FedEx Corporation provides transportation, e-commerce, and business services worldwide. The company’s FedEx Express segment offers shipping services for delivery of packages and freight.
FedEx Corporation was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.
Meaning and history
The company’s debut logo is recognized as one of the most commercially successful examples of the use of negative space, where every detail, even hidden, works on the idea. This discreet concept is highly appreciated by experts.
As a result, the emblem received more than 40 design awards and was among the top 10 according to Rolling Stone magazine. And all thanks to the white arrow, which is disguised in the logo. It runs along the edge of the words “Federal” and “Express”, located vertically, and ends with a dot between the letters “E” and “X”. It symbolizes speed, movement and forward effort.
1973 – 1994
In the first years of its existence, the company was called Federal Express. It is what is reflected in the debut logo. The phrase is located in a blue-white rectangle and is placed on a slight slope, as if directed upwards. “Federal” is painted white and placed on a blue background, “Express” is made in red and occupies the lower level of white. All letters are capitalized, stylized and elongated “SS”, “A” without an internal crossbar.
1991 – 1994
Parallel to the first logo, a second one was introduced, presented in a different, simpler and more understandable design. It came at a time of rebranding, which naturally affected the redesign of the brand. It is based on a shortened version of the name: Fed + Ex. The author of the updated version is Lyndon Leader, a leading design specialist for the Landor Associates consulting group. As a professional, he admired the so-called “negative space” and its hidden capabilities. He preferred clear and elegant things, he adhered to the concept promoted in the 1980s by Smith & Hawken.
That is why Lyndon chose the Northwest Orient Airlines logo for the reference role, where the “N” and “W” look beautiful. This approach interested him, and he proposed a logo in a new design. It became additional and was not used in advertising, like the first, but in commercial documents. Due to the graphic lightness, it read well, because both parts had a different color: the initial three letters were dark purple or blue, and the last two were red.
1994 – Present
The current version consists of two bases, each starting with a capital letter. As in the previous logo, it consists of two words. Only the color has changed: instead of the previous colors, light lilac and pastel orange are used. Also, “d” and “E” are now written together.
Emblem
In the days when the company was called Federal Express, the CEO of Fred Smith was already thinking about changing the name of the brand. Three teams worked on the brand, which presented a selection of more than 200 options. Some of them were marked with arrows in the form of arrows, but none were in disguise. But once the head of the company and the brand manager noticed a hidden arrow, they chose the correct logo.
Enrollment is an individual combination of two sources: Futura Bold and Univers 67. They were the result of Lyndon Leader. To present them favorably, the designer experimented a lot: he measured the space between letters, changed upper and lower case, aligned the characters in height.
At one point, he realized: a faint arrow is drawn between the top and bottom words. After going through many working versions, the designer mixed two fonts: for “X” he used Univers 67, for “E” – Futura Bold. Then a completely new source turned out.
The logo color palette depends on the specific application. But in any case, these are bright and attractive combinations that attract attention and make you attract attention. For example, the logo with the orange part refers to FedEx Express, with green – for FedEx Ground, with red – for FedEx Freight. There is also an office option with a blue “Ex” and a commercial and commercial with a yellow finish.