The Observer 26 January 1997 Business Section page 3 - BUSINESS 3 Channel 4 to investigate unfortunate coincidence of the lookalike logos by Marie Woolf CHANNEL 4 is to investigate the origin of it's new-look logo - developed at vast expense - after a design graduate noticed it was surprisingly similar to an award winning work of his own. The linked circles, representing a community, were developed coincidentally by both Channel 4 and Stuart Wilson, a Westminster University graduate who came top of his year in 1996. Wilson, who now works for a design firm in Kendal, Cumbria, does not plan to pursue the matter legally. 'It's remarkable how similar they are,' he said. 'I'm not accusing anyone, but it's wierd. Our design came out a couple of months before.' Wilson sent Channel 4 a copy of his work late last year to draw its attention to the similarity after he saw the logo on TV. The broadcaster plans to speak to the designers responsible to find out where their ideas came from. 'There seems to have been a coincidence of ideas floating around at the same time,' said Wendy Lanchin, head of marketing at Channel 4. Wilson, 25, devised his logo (far left, above) for an international design competition in which he represented the UK. He gained a Special Commendation at the Apple Design Project in California. He placed the concept on his university Web site, which is accessible to Internet users. Meanwhile, Channel 4 used part of a concept involving circles submitted by the Tomato design consultancy. Channel 4's in-house designers then developed it by linking some circles with lines. Tomato says the logo bears no relation to its original piece of work - for which it was paid around £50,000. 'The main thing that Channel 4 took from us is the configuration of the circles in which the 4 appears. But the body of the work we did is not anything like the connected circles that the channel is using,' said a Tomato spokesman. 'We haven't seen this student's work so we can't comment on any perceived similarity. It sounds as though it's closer to Channel 4's in-house work than anything we offered them.' The design company confirms that a lecturer from Wilson's design school worked on the technical side of Tomato's Channel 4 pitch. Andy Cameron says he did not contribute to the 'circles and communities' concept and was working on the pitch for Tomato before Wilson posted his project on the Internet and never taught him. Cameron said: 'We had a technical role. I never taught Mr Wilson.' The Channel 4 logo is now being rolled out on posters and on TV. There are several different versions, featuring slogans and pictures of actors.

	A circular argument: Did C4 concepts originate in Wilson and Kenny's work (left)?		Design Week 17 January 1997 £1.40 be alert to full-blooded hues Tomato denies charge of hijacking student ideas By Jane Lewis DESIGN graduates from the University of Westminster are claiming their ideas for a student project may have been hijacked for the controversial Channel 4 identity. Stuart Wilson and Adam Kenny, who graduated last summer, believe their concepts for the Apple Design Project 1996 could have been "borrowed" from a computer server within the university and incorporated into designs presented to Channel 4 by design consultancy Tomato. Wilson states that the resemblance between their circles concept for the student project, which won a commendation for best graphic design, and the new Channel 4 logo is "too much of a coincidence". He claims Tomato has links with the university. Tomato is denying any knowledge of Wilson's work. "It's got nothing to do with anything we did for Channel 4. What is on-screen is markedly different to what we did. We don't tend to use reference points because we know how much we hate being ripped off," says Tomato's Graham Wood. Concepts for the identity have already been disputed, with Tomato claiming it was unhappy about the way the circles concept it developed had been implemented by Channel 4. Channel 4 claim its in-house team came up with the idea of circles independently. Meanwhile, Wilson says he has been advised by his tutor to take the matter further and has contacted Channel 4. Wood added he would be happy to talk to the graduates about the matter and advise them on how to protect their work.