Research Your New Logo
Recently, Auckland City Council was forced to change their newly designed logo due to similarities with Triangle Television’s logo. The decision has already cost more than $37,000 in legal fees and re-branding efforts. One member of the council admitted to having already spent more than $180,000 on the image makeover. This price includes market research, printing templates, stationery, signs and banners.
What is the lesson of this story? Do your research. Even if you think that you are being original in your design, you may be duplicating design which has already been created. You probably didn’t realize you were using a previous idea, but you did. How can you make sure this doesn’t happen? Ask your fellow design community if they have seen something that is similar. Do some research, check and see if you have duplicated an idea. It could save you thousands.
Tags: logo, logo design
December 12th, 2007
That’s pretty ridiculous. Those two marks look nothing alike — they’re completely different stylized triangles. Auckland is clearly stronger. I’m guessing Triangle Television is based in Auckland.
December 13th, 2007
Triangle’s logo sucks! It looks unfinished and unbalanced. I disagree with that ruling. Does Triangle have rights to every triangle made now?
December 14th, 2007
I completely agree withe Paul and Jeff. It would be interesting to learn more about the ruling. Any ideas?
December 14th, 2007
It’s sad when designs like this are “forced” to change. The logos both have strokes that form a triangle, and they’re both blue, but how many other logos can you find like that? My guess is hundreds.
Not to mention that the Triangle Television logo is pretty ugly compared to the Auckland City Council version.
December 18th, 2007
This is totally ridiculous. Design is all about taking a previous design and building upon it adapting it to your needs.
December 26th, 2007
Not sure that I agree with that ruling. Even if they shared similar features they are just stylized triangles. I don’t believe anyone will be shopping for televisions and find themselves in the middle of a city council meeting any time soon. I think they both ripped off AOL.
January 10th, 2008
How can you steal a triangle, that shape has been around for years, and should be in the public domain. I could see it as stealing if the triangle was drawn the sam and used the same colors, but it clearly is an original take on the triangle. I’ll bet even the meaning of the triangle is different. All Auckland City Council would have to say to defend it is something like… “It’s not a triangle, it’s a tent.”
Triangle Television’s Logo looks like a Doritos chip as far as I’m concerned.