| 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. |
1) Plagiarism – Copy Cat:The word "plagiarism" comes from the Latin origin meaning "kidnapping". 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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Kind Regards;
VK Pandey
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