(Un)originality in logo design?

redpushbuttons30 January 2013 · 09:16

I'm was doing some digital sketches for a mark and one of them ended up looking / feeling a bit too familiar.
I remembered and went back to an old logodesignlove.com article called When logos look alike
And indeed, my sketch looks a lot like the classic Stadt Bruhl logo by Stankowski. Basically it's the same just flipped / mirrored and not all rounded.

After lunch I went for a walk and within two minutes I saw a bus driving by with a huge logo similar to Stankowski's.

How important is originality really?
And... is similarity even avoidable? I don't think it is, but when becomes similar too similar?

James Michaels30 January 2013 · 10:03

With millions/billions of logos already in use, most designs you come up with will have similarities to existing logos.

So while originality is good, I think appropriateness for the client is more important. But obviously you don't want to simply copy someone else. Come up with your own design solution, and then search for logos (Google is handy) that might be similar — especially logos used by your client's competitors — to make sure you're not accidentally coming too close to an existing logo.