- You'd think that because your
company or project is special
it would need a unique logo to set it apart from the others.
Something one-of-a-kind.
Most of us spend a lot of time
and effort to make our logos unique.
But I was in traffic at a stoplight one day
behind a Volvo
and I realized that its logo type
reminded me of Honda's
which reminded me of Sony's.
You can see why.
They are for all practical purposes identical.
Each is set in an extended version
of the typeface Clarendon or something very similar.
It's an Egyptian style slab serif
all uppercase, practically the same number of letters.
Sony is a little lighter, Volvo a little heavier
Pretty obviously, logo types don't have to be unique.
Look at these three.
I mean, how alike can you be
without being the same?
Bold script, red on white, about the same length.
Not only that but the products they represent
soft drinks, soup and cereal
are all found at the supermarket.
But here's the thing, we don't confuse them.
We don't come home with a box of Wheaties
when we went for a Coke.
It's more important that a logo be
true to the product or the enterprise
than different from other things.
Don't copy or be obviously derivative
but if uppercase Clarendon works for you, use it
even though Sony uses it too.
We won't mistake you for them.