4 ms·

To be pedantic (though I imagine that's acceptable in this venue) I'd say this is not kerning. Kerning is an optical adjustment between individual letter pairs

To be pedantic (though I imagine that's acceptable in this venue) I'd say this is not kerning. Kerning is an optical adjustment between individual letter pairs to correct a deficiency in a historically evolved system, somewhat separate from tracking; tracking being an even application of positive or negative space applied to all characters in a sequence to stylistic effect. I'd also go so far as to say kerning doesn't exist in these applications because the typeface has been significantly redrawn to create the desired shape. Even the FedEx logo, which appears to be an off the shelf font, had the be redrawn in order to make the letters line up to produce the hidden arrow. Usually optical corrections would have made the x not produce an exact right angle nor would it align precisely with the top of the E crossbar. At some point you're just drawing a logo, which can is not the same as a typeface.

dietrichepp 11y ago
If I recall correctly, the FedEx logo is an amalgam of two fonts to begin with.
- rangibaby 11y ago
  It looks like Helvetica with a lot of modifications to make the arrow look correct.
- jack_jennings 11y ago
  I was intrigued by this comment and went searching for this. From this FastCompany article it's inspired by Futura and Univers though sounds like it's more or less a custom job: > At the time, Lindon was "in love with two bold fonts" known as Univers 67, which is a condensed bold type, and Futura Bold. He takes me through how he started playing with the two typefaces and the letter spacing, from extremely wide to locked together, uppercase and lowercase, mixing and tinkering. One iteration had a capital E and a lowercase x: "I started squeezing the letter spacing, I saw a white arrow start to appear between the E and the x. I thought, ‘There’s something there.’ I tried both fonts, but I didn’t like how much I had to distort either typeface to make the arrow look good. I thought, ‘Would it be possible to blend the best features of both?’ I took the high x of Univers and mixed it with the stroke of Futura Bold. The x rose to the crossbar of a lowered E. I kept tweaking, and eventually not only did the arrow look natural and unforced, but I ended up with a whole new letterform." http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671067/the-story-behind-the-famous-fedex-logo-and-why-it-works http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671067/the-story-behind-the-fam...

dietrichepp 11y ago

If I recall correctly, the FedEx logo is an amalgam of two fonts to begin with.

rangibaby 11y ago
It looks like Helvetica with a lot of modifications to make the arrow look correct.
jack_jennings 11y ago
I was intrigued by this comment and went searching for this. From this FastCompany article it's inspired by Futura and Univers though sounds like it's more or less a custom job: > At the time, Lindon was "in love with two bold fonts" known as Univers 67, which is a condensed bold type, and Futura Bold. He takes me through how he started playing with the two typefaces and the letter spacing, from extremely wide to locked together, uppercase and lowercase, mixing and tinkering. One iteration had a capital E and a lowercase x: "I started squeezing the letter spacing, I saw a white arrow start to appear between the E and the x. I thought, ‘There’s something there.’ I tried both fonts, but I didn’t like how much I had to distort either typeface to make the arrow look good. I thought, ‘Would it be possible to blend the best features of both?’ I took the high x of Univers and mixed it with the stroke of Futura Bold. The x rose to the crossbar of a lowered E. I kept tweaking, and eventually not only did the arrow look natural and unforced, but I ended up with a whole new letterform." http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671067/the-story-behind-the-famous-fedex-logo-and-why-it-works http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671067/the-story-behind-the-fam...