lo curioso de la flecha de FedEx es que la flecha en árabe va en sentido contrario, en el mismo sentido en que se lee en ambos casos. Pero coincido con Joshua, creo que fue algo casual... pero una vez que se hizo célebre dijeron que pasaron años pensando en ello, jajaa
no fue en absoluto casual.
<fieldset>
At what point in the design process did you realize you could create an arrow with those letters?
First of all, by the time we?d gotten to this point we?d already created and reviewed over 200 designs; some close-in to the ?old? Federal Express logo and others progressively more daring (though all the while retaining the enormous cache of the famous orange and purple (despite the fact that many respondents in focus groups thought the Federal Express colors were ?red and blue?). The current design was one of six semifinalists that were being refined for a presentation to very senior management.
If you put a lower-case ?x? to the right of a capital ?E? (Ex) you can begin to see a hint of an arrow, though it is clumsy and extremely abstract. I thought that, if I could develop this concept of an ?arrow? it could be promoted as a symbol for speed and precision, both FedEx communicative attributes. And, by the way, different kinds of arrows were utilized with some of the other semi-final candidates, though none of those were ?hidden.?
Once I decided to refine the concept of the embedded arrow, I found that, to make the arrow more legitimate and identifiable, one needed to actually reconstruct the letterforms in order to make the arrow happen. This leads to your next question:
Did you have to manipulate the font in anyway to create a perfect arrow?
Yes, indeed. I was studying Univers 67 (Bold Condensed) and Futura Bold, both wonderful faces. But each had its potential limitations downstream in application to thousands of FedEx media, from waybills and embroidered courier caps to FedEx.com and massive signage for aircraft, buildings and vehicles. Moreover, neither was particularly suited to forcing an arrow into its assigned parking place without torturing the beautifully crafted letterforms of the respective faces. To avoid getting too technical here, suffice it to say I took the best characteristics of both and combined them into unique and proprietary letterforms that included both ligatures (connected letters) and a higher ?x-height,? or increased size of the lower-case letters relative to the capital letters. I worked these features around until the arrow seemed quite natural in shape and location.
Why choose to keep the arrow so subtle? It seems to show remarkable restraint. Weren't you or the people at FedEx ever tempted to make it more obvious with an outline or a different color?
A good question and one that I am frequently asked. An arrow, in and of itself, is one of the most mundane graphic devices in visual communications. Truly, there is nothing unique or particularly strategic (marketing-wise) in using an arrow as a brand identifier. 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.?
The power of the hidden arrow is simply that it is a ?hidden bonus.? It is a positive-reverse optical kind of thing: either you see it or you don?t. Importantly, not ?getting the punch line? by not seeing the arrow, does not reduce the impact of the logo?s essential communication. The power of the logo and the FedEx marketing supporting the logo is strong enough to convey clearly FedEx brand positioning. On the other hand, if you do see the arrow, or someone points it out to you, you won?t forget it. I can?t tell you how many people have told me how much fun they have asking others ?if they can spot ?something? in the logo.? To have filled in the arrow, or to somehow make it more ?visible? would have been like Henny Youngman saying ?Please take my wife? instead of ?Take my wife. Please.? Punch lines that need to be explained are neither funny nor memorable.
lo curioso de la flecha de FedEx es que la flecha en árabe va en sentido contrario, en el mismo sentido en que se lee en ambos casos. Pero coincido con Joshua, creo que fue algo casual... pero una vez que se hizo célebre dijeron que pasaron años pensando en ello, jajaa
Lo de FedEx lei en una entrevista que era intencionado, y lo de toyota ya no se si es casualidad, porque segun tengo entendido cada elipse representa el corazon de la empresa, del cliente, y el de la maquina.
El logo de tabacalera lo hizo un profesor mío, en realidad simboliza una llama y la t son los dedos sosteniendo el cigarrillo
:D eso si que no lo hubiera visto nunca... yo pensaba que era una hoja de tabaco (claro que ni idea de como es una hoja de tabaco ahora que lo pienso) y una T (después de descartar la G chunga claro)
Pero todos son intencionados. Quiero decir, que me ha parecido que el artículo está tratado como si fueran coincidencias que se producen, como el post de hace unos días del gobierno inglés, que lo invertías 90º y se veía un mono haciéndose trabajos manuales.
Quizá el de Toyota precisamente no esté hecho a propósito para que pueda leerse todas las letras de la marca en el logo. Tan sólo coincide. La C de Carrefour la he visto de toda la vida, lo que me sorprendió fue lo de la flecha de FedEx, tan clara pero a la vez tan oculta.
Y lo de la serpiente con cabeza de dragón comiéndose a un hombre de Alfa Romeo también es así, es el símbolo de la familia propietaria, o algo así. Claro que yo a primera vista siempre creí que era una serpiente sacando la lengua...
egoexmachina
Einstein
lo curioso de la flecha de FedEx es que la flecha en árabe va en sentido contrario, en el mismo sentido en que se lee en ambos casos. Pero coincido con Joshua, creo que fue algo casual... pero una vez que se hizo célebre dijeron que pasaron años pensando en ello, jajaa
no fue en absoluto casual.
<fieldset>
At what point in the design process did you realize you could create an arrow with those letters?
First of all, by the time we?d gotten to this point we?d already created and reviewed over 200 designs; some close-in to the ?old? Federal Express logo and others progressively more daring (though all the while retaining the enormous cache of the famous orange and purple (despite the fact that many respondents in focus groups thought the Federal Express colors were ?red and blue?). The current design was one of six semifinalists that were being refined for a presentation to very senior management.
