Differentiate the logos- Plagiarism, Inspiration or a Coincidence? |
Categories: Logo Design Tips
Written By: Nora Reed
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Often you come across logo designs that make you think “where have I seen this before?†What do you assume at that point in time? Is it a copy? Is it inspired or just a co-incidence? While it is easy being judgmental on a look-alike logo design, but the truth is not that simple. The menace of plagiarism and content stealing was initially found prevalent in the academic field. Students who are unable to solve or submit their assignments within due date, resort to copy-paste stuff from the internet, claiming it to be original. But nowadays, the blogosphere is one the most vulnerable place, prone to plagiarism and copyright infringement cases. With the advent of online logo design, this nuisance has been rampant in the logo design industry as well. But hold on… its not just logo plagiarism or copying we’re talking about. When we look at identical logos or logo designs that look alike, there are three conclusions that may been drawn from it. The first could be that it is an imitation of another logo design. Second, it may have been inspired by an already present design. Last, it is just by chance that the logo designs look alike. When it comes to logo design, there is a thin line between plagiarism, inspiration and coincidence. Let us analyze each facet individually. |
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1) Plagiarism – Copy Cat:The word “plagiarism†comes from the Latin origin meaning “kidnappingâ€. Plagiarism in the logo design world refers to kidnapping others logo design ideas and thoughts. You wouldn’t like it if someone steals your efforts and reaps its fruits, would you? It is a mostly a downright copy-paste job that implies using others logo and labeling it as your own. Logo plagiarism occurs mostly when the offending party is incompetent of designing a logo within due time and resorts to stealing existing logo designs from the internet. |
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2) Inspiration – Stimulating Ideas:Let’s move on to the next aspect, inspiration. Picture this example. Newton was sitting beneath an apple tree. Suddenly, an apple falls on his head. This gave him motivation to think why this happened. Consequently, Newton discovered gravity. In the scenario, the fallen apple was the source of inspiration since it caused the interest and motivation in Newton. The notion of gravity is the inspiration. Similar is the case with logo designs. When logo designers plan for a corporate logo, they mostly refer to the competitor logos for inspiration and to get a rough idea of what the field demands. This stimulates new and distinct ideas and a somewhat analogous logo design is evolved. The example below….do you really think it’s an inspiration? |
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3) Coincidence – Twist of Fate:Finally, over to the most interesting feature…coincidence. This is the part where logos look alike just by sheer chance. Sometimes, two identical logo designs emerge out of no connection whatsoever. This happens mostly due to lack of research and investigation on the part of a logo designer. When beginning with their logo design, designers should always make sure that what they create must not coincide with the already present designs. Therefore, what do you say about this coincidence between “Google Buzz and UNO� |
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May 3rd, 2010 at 3:20 pm
The first one I think you’ve got spot-on. I’m curious what the non-Google company does but clearly they weren’t even being subtle about it.
The second one I think personally also falls under the Plagarism category. Other than a font-change for the company and the color, the idea is lifted whole with no serious attempt at creating something unique. The concept and execution are identical.
The third one? I think that’s more of a coincidence at best and an inspiration at worst. First of all, UNO’s logo does not incorporate the ellipse quadrant color thing, that’s part of the card design, and secondly UNO is hardly the first people to divide a circular shape into four parts and add colors to them. Yeah, I’d say that Google Buzz’s logo is possibly derivative, but not overtly so.
May 4th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Agree with the above poster, the 2nd area seems less like inspiration and more of a direct theft of ideas. Even the way the shapes look inside the container shape are similar, the whole organic feel. The concept and planning for these logos was all done by the original designer. If it were accurately “inspiration”, there should be some similarities where you can tell the 2nd designer pulled out ideas (say using a container shape to hold many small shapes), but the colour, type placement, and shape design should be unique and of its own. At least, there should be SOMETHING in terms of creativity to differentiate A and B.
May 4th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Mike, the first one is a Chinese search engine – it came about as a result of all the censorship stuff going on over there and Google saying “no more”. I completely agree about the second one being straight-out plagarism! They are way too close for one not to have copied the other. Not a straight cut-and-paste like the Google one, of course – but definitely a copy.
May 5th, 2010 at 12:46 am
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May 5th, 2010 at 1:07 am
Nice article.. thanks.
May 5th, 2010 at 2:08 am
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May 5th, 2010 at 10:10 am
About the second one, all though it looks very similar in the over all designs on the inside of it are different.
May 6th, 2010 at 7:54 am
[...] When we look at identical logos or logo designs that look alike, we usually come to three conclusions…Plagiarism, Inspiration or a Coincidence. Check these examples and tell if you can draw a thin line between these 3 titles.Source:http://www.logoblog.org/wordpress/logos-plagiarism-inspiration-coincidence/ [...]
May 8th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
[...] Differentiate the logos- Plagiarism, Inspiration or a Coincidence?/> [...]
May 8th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
The second one is definitely inspiration. To those that say it’s plagiarism, well, I hope that you guys never design a logo similar to that again. That type of idea has been done many times, and I’m sure both logos lifted the idea from another source at one time. Look at this other example:
http://www.threadless.com/product/804/Stick_Figures_In_Peril
You can’t plagiarize an idea when it comes to design, just the execution. If the inside symbols were similar then I’d say plagiarism, but they are not. Font choice and color are different, as well as both the outer and inner symbols. Placement is similar, but come on. Most logos have the company name just below them.
May 10th, 2010 at 3:43 am
There is a big difference between inspiration and copying, looking at the above designs its clear that the Google logo was copied, the second one is definately copied, and the 3rd looks like a poor coincidence.
May 10th, 2010 at 5:05 am
[...] diferencia entre plagio, inspiración y coincidencia en los logos de diferentes [...]
May 12th, 2010 at 10:14 am
well, that is all good but what if two comapnies have same colors?? in most of the cases it happens that we sterotype the creativity and the finished products looks a lot like something that is already in the market, even when its made from scratch?? what to do then??
May 17th, 2010 at 10:09 am
ouah, je n’avais jamais fais le lien entre uno et google buzz !
thanks !
May 18th, 2010 at 10:04 am
[...] O segundo post do site intitula-se “Plágio, inspiração e coincidência entre logos”, googlei o titulo e em 5 segundos descobri esta pérola: “Differentiate the logos- Plagiarism, Inspiration or a Coincidence?” [...]
May 24th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Thanks for sharing. Sometimes, similarites are intentional to allow viewers to draw relations, consciously or sub-consciously. The first is very obvious.