in Houston, TX, I designed the Polaris Construction logo. A year later we relocated to Phoenix, AZ, and I was researching trademarks in the area. Low and behold an extremely similar design was being used by a spa product. Polaris also turned out to be a popular name for construction companies as a whole; although, all those we found were out of business or in the process of and did not have registered logos. So they could register the logo if they want. I believe money is the factor there.
When designing the Mosaic Homes logo, I came up with several versions as I worked my way to the final. One of those versions I saw on a billboard in my community a year later for a bank. No copying from either of us, just a very similar idea. Luckily I did take it to the next level and it is currently the best logo I’ve ever designed.
Others bring up a good point about the client wanting a particular look or even lusting after someone else’s design. It happens to me all the time and it is a constant fight to keep clients from outright plagiarizing everything they see.
Trish
Jul 23rd, 2008
Emilie
My dad has worked for applied materials my whole life and I never noticed that it looks like planned parenthood.
Jul 23rd, 2008
Joe Kennedy
Hi - frequent visitor at davidairey.com - you guys bring up a great point. But how can you do research to see if the logo is in fact trademarked. Ya you can look up trademarks in uspto.gov (U.S.) but how can you see if your design is similiar to someone elses.
Jul 23rd, 2008
milo
Scottish Arts Council and Artworkers looks similar to this logo: http://snipurl.com/33il5 just flipped…
Intention?
Jul 23rd, 2008
David Airey
Good catch. I suppose at least one (Opera) uses a shadow, even if I’d recommend against it.
Sean,
Thanks for your insight. I have had an issue with one particular client, where the idea I arrived at had been trademarked by London Council (no getting around that one). Back to the drawing board it was.
Tracey,
There have been many times I’ve needed to educate clients about trends, and how following them can leave your logo dated and tired.
Peter S.,
Another question is whether these examples were trademarked at all, or if just one was. It’d be interesting to know.
Peter C.,
At least you caught the Blackberry similarity before you finished (or had you?). Thanks for commenting.
Bob,
Those are good examples. I’ll add a few more to the post. Cheers.
Nice find, Nick. Thanks for letting us know about it.
Trish,
You mention your Mosaic Homes logo as your best. I’m curious why you don’t place it at the top of your portfolio page, so it’s the first one seen?
Joe,
Thanks for listing the US trademarking resource.
Milo,
One of the links in my post (from davidairey.com) features similarities between my own logo and the old Dosh Dosh design (much closer I think you’ll agree).
Jul 23rd, 2008
Roberta Seldon
David, I have to agree with you and say that designers do sometimes come up with similar ideas. At other times, however, some designers blatantly copy other designs– which is something that I really hate. I’m not saying that that’s what these guys did, but I’m just saying that sometimes it happens.
Jul 23rd, 2008
diogo
I scrolled all the comments looking for an answer to your first question –What resources do you use to ensure you don’t infringe on copyright?– and didn’t found it. I guess no one knows how to do it, and neither do I…
I just hope this doesn’t create some kind of paranoia that will lead us to avoid simple forms and increasingly create more and more complex logos… ’cause I still believe less is more.
diogo’s last blog post…The second part of Portugal against The Netherlands at the…
Jul 23rd, 2008
Zach LeBar
I’m really kinda surprised that so many of these examples are rather famous ones.
I think a good way to avoid this problem is to, as a good designer should, dig deeper into the company to find the essence that could be turned into their logo, as Rudy Vaughn said. If you look at ones, like the first example, and the Overstock/Opera logos, they are just typographic, without a unique graphical element. I think when a logo consists of more that just a typeface, even a custom one, though less so in those cases, its easier to be unique.
Jul 23rd, 2008
Trish
I do consider myself to be a good print designer, but I suck at designing my own website. Shoot it took me fifteen years to finalize my Contemporary Native logo.
You are right the Mosaic Homes logo should go at the top and I should take out those that are partnership logos or those that are all client and certainly not me. Unfortunately, I’m obsessive compulsive so everything in my website is chronological. My other issue is that I am afraid to leave anything out. Yeah, such and such logo is not that great, but there is one genius detail in it I want people to see. There are also logos I’ve designed that I hate, but the clients loves them and I get other positive feedback, so again, I’m afraid to leave them out just because I hate them. There are also logos I love that do get bad feedback, but I love them so I stick by them.
