Nothing is Original

Nothing is original. A little historical research tells us as much:

There is nothing new except what has been forgotten. ― Marie Antoinette

All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every designer’s dirty little secret is that they copy other designer’s work. They see work they like, and they imitate it. Rather cheekily, they call this inspiration.  — Aaron Russell

There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt. — Audre Lorde

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal. ― T.S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood

And so this is how I comfort myself today when I see, over at design taxi, that the brand new NYC taxicab logo looks a lot like the logo I did a few years back for a prominent doctor. I think of these quotes, and the notion that ideas beget ideas.

I also realize that the biggest difference between our designs, besides the fat and the skinny “T”, was most likely the weight of the fee ~ which, of course, dampens my effort to look on the bright side (hmmm), but I’m sure there is one.

Although I can only speak for the doctor’s “T”, maybe that bright side has to do with both businesses being pleased about their strong brand identity. After all, that’s what we’re hired to do.