Just some quick musings on the subject of logos. Being based out here in sweltering Phoenix, Arizona, we were discussing the logo change that recently occurred for APS (Arizona Public Service), one of the two power companies throughout the metro area.

Several months back, APS changed their logo from this:

To this:

Which is eerily similar to this:

Now, we can understand why APS would want to update their logo. As we stated in our previous post on Medical Device Logos, in which we felt many of them were outdated, the older APS logo did seem to be from yesteryear and it makes sense for them to have their logo imply a movement towards being “green”.

It raises an interesting question for companies developing their logos. There’s the strategic side, saying “this is what we want our logo to represent” as it relates to the business at hand, but shouldn’t logos be developed with other logos in mind and making sure they are not too similar? After all, logos are supposed to be unique visual representations of a company, with “unique” being the operative word.

You can make the argument that the two similar logos above operate in different business sectors and thus don’t necessarily compete with each other, but shouldn’t their similarities be taken into consideration?

Feel free to comment on your thoughts and please share other examples of oddly similar logos from different companies.