Fedex Logo - Design and History

The Fedex logo is one of the most recognized logos in the world. Fedex is in the business of getting your packages delivered overnight. Fedex pioneered a business that was deemed to be impossible. The Fedex logo itself is appears to be plain and simple, however if you observe carefully, there is an detail that comes to light. Once you see that detail, you will never look the the logo in the same way again. Stare at the logo and see if you can see it. Not seeing the detail,  read to find out more.....

The company's well-known logo has a right-pointing arrow located in the negative space between the E and x. While the arrow becomes quite obvious when pointed out, most people don't notice it otherwise. The arrow has been occasionally pointed to as a mild form of subliminal advertising, the arrow symbolizing forward movement and thinking.

FedEx is now organized into a number of operating units, each of which has its own version of the logo, designed by Lindon Leader of Leader Creative. In all versions, the Fed is purple. The Ex is in a different color for each division. The corporate logo uses a grey Ex. Before all of that, the original "FedEx" logo saw the Ex in orange; it is now used as the FedEx Express logo. Some variations are below...

•  FedEx Express -- The original overnight courier services. Logo color: orange.
•  FedEx Freight -- Less than truckload (LTL) and other freight services. Logo color: red.
•  FedEx Ground -- Slower delivery times at a cost savings as compared to FedEx Express. Delivers primarily to businesses. Uses a large fleet of trucks which are owned by the independent owner/operators. Formerly Roadway Package System (RPS). Logo color: green.
•  FedEx Kinko's storeFedEx Custom Critical -- Delivers urgent, valuable, or hazardous items using a large fleet of trucks and chartered aircraft. Formerly Roberts Cartage or Roberts Express. Logo color: blue.
•  FedEx Trade Networks -- Provides services relating to customs, insurance, and transportation advice. Formerly C.J. Tower & Sons, then Tower Group International. Logo color: yellow.
•  FedEx Services -- Provides marketing and information technology (IT) services for the other FedEx divisions. The logo color is grey, the same as the corporate logo.

An interesting case is the refinement of the FedEx logo, where the brand consultants convinced the company to shorten their corporate name and logo from "Federal Express" to the popular abbreviation "Fed Ex". Besides creating a much stronger, shorter brand name, they reduced the amount of color used on vehicles (planes, trucks) and saved hundreds of thousands of  dollars in paint costs. Note also, the right pointing arrow in the new logo is a subliminal hint of motion.

 In its May 15, 2003 35th Anniversary “American Icon” issue, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it as one of the 8 best logos of the past thirty-five years. Along side Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike, IBM, Starbucks, McDonald’s and Playboy.

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The Man behind the logo....The Fedex logo is a registered trademark of the Fedex Corporation. Use of the logo here does not imply endorsement of the organization by this site.

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Comments (1)

	1. 19-09-2007 12:56
	The arrow was introduced to represent speed and precision, which are part of the positioning of the company. IP: 63.101.39.6 Guest

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