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And perhaps the greatest of them all... FedEx. (see http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671067/the-story-behind-the-famous-fedex-logo-and-why-it-works http://www.fastc

And perhaps the greatest of them all... FedEx. (see 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...)

hartror 14y ago
I have never noticed the arrow!
- martinced 14y ago
  IMHO that is one of the main benefit of negative spaces (I didn't know the term but knew the technique): you actually hardly notice that there's "something else" and yet the logos somehow look nice. I'd say they look "soft", without knowing why. Once you focus too much on "what's inside", it gets a bit confusing because you're seeing conflicting things (like the tree leave that is also people): but it's not a problem because it's not meant for people to really focus on. And somehow it just works. I find several of these logos really very simple and great. Now that this has been posted on HN I expect lots of startups to come up with similar logos ; )
  - maxmzd_ 14y ago
    I hope we see lots of these from startups. The technique produces simple, meaningful, and memorable logos which also look really good.
- hluska 14y ago
  From now on, it's the only thing you'll see!! :)
- Ntrails 14y ago
  I looked, scanned the article looking for this arrow, came back to the comments, read this, went back again, finally saw it. The Giraffe one from the OP was super cool though :)
  - maxmzd_ 14y ago
    The Oak Bros. logo took me awhile to figure out. Also, did you notice all of the hidden symbols in the "in woods" logo? There are 4 in there.
bmuon 14y ago
That article deserves a submission of its own! It's incredibly interesting and it touches something that most software developers value: simplicity and clarity. We're used to saying that naming things is the hardest problem in coding, and that matches completely with a philosophy of simplicity in design. A must read.
ben1040 14y ago
They even made sure to include the arrow in their Arabic translation (including having it point in an appropriate direction if you read right to left): http://i.imgur.com/8PTzYjW.jpg http://i.imgur.com/8PTzYjW.jpg
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- cocoflunchy 14y ago
  Oh this is so awesome!
TylerE 14y ago
No, you're wrong. That would be the old Hartford Whalers logo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/70/Hartford_Whalers_Logo-79-92.svg/220px-Hartford_Whalers_Logo-79-92.svg.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/70/Hartford...
dhimes 14y ago
Man, I just don't get design. The FedEx logo does nothing for me. The arrow doesn't really mean anything (an airplane would have been cool, given that their big differentiator was speed when they started). But that this logo won 40 awards? (Note that I'm automatically assuming that the awards are meaningful.) I'm definitely someone who has to pay for design, because I just don't get it.
- vickytnz 14y ago
  You need to think of the context of that logo, which was, what, 30 years ago? The arrow meant speed in a time when post (hell, pretty much everything) was slow. And visual jokes such as this were still pretty new. It's like saying The Beatles' 'She Loves You' is simple and obvious, yeah, it might seem like that now, but it sure as hell wasn't the case back then!
maxmzd_ 14y ago
The FedEx logo is the first time I noticed the negative space technique and really sparked my interest in branding. It's amazing how such a simple mark can represent so much.
account_taken 14y ago
Never noticed the arrow, and it seems I'm not the only one. The font weight and contrasting colors overpower the subtle negative space.

hartror 14y ago

I have never noticed the arrow!

martinced 14y ago
IMHO that is one of the main benefit of negative spaces (I didn't know the term but knew the technique): you actually hardly notice that there's "something else" and yet the logos somehow look nice. I'd say they look "soft", without knowing why. Once you focus too much on "what's inside", it gets a bit confusing because you're seeing conflicting things (like the tree leave that is also people): but it's not a problem because it's not meant for people to really focus on. And somehow it just works. I find several of these logos really very simple and great. Now that this has been posted on HN I expect lots of startups to come up with similar logos ; )
- maxmzd_ 14y ago
  I hope we see lots of these from startups. The technique produces simple, meaningful, and memorable logos which also look really good.
hluska 14y ago
From now on, it's the only thing you'll see!! :)
Ntrails 14y ago
I looked, scanned the article looking for this arrow, came back to the comments, read this, went back again, finally saw it. The Giraffe one from the OP was super cool though :)
- maxmzd_ 14y ago
  The Oak Bros. logo took me awhile to figure out. Also, did you notice all of the hidden symbols in the "in woods" logo? There are 4 in there.

bmuon 14y ago

That article deserves a submission of its own! It's incredibly interesting and it touches something that most software developers value: simplicity and clarity. We're used to saying that naming things is the hardest problem in coding, and that matches completely with a philosophy of simplicity in design. A must read.

ben1040 14y ago

They even made sure to include the arrow in their Arabic translation (including having it point in an appropriate direction if you read right to left): http://i.imgur.com/8PTzYjW.jpg http://i.imgur.com/8PTzYjW.jpg

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
cocoflunchy 14y ago
Oh this is so awesome!

TylerE 14y ago

No, you're wrong. That would be the old Hartford Whalers logo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/70/Hartford_Whalers_Logo-79-92.svg/220px-Hartford_Whalers_Logo-79-92.svg.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/70/Hartford...

dhimes 14y ago

Man, I just don't get design. The FedEx logo does nothing for me. The arrow doesn't really mean anything (an airplane would have been cool, given that their big differentiator was speed when they started). But that this logo won 40 awards? (Note that I'm automatically assuming that the awards are meaningful.) I'm definitely someone who has to pay for design, because I just don't get it.

vickytnz 14y ago
You need to think of the context of that logo, which was, what, 30 years ago? The arrow meant speed in a time when post (hell, pretty much everything) was slow. And visual jokes such as this were still pretty new. It's like saying The Beatles' 'She Loves You' is simple and obvious, yeah, it might seem like that now, but it sure as hell wasn't the case back then!

maxmzd_ 14y ago

The FedEx logo is the first time I noticed the negative space technique and really sparked my interest in branding. It's amazing how such a simple mark can represent so much.

account_taken 14y ago

Never noticed the arrow, and it seems I'm not the only one. The font weight and contrasting colors overpower the subtle negative space.