If you put a lower-case ?x? to the right of a capital ?E? (Ex) you can begin to see a hint of an arrow, though it is clumsy and extremely abstract. I thought that, if I could develop this concept of an ?arrow? it could be promoted as a symbol for speed and precision, both FedEx communicative attributes. And, by the way, different kinds of arrows were utilized with some of the other semi-final candidates, though none of those were ?hidden.?
Once I decided to refine the concept of the embedded arrow, I found that, to make the arrow more legitimate and identifiable, one needed to actually reconstruct the letterforms in order to make the arrow happen. This leads to your next question:
Did you have to manipulate the font in anyway to create a perfect arrow?
Yes, indeed. I was studying Univers 67 (Bold Condensed) and Futura Bold, both wonderful faces. But each had its potential limitations downstream in application to thousands of FedEx media, from waybills and embroidered courier caps to FedEx.com and massive signage for aircraft, buildings and vehicles. Moreover, neither was particularly suited to forcing an arrow into its assigned parking place without torturing the beautifully crafted letterforms of the respective faces. To avoid getting too technical here, suffice it to say I took the best characteristics of both and combined them into unique and proprietary letterforms that included both ligatures (connected letters) and a higher ?x-height,? or increased size of the lower-case letters relative to the capital letters. I worked these features around until the arrow seemed quite natural in shape and location.
Why choose to keep the arrow so subtle? It seems to show remarkable restraint. Weren't you or the people at FedEx ever tempted to make it more obvious with an outline or a different color?
A good question and one that I am frequently asked. An arrow, in and of itself, is one of the most mundane graphic devices in visual communications. Truly, there is nothing unique or particularly strategic (marketing-wise) in using an arrow as a brand identifier. 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.?
The power of the hidden arrow is simply that it is a ?hidden bonus.? It is a positive-reverse optical kind of thing: either you see it or you don?t. Importantly, not ?getting the punch line? by not seeing the arrow, does not reduce the impact of the logo?s essential communication. The power of the logo and the FedEx marketing supporting the logo is strong enough to convey clearly FedEx brand positioning. On the other hand, if you do see the arrow, or someone points it out to you, you won?t forget it. I can?t tell you how many people have told me how much fun they have asking others ?if they can spot ?something? in the logo.? To have filled in the arrow, or to somehow make it more ?visible? would have been like Henny Youngman saying ?Please take my wife? instead of ?Take my wife. Please.? Punch lines that need to be explained are neither funny nor memorable.
Lindon Leader </fieldset>
leer entrevista entera: http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000273.php
einstein Mod
lo curioso de la flecha de FedEx es que la flecha en árabe va en sentido contrario, en el mismo sentido en que se lee en ambos casos. Pero coincido con Joshua, creo que fue algo casual... pero una vez que se hizo célebre dijeron que pasaron años pensando en ello, jajaa
wakisaki
Lo de FedEx lei en una entrevista que era intencionado, y lo de toyota ya no se si es casualidad, porque segun tengo entendido cada elipse representa el corazon de la empresa, del cliente, y el de la maquina.
joshuatree
Lo de fedex creo que ha sido una casualidad casualísima que luego ha dado de comer a muchos editores de publicaciones de diseño :P
dani_jr
jo**r, que juego el de tabacalera!!
yo siempre pensaba que era una hoja de la planta del tabaco...
y luego lo de la G rarita... yo también!!
por fin he llegado a concluir que es una mezcla extraña entre la hoja de la planta y la T del nombre... no me apeo del burro de la hoja je je je...
mer
Eduardo Barcia
El logo de tabacalera lo hizo un profesor mío, en realidad simboliza una llama y la t son los dedos sosteniendo el cigarrillo
:D eso si que no lo hubiera visto nunca... yo pensaba que era una hoja de tabaco (claro que ni idea de como es una hoja de tabaco ahora que lo pienso) y una T (después de descartar la G chunga claro)
eduardo_barcia
El logo de tabacalera lo hizo un profesor mío, en realidad simboliza una llama y la t son los dedos sosteniendo el cigarrillo
tutututt Profesor Plus
-MeR-
es como el logo de tabacalera que un buen día descubres que es una t xD y tu toda la vida pensando que era una g de lo más rarita :D
Yo siempre pensé que era el casco de un piloto XD
mer
es como el logo de tabacalera que un buen día descubres que es una t xD y tu toda la vida pensando que era una g de lo más rarita :D
eduardo_barcia
En eso consisten los logos
marcoscabanas
Pero todos son intencionados. Quiero decir, que me ha parecido que el artículo está tratado como si fueran coincidencias que se producen, como el post de hace unos días del gobierno inglés, que lo invertías 90º y se veía un mono haciéndose trabajos manuales.
Quizá el de Toyota precisamente no esté hecho a propósito para que pueda leerse todas las letras de la marca en el logo. Tan sólo coincide. La C de Carrefour la he visto de toda la vida, lo que me sorprendió fue lo de la flecha de FedEx, tan clara pero a la vez tan oculta.
Y lo de la serpiente con cabeza de dragón comiéndose a un hombre de Alfa Romeo también es así, es el símbolo de la familia propietaria, o algo así. Claro que yo a primera vista siempre creí que era una serpiente sacando la lengua...