Did you hear about Yahoo’s mobile browser/browser extension yet? It’s called Axis and it’s pretty neat. It’s definitely one of the most attractive products that Yahoo has put out over the years. One of the more attractive things about it is the logo. The clean lines and bold, abstract design help set it apart from the rest.

Wait a tick, that “A” in Axis looks really familiar. Where have I seen it before? There’s another technology software company out there with an “A” in its logo that looks remarkably similar. They recently had a major launch of the newest version of their design suite. Oh right, it’s Adobe.

Comparing the two logos, it’s becomes immediately apparent that Yahoo took some “inspiration.” The only difference is that Yahoo uses its fancy “A” in the actual name of the brand, whereas Adobe uses its “A” as the logo.

Could you say that Yahoo outright stole the design? I don’t think so. It does bear some striking resemblance, but its looks different enough to hopefully avoid a lawsuit. I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if Yahoo accused Adobe of stealing their design since they seem fine with accusing Facebook and the Open Source community of infringing upon their patents.

The Adobe logo isn’t the only thing that the Axis logo seems to be taking inspiration from. Going more into the gaming side of things, you may have realized that the Axis logo seems to take inspiration from a popular gaming icon.

That’s the logo for Abstergo Industries, the antagonistic Templar organization from the Assassin’s Creed franchise. It’s not as close as Axis is to Adobe, but you can see the design inspiration in there as well. This now brings up the question of Ubisoft perhaps taking inspiration from Adobe for their game’s logo.

Regardless, I like all three logos. They all may seem similar, but they have enough differences to set themselves apart and create something unique. The reason that the Yahoo Axis logo is so appealing, however, is that it’s so unlike Yahoo. They now have an edge that they used to lack.

Do you like the new Yahoo Axis logo? Can you think of any other “A” logos that Axis seems to have taken inspiration from? I sure can’t think of any more, but I’m welcome to more ideas.