Is imitation a sincere form of flattery, or just plain lazy?
We have a very strategic process when we help our clients' to develop a look for their business. It's quite intimate, in that we delve into what the business stands for, and who will love it, and who won't. It's reliant on an open communication between the business owner (client), the brand strategist (the boundary pusher), and the graphic designer.
The designer wants to create something unique and different, the strategist wants something that sincerely tells the businesses story, while the client wants something that feels familiar.
You see, the client is not a plagiarist, a copy-cat, or a wanna-be, they simply gravitate to something that is familiar, and safe. It takes a lot of backbone be the different person on the block, and in fact, we spend most of our impressionable years, our teens, trying to fit in – or stand out just enough to fit in with the other people who stand out just enough. So it's not surprising that we all feel the need to fly under the radar, in the land of tall poppies, it takes a lot to stick out.
Our job is to hold our client's hand and help them to discover what makes them different, but then to help them communicate it to a bunch of people who are on the same page, who feel that they can trust this business because they feel the same way. Someone to forge ahead and zag, when all others are zigging. This is what makes a good brand. And once our client can confidently know why they have their particular different logo, then they can go forth, with gusto, and lead the way for others to embrace their difference.
It's all very easy, and human nature to look like the others, but if you've got a good cause, and a great business, break with that human nature and do what's right (and different) for you.
