Where did Lucent Technologies find its logo?
According to Lucent’s graphic designers, the logo the designed for Lucent “is an example of a simple mandala, which is a style of design in Buddhism and Hinduism.” In a memo to Lucent on January 19, 1996 – the month before Lucent publicly unveiled their logo – they noted that the logo’s communications are “most relevant to certain Eastern religions, particularly Japanese Zen Buddhism”. As an example of the design in its traditional application, the graphic designers also sent Lucent a photocopy of the cover of R.H. Blyth’s book on Zen Buddhism which features such a circle – known in Zen Buddhist sumi art as the “enso.” Lucent’s corporate identity manual requires the logo circle to be rendered in black or red, the same two colors universally used in sumi ink painting in China, Japan, and elsewhere. For some reason, Lucent has elsewhere claimed that the logo’s derivation from the Zen Buddhist enso, or sumi circle, is actually a case of accidental parallel development. Zen Buddhist artist
