The old Formula 1 logo is a perfect example: hidden in the blank space between the letter F and those red streaks is a one.

An effective strategy to get people to remember, and forever recognise, your brand?

According to Paul McNeil, a typographic designer and lecturer at the London College of Communication, yes:

“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.

However, on the other hand, today’s logo trend is for a plainer, more direct design, which we have seen in the logos of major corps such as Facebook and Google, reports CNN.

But those are boring.

McNeil’s favourite logo is Gianni Bortolotti’s design for a defunct Italian electrical company called ED, the negative space elegantly forming the shape of a plug:

Can you see it? It’s an E and a D combined:

“It is a model of constraint without any superfluous elements,” McNeil said.

Indeed.

Sometimes -in fact, many times – the hidden element blends so well that it’s only obvious when pointed out. Here are a few of the most famous examples:

Before it was absorbed by Delta in 2008, Northwest Airlines used a logo designed by Landor Associates, the same studio that made the FedEx logo. The circle and the arrow create a compass pointing to the northwest; but the arrow, together with the “N,” also creates a “W” that has part of its left leg removed.

The logo for the Tour de France includes a cyclist. The body is the letter “R,” while the “O” and the yellow sun make up the wheels.

Widely recognized as one of the best ever designed, FedEx’s logo is highly effective for a number of reasons, not just because of its hidden arrow, according to typography expert Paul McNeil: “The key functions of any logo are to identify, to attract and to inform in the most compact, immediate and memorable ways possible. The Fedex logo achieves this through a number of visual tactics, not least of which is the amendment of the name itself from the lugubrious, archaic and official-sounding Federal Express to the much more concise, simple, vernacular form of Fedex,” he said in an email interview.

The round part of the logo of South Korean electronics manufacturer LG is made up of the letters “L” and “G,” but also resembles a winking human face. Interestingly, rotating it slightly to the right and interlocking the “L” and the “G” turns it into Pac-Man.

Before switching to a new logo in 2017, Formula 1 racing held onto this one for 23 years. The letter “F” and the red speed marks on the right beautifully create the number “1” in the middle through negative space. Apparently this wasn’t evident to most viewers, prompting the redesign.

Although its headquarters is in nearby San Jose, the logo of networking hardware company Cisco Systems is a homage to San Francisco, both in the name itself and in the design, which represents the Golden Gate Bridge.

The logo of German car maker BMW was long thought to represent a stylized aircraft propeller against a blue sky background, in a reference to BMW’s historic past as a manufacturer of airplane engines. More recently, however, the company has clarified that the roundel actually represents the flag of Bavaria, the German federal state where the company originated. The association with planes was apparently born out of a single 1929 ad that featured the logo next to an actual propeller plane.

The current Amazon logo was introduced in 2000, replacing an older version that had a yellow downward curve underlining “amazon.com.” The curve was flipped to resemble a smile, but also turned into an arrow that starts with the letter “A” and ends with a dimple under the “Z.” A press release from the time clarifies that this is meant to emphasize that Amazon offers everything, from A to Z.

The Toblerone chocolate bar originates from the Swiss city of Bern, which sits not far from the famous Matterhorn mountain that is depicted in its logo. But if you look closely inside the mountain, you’ll see the actual symbol of Bern: a bear.

And now you know.

Not sure why, but I have serious craving for chocolate.

[source:cnn]