Viral Hong Kong Steve Jobs tribute: Plagiarism?

Jonathan Mak describes his thought process for designing the Steve Jobs tribute: "[Jobs] was the soul of the company. I wanted to use minimalist design, using positive and negative spaces, to bring out his passing."

Hong Kong student Jonathan Mak played with the logo for Apple Inc. to design a Steve Jobs tribute after the computing icon resigned as CEO in August. The tribute image went viral last week after Jobs passed away. Even Ashton Kutcher tweeted it. 

Now it turns out another designer made a similar tribute three months before. Hit with questions of plagiarism, Mak, says on his blog he "will not apologize."

Chris Thornley's design posted on his Flickr page on May 22, 2011.

The 19-year-old student attending Hong Kong's Polytechnic University School of Design replaced the bite mark in the Apple logo with a silhouette of Steve Jobs' profile.

Mak said he searched online for similar designs to ensure that the idea had not been done before. "I honestly did not come across his work while searching for terms such as ‘Apple, Steve Jobs, logo, silhouette.'"

After Jobs passed away on October 6, Mak's redesign went viral and was printed on commemorative caps and T-shirts sold on eBay.

Comments surfaced on Twitter recently saying the image is originally by U.K.-based designer Chris Thornley, also known as Raid 71.

"Chris got the idea before me, but I did not copy his idea and neither was my concept inspired by his," says Mak.

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Thornley's wife Julia left a comment on Mak's Tumblr page saying Thornley accepts Mak's explanation and does not bear any grudge against him. The couple hope to raise awareness for cancer patients through the design. 

Mak says any profit he has generated from this Apple tribute will go to charity.

When it comes to a Steve Jobs graphic tribute, it turns out that many other illustrators and designers were thinking the same thing.

The Washington Post reports several other similar takes on the Apple logo by cartoonists and illustrators published after Jobs' death. A case of great minds thinking alike?

See the Post's website for more.

Tony Auth from the Philadelphia Inquirer had a similar drawing published last week.