LONG ago, there was a Federal Express office or dropoff/retail location at #56 Duane and Elk Streets near Foley Square. (A couple of weekends ago I was puttering around on Duane Street from west to east. Unfortunately I was there around 10 AM, not the greatest time because of sun angle, and a lot of the photos are “glary,” though they’ll find their way onto a post sooner or later. On an awning, my eagle eyes spotted a former Federal Express logo. My brain went back to a very short-lived evening book compositing job I had around 1994 or so in the West Village. I was there for so short a time I don’t remember the name of the place.
It was across the street from a lot where a bunch of Federal Express vans were parked and for the first time, I took note of its new purple and orange logo using the Futura Bold font. When Ilook at it, I always think the registry, i.e. the place where the colors abut at the d and the E, was a bit off. Perhaps on the vans they are, but on print versions as here, they don’t, so it coule be just my imagination. Working in the print biz, I was always sensitive to this kind of thing.
Federal Express, unlike American Express, is relatively new. It was founded by Frederick Smith in 1971, who hoped to attract business from the Federal Reserve. The original logo, as seen here, was red, white and blue in print, but not on this awning, which is in two colors, brown and white. The second logo used the original font, but abbreviated the name to FEDEX and introduced purple and orange. The present logo is the third iteration. If you look closely, part of the design is a white arrow formed by the space between the tightly kerned E and x. The “hidden arrow” trick was also used by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign (though the red arrow was more obvious). Some type mavens pointed out the logo was irrational as the arrow was Republican red and pointed to the right. But it’s almost impossible to design a logo in which the arrows points left, or “backward.”
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7/1/26
2 comments
Today you can drop off Fed Ex items at Walgreens stores.
Barry Goldwater’s 1964 campaign also used a rightward pointing arrow.