Panic! Okay, maybe not quite yet.
I’ve run into this a couple of times, mostly after I’d designed a new logo for a client. Once or twice they’ve come back to me, worried that their logo looked like another logo floating around out there.
Luckily, in each case, they really didn’t look anything alike, rather, shared only a few characteristics. Disaster averted.
Now that being said, it is becoming increasingly difficult for designers to come up with truly unique designs.
I’m not saying that as a copout, it’s simply a fact.
This is partially because practically everything that can be thought of already has been done, and also because of our global communications. Everyone and everything is interconnected, so it’s nearly impossible to have pure, unadulterated inspiration.
Even the most honest designers, once they’ve seen something, that image is burned into their subconscious and may resurface, unwittingly, into a logo design later. While good designers will rack their brains and try to think of design solutions that aren’t obvious, at the end of the day, it’s simply a numbers game.
So what if your new logo, or a logo you designed for someone, actually DOES look like another logo already in existence?
Do you demand your money back, or start over from scratch? No so fast. First, check through these criteria to see if this is something you really need to worry about to begin with.
1. Ask yourself: are the logos in the same industry?
The rule of thumb is, similar logos are more acceptable the more distinct the industries are. Say you find a logo that is eerily similar to yours, but you’re in healthcare but theirs is in the entertainment industry.
Since the primary focus of a logo is to differentiate yourself from your direct competitors, it’s less of a problem if there’s similarities across different industries.
Similar looking logos are more acceptable the more distinct the industries are. Click To Tweet
2. Ask yourself: are the companies in the same region?
Even if two competing businesses have similar logos, the problem is mitigated if the companies are separated by geography. Now, this can be up to interpretation, but generally holds true.
So for example, if you’re based on the West coast of America, and you have a competitor with a similar logo, but they’re located across the pond in Ireland, you probably don’t have much to worry about.
The worst case scenario?
You have a similar logo to a company that’s located in the same city as you, who deals in the same industry. Which means you or your designer didn’t do enough research, because something will have to change; either you or them, and I doubt they’ll want to be it.
What about you?
Any close calls with logo designs that looked the same? How much can a logo be similar before you say it’s a rip off? Is having similarities always a bad thing?
Sheila Patterson is the owner and Creative Director behind Apex Creative. GCU professor by day, brand identity expert by night, she loves all things related to design. When she's not creating amazing logos and websites, you can find Sheila tormenting her husband and two feline furbabies, catching the latest Game of Thrones episode, or reading a good book.
Naps are nice too.
7 Comments. Leave new
Dear Sheila, this article is quite timely to my own endeavor. “Nothing new under the sun” comes to mind as well as “chasing after wind”. Love to know that a business promoting fine visual art does not incorporate the letter “a” or “A” as associative. Not interested in specificity as much as logo design theory. Any thoughts?
John, thanks for reading! You are right, especially regarding graphic designer, there really isn’t anything new under the sun. Part of the trick is to recycle things in new and every increasingly interesting ways, which in of itself is a challenge.
Nice reading. We once had to face such issue. Luckily, the logo had not been put into “action” in business cards or a website, but still the client had accepted our proposal and even paid us an upfront.
Someone in the team came up to the studio that morning waving the newspaper as he shouted: hey all! We must stop everything regarding the logo for client-x!
The logo was quite similar and althought we always work on ideation processes that usually return nice unexpected ideas, that time we had to arrange a a meeting with the client and honestly show him the problem.
This lead us to a complete new start from scratch and in the end, the result arose as an even better logotype, asides from generating even more complicity with the client due to the exercise in honesty and trust
In return, that not only made us better professionals but brought new leads to the studio.
Hi Joan,
thanks for reading! Interesting story, I’m glad it worked out well and that you guys caught it relatively early on. Worst case scenario, the logo and all it’s collateral is already rolled out before you realize something is wrong! At least your client was gracious about it and you came to an even better solution. Thanks for sharing!
When I found out sometime that my works look similiar with someone works. Then Google’s “Search with Images” feature comes to use! So I search my in progress work to find any similiarities and change it, even redesign it from the sketch. Thats when creative juices inside me boil so hot to evade ‘nothing new under the sun’ creed. Now I can say that it not only make me work harder, but wiser too.
Thanks for the comment! That’s a good idea, I need to start doing that 🙂
Hey Shaila!
If two logos look similar (but not the same), are in the same industry and same country (lets say we are using the same animal but different positions), would it be impossible to register a trademark? does it represent any LEGAL problem?
Thank you so much for the help!