Quark, the software company that has perpetuated a love/hate relationship with designers for the past two decades, unveiled a brand-spanking new corporate identity yesterday. According to the official press release, the color gods at Pantone have even dubbed the logo's new complexion as 'Quark Green'. It's clean, simplified, streamlined… and just a little too similar to the identity for the Scottish Arts Council. Green with envy, perhaps? Via MacMerc.com
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OUCH! and people actually PAY for that...
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I think the type is really bland, too.
Overall, they've taken "less is more" too far.
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Did you know that the lowercase 'a' in Peter Bruhn's Girl typeface is nearly the same as the Quark logo as well? Isn't that handy?
And while this thread is still fresh in our minds, there's plenty more analysis, discussion and examples of derivative logosity over at Speak Up.
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I thought I heard some final breath from quarks HQ recently. It's good they loaded the gun and finished the job themselves. I, for one, welcome our new Adobe overlords.
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Ha ha... lol... Zeek, I too welcome "our new Adobe overlords".
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And still more... The UK-based Alcone Marketing Group for one and Sterling Brands for two - both share the now familiar square-round shape. This observation makes one question why two supposed high-end marketing and branding companies would have such similar logos in the first place... if the organizations that create brands for other companies can't produce original work for themselves, god help their clients.
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Similar to quite a few...
http://www.bahamas.com/
http://www.torontounlimited.ca/
http://www.designers-network.com/
http://www.smart.com/
http://www.artworkers.org/
http://www.kutkm.edu.my/
http://www.gotransit.com/
http://www.midasproductions.ie/
http://www.club-laspalmas.nl/
http://www.smartcom.cl/conectados/
http://store.akademiks.com/
http://www.dereksworld.com/
http://www.moen.com/
http://www.alcone.co.uk/
http://www.technorati.com/ (Well, kind of.)
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Not only does it look like all those other logos, but it also reminds me of some of the Veer wallpaper.
http://www.veer.com/download/wallpaper/popgodsteel800x600.jpg
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Good catch Chad. Here's an example of Rian Hughes' Popgod typeface using the lowercase 'a'. It's no Girl, as mentioned previously, but it's still darn close.
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And here we go again...
A proposed logo for the Fedora Linux organization and its various affiliated groups seems to be suffering from an acute case of pointy circle syndrome as well.
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Take 2 of the most basic shapes, a circle and square, and combine them. It's not inconceivable that somewhere in the world 2,3,4 or 200 graphic designers came up with the same original (basic) idea.
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Haven't you heard? Pointy circles are the new swirls!
(Grant H knows what I'm talking about)
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Whoa... the geometric form itself seems quite common. Nice list of finds, Kevin!
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Conspiracy?
Probably not...
Laziness?
Yeah.
It's just a simple circle and square or triangle "the building blocks of design." Unimaginative designers revert to them ALL the time.
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The orbited orb is so late nineties, now it is all about the pointy circle!
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"We wanted to help Quark break out of the visual 'sea of sameness' that lumps together so many corporate software companies," said Chris Wood, creative director at SicolaMartin and designer of the new Quark logo.
Heh. I Just couldn't resist twisting the knife.
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I'm going to assume there was a very happy Quark Chief Marketing Officer and a very frustrated designer out there.
Until now ... Vindication!
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There truly is nothing new under the sun. Don't know why this should be surprising.
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The difference is obvious: the one on the left is the letter Q and the one on the right is, uh, an abstract thistle.
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Not to worry - as I've said before I'm sure someone will release a Quark Xtension to fix this logo problem. ;)
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"The orbited orb is so late nineties, now it is all about the pointy circle!"
Quark is so late nineties. ;)
First they shovel a crappy update to you, then they steal your logo. Sounds much like an abusive husband.
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It's a good logo. It may not be a blatant copy. There is such a thing as coincidence (that's why the word exists). We are all influenced by each other. Best design wins. Get over it. (imo).
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Does anyone think that one of those parts of the Fedora logo looks similar to the Flash logo?
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I am not a fan of Quark, but come on now, Have you people never been through an identity process before? 50, 100, 200 roughs, boiled down... the combinations of shapes, not just conceptually but just for a q, this is not surprising. There is absolutely nothing new under the sun. If you have never slaved over a mark for weeks, only to have some dumb ass come up and drop some obscure coffee shop logo on your desk the somehow resembles the mark just signed off on, then shut the f*ck up.
