Kanye West is no stranger to controversy. Indeed, the musician's many feuds can be filed into various sub-divisions and categories – one of which is, believe it or not, logo-related disputes. And if a new trademark filing is anything to go on, we could have another of these to look forward to.
Attorney Josh Gerben has taken to social media to reveal that Mascotte Holding (which owns all of Kanye's trademarks) has filed a trademark for a new logo, slated for use on clothing and in retail stores. It's hardly a controversial design, but knowing Ye's track record, it's bound to get at least somebody's back up. (Looking for inspiration? Check out our guide on how to design a logo.)
A screenshot from the new trademark listing (Image credit: uspto)
The design is described as a "two concentric circle logo with the outer circle represented by a fluted circular line," which pretty much sums it up. It's a rather innocuous symbol – arguably a little boring. But as we well know, Kanye himself is anything but boring, even when it comes to seemingly generic logo designs (UPDATE: we've since seen another Kanye West logo application that adds colour to the above design, and a possible brand name too.
The most famous dispute has to be Kanye vs Walmart, in which the store claimed (unsuccessfully) that a new Yeezy logo was too similar to its own 'sun' symbol (which has the most hilariously detailed origin story, by the way). Then we saw Ye vs independent Black-owned clothing company Infinty G8ds, then Ye vs College Dropout – you can read about them all in our roundup of Kanye West's biggest design debacles (yes, there are enough for such an article to exist).
Could any of these brands with circular logos come knocking? (Image credit: Pepsi/Pinterest/Google/Mercedes/Future owns)
So whose ire might this new design draw? Potentially any company with a circular logo, we reckon. Perhaps Pepsi? Maybe Mercedes? Pinterest perchance? Basically, it could be any of the brands in our roundup of the best circular logos.
Or, this could be a one-in-a-million occasion when one of Kanye's designs doesn't anger anyone. We'll believe it when we see it. In the meantime, if you're looking for more logo inspiration, be sure to take a look at our roundup of the best logos of all time.
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Daniel John is Senior News Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of art, design, branding and lifestyle tech (which often translates to tech made by Apple). He joined in 2020 after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more.
