In recent days, Elon Musk surprised Twitter users by rebranding his account as X and replacing the traditional blue bird logo.
I think the logo designer at Twitter might just be a photography enthusiast… pic.twitter.com/tEXkWe9rH5
— Albert Siegel (@AlbertSiegel) July 25, 2023
Many people have noticed the resemblance between the new logo and those used by camera companies like Nikon and Fujifilm. Some have even accused Musk of copying these logos.
All these logos don't look so original 😉 pic.twitter.com/EatVXEDUzT
— DDay.it (@Digital_Day) July 25, 2023
Great move @elonmusk You just steal. These logos are so similiar in key points, that wthis sould be considered as plagiarism. @FujifilmX_US trademark. #TwitterX = #fujifilm_xseries Check it @petapixel pic.twitter.com/to2kRZWeZW
— Jakub Strumillo (@JakubStrumillo) July 25, 2023
Despite the similarities, neither Nikon nor Fujifilm served as the inspiration for the X logo. In reality, the logo originates from the now defunct X Pod, a podcast that primarily discussed Tesla.
The logo was based on a font discovered online, making it not particularly unique. Additionally, it bears a striking resemblance to a Monotype Special Alphabets font, as noted by Ars Technica.
Correct.
— ALEX (@ajtourville) July 23, 2023
This is the logo I designed and, if @elonmusk wants, he can have it for free. pic.twitter.com/9KxIWHc90v
According to Phil Garnham, the executive creative director at Monotype, although the X logo is similar to their font, it is not an exact match for the capital X glyph from Monotype’s “Special Alphabets 4.”
This confirmation adds to the speculation surrounding the logo’s lack of originality.
The X logo’s generic design is the main reason behind the confusion and mistaken identity. It is so unremarkable that it closely resembles the Unicode character for “Mathematical Double-Struck Capital X” (U+1D54F), commonly represented as “𝕏.” This similarity allows the logo to be reproduced as plain text when tweeted.
Musk has acknowledged that the current logo is temporary and has hinted at the possibility of changing it in the future. Therefore, photographers can rest assured that he did not “steal” the new X logo from Nikon or Fujifilm.
