The art of the steal and why great design is immortal.

"Good artists copy, great artists steal," said Senór Picasso.  And who can argue with Picasso. Obviously, what he meant was, inspiration is found in all pieces of great work. It's up to the artist to reimagine what he or she sees. Thus by deduction, great work lives forever, in one reincarnated form or another. Picasso's theory also applies to logo design. Let's take for example the Beats by Dr Dre logo, designed in 2006 by San Francisco based ammunition.

Images courtesy of ammunition group

The first time I saw the Beats packaging and indeed the logo, I was impressed at how well executed it was. It felt really fresh and clean, however it also had an air of familiarity to it. I knew I had seen something similar before, but I could not place it.
My first inclination was an Italian company named BBurago, founded in 1974. All kids who loved model cars growing up in the late 70s and early 80s surely remember the model car company's red double b logo emblazoned on each of the boxes - admittedly my heart still skips a beat every time I see one of those boxes.

Did the ammunition group steal the design from my beloved Bburago? Mere coincidence? Maybe.
I was not convinced. So I went a little further back in time. Who inspired the Bburago logo and then in turn, the Beats design?

Enter Anton Stankowski. 
For those not familiar with the name, Stankowski was one of the most respected German graphic designers of the 20th Century. Following his death in 1998, the German Artist Federation awarded him the honorary Harry Graf Kessler Award for his life's work. So basically the guy was pretty good at what he was doing.
One of his most famous work that you may be familiar with was the identity he designed for Deutsche Bank. Another one of his greatest logos was Stadt Bruhl seen below.
He designed it in 1971 - almost 45 years ago.

Courtesy of the Stankowski Foundation

Ring a bell?
Did the ammunition group steal from Stankowski?  Does it matter?
If they did, they did it well and according to Pablo, that's what ultimately makes them great artists.
And I know for a fact that ammunition does indeed do great work.

The only question that remains is - who did Mr Stankowski steal from?
Now that I will leave up to you.