As for print design samples, they suck, too, I know. It is hard to get that gorgeous design piece when your client is working on a shoe string budget. Seems conservative clients go hand-in-hand with small budgets as well. The cool stuff is often rejected for the same old stuff because it is what the client is comfortable with.
Yeah, my website portfolio sucks, I know. Being an old print designer I never fully embraced website development. Someday I’ll have enough money to pay someone to develop the portfolio site of my dreams.
Someday.
Trish
Jul 23rd, 2008
Brian Yerkes
Nice post David.
I hadn’t seen the Sumpter & Gonzalez LLP and Stylegala logos…That’s just nuts!
It’s just like music today…..it’s all been done….songs today will always be inspired by something in the past….samples are on everything these days…it’s all about how you put your spin on the concept that’s already been done a thousands times and make it your own design.
Brian Yerkes’s last blog post…Obama versus McCain : Web Design War
Jul 23rd, 2008
Trish
As a designer I can’t believe it has all been done. I believe in order to be a good musician you can’t believe everything has been done musically as well.
I’m so tired of hearing people moan and complain about this, “It’s all been done.” Why even be a designer then? Why listen to music ever again? Why live?
Every generation believes they’ve hit the end of creativity. But if you look back over the last 150 years and compare what we have today with its counterpart 150 years ago, what we have today looks unique in every way. Sure, it took 150 years of gradual change to get there, but it is here!
Creativity is a bit like evolution, you can’t get the perfect organism without years of experiment, failure and luck. As time and thought progresses, perfection seems farther and farther away, but that doesn’t mean you stop striving for it.
Sure for every creative genius who gets recognized, 100 end up like Van Gogh where their creative contribution is not recognized until after death. You know what? I’ll settle for that.
What will art, advertising and music be like 150 years from now? Don’t you want to be a part of the evolution? I do.
Trish
Jul 23rd, 2008
Dave Klonke
Here’s one…the illustration on the new McDonald’s coffee cups and the new MillerCoors logo. I’m not sure the McDonald’s version is supposed to be an overheard view of a coffee cup, but it looks similar to me, nonetheless.
Great post and I really enjoy following your blogs.
Dave Klonke’s last blog post…Lookalike logos…
Jul 23rd, 2008
Sam Van Eman
Great, and uncanny, finds.
I’m not a graphic designer, though I’m interested in it and actually attempted to host a contest to redesign Sherwin-Williams “Cover the Earth” logo over at http://newbreedofadvertisers.blogspot.com/2008/07/cover-earth-logo-contest.html.
No takers, though.
Two thoughts on this post. First, I’m guessing you (artists) visually consume even on a subconscious level. While some folks certainly make blatant attempts at mimicry, I wonder how often you sit down to draw and your brain produces a thing that seems original but is really only remembered. Can you imagine having a search engine (inter-cranial?) to verify this when this is happening?
Second, books and magazine articles and TV episodes often have remarkably similar features, but aren’t considered plagiarism. Is it okay to resemble another’s work simply because it’s good art, or is that taboo for graphic designers?
Jul 23rd, 2008
Michael Laborde
Love it Dave… love it! The funny part is that I am constantly doing this when I see logos. Some really are strangely alike, regardless of being on purpose or accident. Its always a fun scavenger hunt.
The funny part is that you could probably take this further and play sort of a “logo telephone” game. I am sure you would find all sorts of variants that skew and may be inspired from other ones… the first thing I thought of was that Bank of America looks somewhat like the Sun and Columbia marks. I think we could do this for days.
Sports teams are also notorious for doing this. The LA Clippers logo is a blatant knockoff of the LA Lakers, and the NJ Nets Previous logo knocked off the NY Knicks.
Keep up the good work.
Michael Laborde’s last blog post…The “W” Movie Poster
Jul 23rd, 2008
Kelly
David,
A bit late to the party. Looks like you rocked the house with this one!
Scary similarities here. As already pointed out in the comments these are particularly astonishing ripoffs because most are very well-known companies. It really makes me want to run and do research on their trademarks, to see how these passed muster.
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly’s last blog post…Inspiration Points: Go Easy on Yourself
Jul 23rd, 2008
Roberta Seldon
Sam, you are right about that whole “seems original but is really only remembered” thing. I’ve done that a couple of times. Luckily, I caught it before I sent the design to the client.
