9 July 2010

Separated at birth? The airport logo and yousendit

| johnboy
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A graphic designer friend sent through the following:

Thought this might picque your interest.

Check out the logo of canberra airport that was designed by one of canberra’s ‘top end’ design houses
http://www.canberraairport.com.au/

airport logo

then, check out this (much longer established) logo of the company Yousendit.com (a service a lot of graphic designers use)
https://www.yousendit.com/

Yousendit logo

coincidence? Maybe a very expensive one!

So hard to be original in this day and age.

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Metropolitan Apartments in Civic Logo:
http://tinypic.com/r/2vdl1q8/3

Metropolitan Museum of Art Logo:
http://tinypic.com/r/xpzvbd/3

Holden Caulfield11:52 am 12 Jul 10

Far be it from me to stick up for Zoo (or whoever did do the work), but the mistake here, if there is one, is in the similarity of the colours. Make one of the logos red and yellow, as an example, and I doubt anyone would look twice. I guess this reiterates the point in post #16 that is the execution of the idea that is causing the suggestion of confusion.

Also, we also don’t know what the client asked for, or what was originally presented and, if Canberra Airport is a demanding client, what they might have turned it into because the boss’ partner is good with colours.

Every design studio in the world, regardless of size or profile, has a greatest misses logo file forced into hibernation at the behest of the paying client.

Besides, give me a selection of logos from two different business fields and I’d say it wouldn’t take long before you could put a couple beside each other and say, “Oh noes, how could they do that!!!”

I don’t see this as a big issue to be honest. Or are we to expect blue and green triangles are forever to be owned by You Send It?

I am pretty sure this brand work was done by Zoo Group, one of Canberra’s biggest and most successful design and communication companies. Funnily enough graphic designers use YouSendIt VERY often. Uhmmmm, how could they not notice the similarities???

its more about the execution than the idea. The idea is a pretty obvious one, but the similarity is in the way the idea was carried out.

It highlights the difference between inspiration and influence.

As far as I could see on the IP Australia database the Canb Airport one was only registered in 2007, but perhaps Im reading it incorrectly.

Holden Caulfield7:29 pm 11 Jul 10

I-filed said :

Is that supposed to be a shadow under the “plane”?

Bizarre graphic. Typically poor work on the part of that company … the airport should consult amongst a circle a little wider than its cronies …

Yes, logos designed by committee are usually the best ones.

Pork Hunt said :

Yes, Parkway’s is similar but I reckon it represents a road not an aeroplane.

On a slightly different note, how stoned does Mrs Parkway look in that photo on their site?

I;m sure people in Kambah are happy they new live in ‘very central Canberra’.

I-filed is correct in that there’s a shadow under the “plane” so it seems to be a plane above a runway.

CanberraCreative3:08 pm 11 Jul 10

trevar said :

Pork Hunt said :

Yes, Parkway’s is similar but I reckon it represents a road not an aeroplane.

I had assumed the Canberra Airport logo represented a runway instead of an aeroplane, but that’s possibly something of a hangover from the days when it was vertical.

It did originally when it was vertical. I think one could now interpret it as “taking flight”. Perhaps they thought a plain old runway did not adequately represent the airport group’s broader business these days.

Pork Hunt said :

Yes, Parkway’s is similar but I reckon it represents a road not an aeroplane.

I had assumed the Canberra Airport logo represented a runway instead of an aeroplane, but that’s possibly something of a hangover from the days when it was vertical.

Is that supposed to be a shadow under the “plane”?

Bizarre graphic. Typically poor work on the part of that company … the airport should consult amongst a circle a little wider than its cronies …

Not quite on topic, but is the green plane meant to make us think the planes are environmentally friendly?

Or that people get airsick?

I can’t think of any other reasons to have a green plane :S

Yes, Parkway’s is similar but I reckon it represents a road not an aeroplane.

On a slightly different note, how stoned does Mrs Parkway look in that photo on their site?

It look like Mrs Parkway has been enjoying a little to much of gods wine. Hic

Even local church Parkway has a similar motif happening…

sexynotsmart8:46 pm 09 Jul 10

Nope. They’re different. No-one is going to confuse one with the other. Even without the writing.

The Canberra Airport one is a cheap tent blown away by propwash.

The other one is a very simple paper plane. Any 12 year old could fold a different design that flies better.

Please note that the filespace one uses the same logo colours as Napster. Now that’s a coincidence that should pique curiosity!

georgesgenitals6:56 pm 09 Jul 10

Most logos are a waste of time.

Also check out the logo of http://www.emptyjets.com.au

The design element of a somewhat stylised plane (or paper plane even) would hardly be amazing considering the businesses in question, but the colour…

CanberraCreative4:40 pm 09 Jul 10

It must be said that the airport has used a logo consisting of two blue triangles beside a green triangle ever since it’s rebranding as Canberra International Airport during the Carnell era. In that form though, the triangles were vertical and above the text, that is the design registered with IP Australia and predates Yousendit, which started operating in 2003. So the airport had the basic logo first.

The updated airport logo though has changed the colours and the alignment of the logo and these would seem to copy Yousendit quite closely. This new logo isn’t registered with IP Australia either.

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