4 ms·

Logo design: Story behind FedEx logo's hidden arrow

50 points by dirtyaura 16y ago

samwillis 16y ago
Submitted in relation to my comment? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1490176 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1490176 ;-D It is a great example of logo design though. Another one I love is the Amazon logo, the arrow under the name both forms a cheeky smile and if pointing from a to z indicating that they sell everything from a-z. This blog post has some others that are quote good as well: http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/hidden-logos-in-graphic-designing/ http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/hidden-logos-in-graphic-des...
- dirtyaura 16y ago
  Submitted in relation to my comment? Indeed, sir. I was intrigued by the design decision to include it.
- zandorg 16y ago
  Also the arrow indicates the flow of the river Amazon (I think).
jarin 16y ago
This was widely-known and old even in 2004, when the article was posted.
- frou_dh 16y ago
  I think that this and Helvetica are the level-zero namedrops in a conversation about logos or typography ;-)
- andrew1 16y ago
  And yet, even though I spend more time than I should on the internets, I'd never heard about it. Also, some of the people on this site would have only been 12 or 13 (or younger!) in 2004 so might not have been that likely to have heard, or at least paid attention to, an article like this at the time. My point is that just because something is 'old' or 'common knowledge' doesn't necessarily mean that it is actually widely known by people. Probably better to move on and look at something else than waste your energy pointing out that something is 'old'.
metachris 16y ago
Website of the design company (Leader Creative): http://www.leadercreative.com http://www.leadercreative.com
qeorge 16y ago
Great article. My favorite part is this: "Early on, before the brand rollout in mid-1994, FedEx's public relations agency was preparing to emphasize the arrow as a secondary graphic to underscore the "speed/precision" positioning. They proposed to leverage this in their FedEx communications. Landor put its foot down and said, "No way." That's why firms like Landor are worth the money. Telling a client "no" is hard, but that's what they're paying for.

50 points by dirtyaura 16y ago

Submitted in relation to my comment? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1490176 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1490176 ;-D It is a great example of logo design though. Another one I love is the Amazon logo, the arrow under the name both forms a cheeky smile and if pointing from a to z indicating that they sell everything from a-z. This blog post has some others that are quote good as well: http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/hidden-logos-in-graphic-designing/ http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/hidden-logos-in-graphic-des...

dirtyaura 16y ago
Submitted in relation to my comment? Indeed, sir. I was intrigued by the design decision to include it.
zandorg 16y ago
Also the arrow indicates the flow of the river Amazon (I think).

jarin 16y ago

This was widely-known and old even in 2004, when the article was posted.

frou_dh 16y ago
I think that this and Helvetica are the level-zero namedrops in a conversation about logos or typography ;-)
andrew1 16y ago
And yet, even though I spend more time than I should on the internets, I'd never heard about it. Also, some of the people on this site would have only been 12 or 13 (or younger!) in 2004 so might not have been that likely to have heard, or at least paid attention to, an article like this at the time. My point is that just because something is 'old' or 'common knowledge' doesn't necessarily mean that it is actually widely known by people. Probably better to move on and look at something else than waste your energy pointing out that something is 'old'.

metachris 16y ago

Website of the design company (Leader Creative): http://www.leadercreative.com http://www.leadercreative.com

qeorge 16y ago

Great article. My favorite part is this: "Early on, before the brand rollout in mid-1994, FedEx's public relations agency was preparing to emphasize the arrow as a secondary graphic to underscore the "speed/precision" positioning. They proposed to leverage this in their FedEx communications. Landor put its foot down and said, "No way." That's why firms like Landor are worth the money. Telling a client "no" is hard, but that's what they're paying for.