About a week ago, I was browsing through a salon and hair product shop at a nearby outlet mall, when a very familiar design caught my eye. The Twitter bird was part of the design of Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree products.
My first thought was “wow, Paul Mitchell stole Twitter’s logo,” so I quickly took some shots with my cell phone.
And here is Twitter’s design:
It’s also available in a free wordpress theme called “Blue Bird” by Randa Clay.
Upon further research, I discovered that the blue bird originated from a stock image that Twitter used and probably didn’t buy the exclusive rights to. In fact, the blog twistermc mentions that the iStockPhoto user helloyiying created both the bird and the fail whale. Both images are no longer available, so I assume that someone now has the exclusive rights.
Did the Paul Mitchell company intentionally “steal” the logo after Twitter exploded? Probably not, though I have no idea who bought the image first. But it definitely got my attention in a room full of shampoos, and I’m sure others have noticed, too.
So the question is: does this matter? Who owns the rights now? The Twitter bird has become a big part of the Twitter brand. Enough people associate Twitter with the image and even display the bird on their own websites to publicize their Twitter pages (including the badges I created). Should companies like Twitter make sure that prominent images to their brand are not used as logos/designs for other brands?
What do you think?
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{ 12 comments }
I think for Twitter it doesn’t matter as much (at least at this point) because their marketing needs to be focused on trial and understanding of the service rather then brand recognition. For someone like Paul Allen one would suspect they would like to produce brand recognition around the product to differentiate itself. So for them it’ll be a little more problematic as a significant portion of people will think Twitter not their product if they see that logo.
Isaac’s last blog post..How concerned are you with your image?
I’ve seen a similar bird on various products throughout the UK, just when out shopping. I must say I noticed it on products before I knew what Twitter was!
I guess noone thought that twitter would be such a success so they just used some stock image without paying much attention to it.
Smart Inspiration. Randa Clay’s design is exactly as twitter. Now let me dig out which was introduce first – Twitter or randa clay’s theme.
The design is perfect for both products. But I wonder if anyone's been sued yet. It just seems like something you'd go to the court over.
True Twitter Bird Logo got much famous but now don't make difference its design Twitter already get enough publicity changing in logo or design not too much effect use of Twitter.
Of course it matters – the creator should get his share of the “loot”
That's how things work, regardless of what “most people” think. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work …
It definitely matters to me. I just hate it when people steal intellectual property. And a logo is just that. They should admit it and apologise.
That;s something interesting
Who stole from who… It is a steal anyway, so the thief should go to prison I think?
Hi all ,Where does it show all the colors and stuff so I could actually choose colors? Like, a color palette/table thing..what you say?
Go to Settings from your Twitter profile. Once you're there, click on Design and then select Change Background Image. This is where you're going to upload your background image to Twitter.
Go to Settings from your Twitter profile. Once you're there, click on Design and then select Change Background Image. This is where you're going to upload your background image to Twitter.