The Mandarin denies it intentionally copied rival’s logo
Tom Burton publisher of new online website The Mandarin, which is aimed at members of the public service, has rejected suggestions by rival PS News that the new Private Media venture copied their logo.
In a video hangout with Mumbrella yesterday, Burton was challenged by the group editor of his rival over what it claimed were similarities in the design of the two logos.
“It certainly wasn’t meant to be,” said Burton. “I don’t even know what the logo for Public Sector News is to be honest.”
“It was put together by a design agency and we went back and forwards on it a million times arguing about whether Tasmania should be part of Australia or Bass Strait should be recognised — should it be pink, should it be blue or should be angular.”
I personally feel one of the things lacking in the public service is a place to find great case studies. I work in the Marcomms team and would love to see more examples of communications strategies and ideas that have worked for different agencies/departments. Perhaps they built an app, used a different social platform or conducted a range of social advertising.
Will The Mandarin be showcasing some of the interesting case studies from different agencies so we can learn from each other?
I hope the Mandarin isn’t planning on using the logo you have on this page. If it’s not a rip-off of the 8-year-old PS News logo (see psnews.com.au) it’s an extraordinary coincidence.
As you may be aware PS News is the long-established Public Service newspaper (with 113,000 subscribers nationwide) providing online news and information for public servants since 2005.
While we welcome the new Mandarin magazine and wish it well, nicking someone else’s logo idea and colour scheme so they look like they’re part of us, is a bit average.
FC
Hi Tom, and congratulations on your return to online journalism, again at the cutting edge.
I too have returned after a long absence, and would love to catch up – doing a PhD on collaborative journalism focusing on your creation, Webdiary.
Regards,
Margo
It would take a very myopic perspective to think those two logos were the same.
Public service news….
Hope you’ve got a better leak drop box than Canberra Times. Tehy’re practically trying to get all their sources arrested. Should do a yarn about it 🙂
Reddit link to discussion: http://www.reddit.com/r/canber.....ddress_is/
It’s almost as though if PS News were to do a rebrand, the Mandarin logo wouldn’t be a half-bad outcome. Too close for comfort.
I was surprised they couldn’t think of something more unique. Not a good start if they’re promising something different from PS News.