Jul 23rd, 2008
Trish
There are a lot of logos out there that are the result of mergers, splits, partnerships, acquisitions, etc. where a logo is a deliberate ‘knock-off’ or an update of an original, new logos are generated from a parent logo, or a combination of two or more logos are creatively put together. Similarly, say an investment company owns several companies. Logos may be done in such a way that they relate to each other and back to the parent company as well.
Sometimes you can trace a company’s evolution through growth, merger and takeover by the way the name and logo change. PriceWaterhouse Coopers comes to mind. Or how at&t has added orange to their color palette because of their takeover of Cingular. Fonts, icons, colors, etc. get passed from one company to another because of the ever changing corporate landscape.
I have noticed a trend lately where completely new logos are created to represent new mergers and partnerships, whereas back in the 80s and 90s what I described in the first paragraph was the way to go.
It will be interesting to see how logos continue to evolve with every new merger, split or acquisition.
Trish
Jul 23rd, 2008
Rudy Vaughn
David,
I think this post could expand to similar slogans and taglines as well. Funny how many companies attempt to define themselves in three word bursts:
ABC Company - Tall. Fuzzy. Sushi.
Cheers,
Rudy
Rudy Vaughn’s last blog post…Educate your client…nicely.
Jul 23rd, 2008
Sam Van Eman
Trish, I think it would be fascinating to follow a logo’s genealogy via the artist. This is similar to what you’re saying but instead of following off-shoots back to a parent company, you’d follow the way a logo has been influenced through mentor/apprentice relationships.
Maybe you’d end up realizing you’re related to Kandinsky or Van Gogh, and have the genealogy to prove it.
Sam Van Eman’s last blog post…"Cover the Earth" contest results
Jul 23rd, 2008
Trish
Sam, that would be cool!
Trish
Jul 23rd, 2008
rr
I was surprised to see the National Film Board logo there.
Jul 24th, 2008
Holly
I have another logo to add to the Scottish Arts Council/Artworkers one - the Quark Xpress logo, which you can see here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/hollypop/QuarkLogo.gif
It’s green but it’s exactly the same.
Jul 24th, 2008
David Airey
I’ve taken your suggestions on board and added three new comparisons to the original post:
Wayback Machine and Google Blogoscoped.
Beats by Dr. Dre and Anton Stankoswki’s 1971 Stadt Bruhl logo.
LA Lakers and LA Clippers.
My appreciation to all those who linked to this post, and passed it around others.
Jul 24th, 2008
Dave
Great post, I smell a book…
Jul 24th, 2008
Mike Desjardins
How about Mitsubishi and 3 Diamond Tuna?
http://www.mitsubishi.com/e/images/top_logo.gif
http://i4.peapod.com/c/ZQ/ZQSFC.jpg
Great article.
Jul 24th, 2008
Don
It seems more than obvious that most of these were not coincidental, but flat out copies. Who needs talent and skill when copy/paste will put food on the table?
However, plagiarism can be expensive, in more ways than one.
Jul 24th, 2008
Trish
Oh, you’ll definitely have to add the Quark logo.
This blog is pretty well known and respected. Do you think any of these companies will change their logos because of what is shown here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a list all in one place, in such a popular venue, or done so well. I’m with Dave, smells like a book. You should jump on it David.
Trish
Jul 24th, 2008
LeeCaroline
The Beats by Dr. Dre and Anton Stankoswki’s 1971 Stadt Bruhl logos look remarkably similar to the British Paints logo http://www.britishpaints.com.au/.
Lee
Jul 25th, 2008
DE Govender
Some of these are really rather stretching it…I used to work in the Marketing department of Applied Materials (where I worked with the logo daily) and lived near a Planned Parenthood clinic that I had to pass each day on my commute. Didn’t see any particular resemblance in the logos then and don’t see it now.
The fact that someone has done something similar before (like creating a letterform with two parallel lines) doesn’t mean that the second item necessarily resembles the first. When something looks like a blatant copy (NBC and Nebraska ETV), that’s one thing, but many of these logos simply employ a similar design element or device but do not really look alike.
You need to step out of the forest so you can see it.
Jul 25th, 2008