Follow the arrow: Hidden designs in famous logos

There is an arrow hidden in the FedEx logo. (If you’ve never noticed, go take a look, and prepare to be blown away.)The clever use of the negative space between the last two letters has won the logo several awards and makes it one of the most effective ever created. Design guru Stephen Bayley included it in his list of the But is this an effective strategy for logo design? “On one hand, yes, because these logos seek to identify a branded product or service in very economical and immediate ways using humor to invoke a positive response,” McNeil said. But today, he said, there is a trend towards plainer and more direct design, as evident from the logos of many major corporations such as Facebook and Google.McNeil’s favorite logo is Gianni Bortolotti’s design for a defunct Italian company called ED — Elettro Domestici (“electric appliances” in Italian). By simply using the letters “ED” and negative space, it elegantly forms the shape of an electrical plug. “It is a model of constraint without any superfluous elements,” McNeil said.The ED logo doubles as an electrical plug. Credit: from logolog.co”Paul Rand’s IBM logo is also quite remarkable — its exchange of positive and negative forms is incredibly subtle and evocative. But I’d have to say that the ancient Yin Yang symbol will always surpass every other visual sign of this kind by far.”