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Eric (and others) - I think the point of the matter ends up being less about the similarity of the design and more about the lack of inspiration in the final solution. As a simple, uncomplicated logo, I suppose the green Q works. As a powerful, invigorating brand statement, it fails - miserably. Is it a "good" logo? I think that's still open to debate.
Monovox - Yes, this has happened to me more times than I care to recall. But in your case, how many of those logos that were signed off were for clients of the same profile and calibre as Quark? Not many, I imagine. Quark should have done their homework on this one. It's their main identifier, their icon, their visual designation amidst the numerous other software and design companies. Similar, identical, or not... they didn't perform enough (if any) due diligence before compromising on this design.
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"Quark is so late nineties."
Actually, I find that Quark is very late 70's. Anyone here remember using Quark Word Juggler for word processing on their Apple II? Or am I showing my age?
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I find that Quark is very late 70's...."
You guys had computers in the 70s?
/snark.
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Similar... WTF! How about an exact RIP-OFF! Summon the lawyers! (:
Way to go Quark... as if your own brutal software updates weren't pathetic enough now you've resorted to stealing identities.
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This logo should be no surprise if you go to the SicolaMartin website and look at their portfolio for corporate identity. Their other work seems quite unimaginative, I am sorry to say. You would think that with all of the money Quark charges for it's software that they would of had some left to do a search for similar logos before they signed off on this one.
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Why does Quark use an "a"?
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The shape was never intended to represent a lowercase 'a'. It just happens that when you distill an uppercase 'Q' down to basic, constituent parts, you end up with something very similar to a lowercase 'a'. I suppose there's something to be said for doing a bit more 'QA' work in advance.
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You certainly may. The more, the merrier...
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I think the inventor of the guitar pick should sue them all!
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Here's yet another similarity:
http://www.adcritic.com/nospot/
No exactly, but the shape is pretty close.
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Additional commentary, speculation and follow-through by Gene Gable over at Creativepro.com: Sometimes a Logo Is Just a Logo. Quote: "As soon as Quark released its new logo, similar designs surfaced all over the place. Is it a giant conspiracy? More likely, Quark and its design firm SicolaMartin fell into the trendy logo pit."
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It's a good logo. It may not be a blatant copy. There is such a thing as coincidence (that's why the word exists). We are all influenced by each other. Best design wins. Get over it (imo).
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This logo should be no surprise if you go to the SicolaMartin website and look at their portfolio for corporate identity. Their other work seems quite unimaginative, I am sorry to say. You would think that with all of the money Quark charges for it's software that they would of had some left to do a search for similar logos before they signed off on this one.
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Actually, I don't like it too much. Nothing special...
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I'm just starting to use Illustrator. I'm really a Photoshop kinda girl... but in lesson one we learned how to square a circle.... click the pen "v" thingy on one of the anchors and presto... you have the Quark logo. I guess I don't need to progress to lesson two.
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Well, would you look at that... Quark redesigned their logo... again. Eschewing any streamlined similarity to previously mentioned identities for an amateurish bit of three-dee, push-button fugliness. Oh, I'm sorry... did I say that out loud?
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Quark realized they're not hip enough to steal a logo, so reverted back to the rotating vector orb we're all familiar with! When will Adobe buy them out and put an end to the misery?
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... and now a competition will occur, planned all along by Quark to find the most near perfect matches to the simple logo mark released earlier this year. The winner will have the opportunity to design a new logo (for no monetary compensation) and have their branding released the the world as the (cough) NEW Quark Identity. What an opportunity. Calling all students, proffesionals, marketing and branding wizards alike.
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I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at the potential reality behind that comment TipHook ... ok, I think I'll laugh. Ha.
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I thought it was the letter A at first. Be real sad to have a typo in your logo. The logo itself reminds me of those arrows that were made from squares that always pointed at a 45 degree angle that was used by kids who wanted to give their website that "hip, 21st century" look.
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This is really funny cause a friend of mine just pointed me to this discussion after seeing my current pet project.
now admittedly I generate my designs based on the bahamas design, but then again... I'm a developer, not a designer.
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Those two logos are strikingly similar! This is very weird because I would not expect something like this from a company that prides itself on being the designer's best friend.
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