Thomson Reuters unveiled their new brand a couple of weeks ago and to my surprise, the new marked developed by Interbrand looked surprisingly similar. Hmm, separated at birth perhaps? I seem to recall having designed an identity for an ill-fated company called “Semprio” which fell victim to the dot-com burst about 8 years ago with my then Design Director Sheri Bates and Creative Director Clifford Selbert of Selbert Perkins Design.

But then again, this isn’t the first time that Cliff has fallen victim to a case of separation at birth. Below is the logo for Design Within Reach as compared to the logo of Selbert Perkins Design which I believe was designed about 20 years before Design Within Reach.

Are there truly any original ideas anymore or have we fallen victim to a case of unconsciously paying homage to design we’ve seen and liked? I’m afraid to say that at times I’ve fallen victim to this too. Sigh…