So what happens when you get a brief to design a new logo?
You start with the conceptual then move on to the elements and colours that are
a natural fit with the brand’s equity. Then starts the process of actual
design. There are several options made, with a spin behind each. Presented,
shortlisted, feedback incorporated et cetera. This fine-tuning and shortlisting
continues till the winner is chosen. It can be a long and arduous process, one
which is only partly objective.
But how do you ensure that your logo is completely unique?
And is that even possible?
Here’s a story of some startlingly similar logos.
This is…CNN. No wait,
it’s FDA. Nope, it’s Sega.
One is a US government organization formed in 1906. The
second is a Japanese video game development company which started in 1940. The
third is arguably the most famous cable news network (hence the truly
imaginative name) which first aired in 1980. All three brands take pride in a
respectable pedigree and belong to wholly different categories. That is until
you come to their visual identity. And you’d think they were siblings lost in
the mela at Kumbh.
On scouring the internet, it is discovered that the Sega
logo was designed in 1975. Which makes perfect sense. The style has a very 70’s
nonchalant, lazy vibe about it. The stripes resemble the classic Adidas stripes,
which graced the most popular running shoes for both professional and
recreation athletes in the 60’s and 70’s. At the same time, one could credibly
claim that the logo is a classic example of Japanese minimalism. There is a
mystery behind the Sega logo – some have erroneously claimed that the logo is the work of Naoto Oshima and Yuji Naka, the duo behind Sega's mascot Sonic. Highly unlikely since they were ten and eleven years old in the mid '70's.
Other sources some claim it was the work of the company
founder David Rosen, a former GI stationed in Japan after the war. Since Sega’s history is somewhat obscure we will probably never know. All that is known is
that Rosen married a Japanese girl, set up a company that exported Japanese art
to the USA, merged his company with Goraku Busan a manufacturer of jukeboxes
and slot machines to form Service Games known more popularly as SEGA.
The CNN logo on the other hand was designed in 1980 and
reportedly took all of 48 hours from design to approval. According to Toni
Dwyer of Communication Trends Inc, the firm that worked with CNN prior to its
launch, ‘In
the eleventh hour, it occurred to someone that they needed a logo…We had about
24 or 48 hours to turn around and present a logo…There were several forms of
the logo they weren't exactly wild about, there was one we thought would play
the best, we tried to keep it simple…It was designed with money in mind, so we
tried to keep it one colour.’
Terry McGuirk a former CEO at CNN says it resembled a cable
running through forming the three letters of the brand name and was the one
liked most by Ted Turner. The logo itself was designed by Anthony Guy Bost, a
professor at the University of Auburn for a much negotiated sum of $2,800 (or
$2,400 by some accounts). Since Mr. Bost has now departed this world we will
never know the reality. But suffice to say, when a client gives a designer a
day to come up with logo options, don’t expect earth-shattering creativity.
There is no background available on the FDA logo at least
not in the obvious places. What is interesting to note is the complete lack of
controversy about the logos. There may well have been speculation thirty odd
years ago, but without the omnipresent internet and a few obscure marketing /
advertising manuals serving as sound boxes, the debate if any was possibly
short-lived. The three identities have since thrived in their own right.
Ironically it is the most recent (and possibly the most likely imitator) that
has the most recall. Proof that what you do with the brand is what gives your
visual identity life. And not the other way around.
With the design world becoming increasingly crowded, there
will certainly be a cross-pollination of ideas. So to cry foul every time we
see two logos with some similarity is silly.
Run a search of the net and you
will find dopplegangers abound, perfectly respectable ones too.
The Mini Cooper
and Bentley. Swiat Zdrowia and Unilever. Sun Microsystems and Columbia
Sportswear. Gucci and Chanel. Smart and Stark. Scottish Arts Council and Quark.
Airbnb on the other hand is a company founded in 2008. The current logo was unveiled in 2014 and took the London and San Fransisco based Design Studio a year to complete, during which time four designers visited 13 cities across four continents to absorb and comprehend the Airbnb experience. Below is their rationale behind the design:
Some will arguably raise eyebrows for the logos being too close to
comfort. However the site Design Taxi dismisses this scepticism. While it may not suggest that Airbnb copied Ueda's design, it is interesting to see that 'even hours and months of design can produce a result that has already been seen before'.
In many cases, it is mere coincidence or at best
inspiration with value addition. What is undeniable is that these are all logos with their own unique personality,
representative of a unique brand experience. That is what matters. To seek inspiration is fine, it’s
human, it is real. But to take that inspiration and make it well and truly your
own, that requires imagination and vision.
Photographs courtesy Wiki Commons and Google public domain.
A version of this article was previously published in Aurora Magazine in 2013.
