A wordmark with a second reading
Lindon Leader designed the FedEx logo at Landor Associates in 1994. Its lettering creates a right-pointing arrow in the space between the E and x. The familiar purple-and-orange arrangement separates the two parts of the shortened company name.
The name itself is a syllabic abbreviation of Federal Express, the company’s original air division, which operated under that name from 1973 until 1994. In 1994 Federal Express shortened its name to “FedEx” for marketing purposes, officially adopting a nickname that had been used for years. Wikipedia describes the wordmark as Fed in purple and Ex in orange.
Shaping the counterspace
Leader developed proprietary lettering drawing on Univers and Futura to establish the arrow. The result depends on the relationship between adjacent letters rather than an extra symbol placed beside the name. The directional reading sits within an otherwise compact wordmark.
Wikipedia describes the arrow as subliminal, sitting in the negative space between the E and the x, and says the proprietary typeface was designed to emphasise that shape. It reports that Leader believed the logo promoted FedEx as “getting from point A to point B reliably with speed and precision”. That is Leader’s stated intention, not a measured effect on viewers.
The colours did not always stay fixed. According to the same source, in the early 2000s the Ex was a different colour for each division, with platinum for overall corporate use. In August 2016 FedEx announced that all operating units would adopt the purple and orange logo over the next five years, the same colours as the original FedEx logo and later used by FedEx Express.
What to test
Examine the mark first as a word and then as an arrangement of filled and empty shapes. Compare it with the same name set in an ordinary typeface. Where does the arrow disappear, and which adjustments restore it? The exercise shows how spacing and letter construction can carry meaning together, while leaving open whether a viewer notices the second reading immediately.
