The Arabic FedEx Logo: Design Challenges and Adaptations

The Arabic FedEx Logo was something I had to look at, before an opportunity to work on an identity project with a client in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, for ADXPRS. With this possibility I needed to brush up on certain skills: namely how typography, visual brand imagery and the actual finished logo design will need to translate to Arabic whilst keeping a clear brand link between the two.

Translating Brand Names to Arabic

This new client sent me some homework to absorb: examples of famous brands that have been translated to Arabic including the Arabic FedEx logo. I was also passed some interesting information on the how-to of Arabic logo translation: “The general trend is to create the exact phonetic spelling of the brand name, and not the meaning of the brand name of which there can be a huge difference.”

It is explained further, thus: “Subway is the name of a famous sandwich shop, and it literally means ‘the subway’ or ‘underground’. The Arabic adaptation is purely graphic, and when read it just sounds exactly like ‘Subway’ and not the Arabic word for ‘underground’ which is usually ‘Metro’.”

The Official Arabic FedEx Logo and Its Features

I know the Arabic version of the FedEx logo is not new, but I think this is one of the few times I have actually seen it and paid attention to it. There are a few smatterings of the logo around the net, but finding a half decent image of the Arabic FedEx logo has been a fruitless task. The only versions I have found are photographs of the logo on the side of vans, and even then they are of questionable quality. You can see the official Arabic FedEx logo on the website.

The few existing blogs that have referenced the Arabic FedEx logo have pointed out the implementation of the negative space arrow within the Arabic version. Given Arabic is read right-to-left it then makes sense that the negative space arrow follows this same reading direction as well as the design logic of the original FedEx logo. It’s a heck of a lot easier to spot the negative space arrow in the Arabic version due to the typography constraints, but it’s still a decent translation/conversion. Surely not an envious task to have been responsible for the Arabic version of the FedEx logo? Let’s hope expectations were suitably realistic.

Unofficial Versions and Design Criticisms

Interestingly there is a unofficial version of the Arabic FedEx logo on Behance and Deviant Art. As far as I can tell is a reimagined idea of how it should look like according to this particular designer. The important distinction is that the original version has the infamous arrow located entirely in the red type, as it indeed should be? The concept version has the arrow sandwiched between the Fedex Pantone Purple 2685 and Pantone Red 186 letters for some reason I can’t fully grasp. I‘m certainly not in a position to make any kind of judgement on this version given my total inability to read Arabic, but I would be interested to know the rational behind the positioning of the negative space arrow.

FedEx logo and its struggles in a foreign environment (09.05.2016) I see a huge problem in the two comments/blog posts I have found on the Internet about the Arabic version of FedEx logo. The first states: “The Arabic version of the FedEx logo is an interesting one. The biggest challenge in its creation was to recreate the famous white space arrow. The result is excellent, the colors already tell you which company it is even though you can’t read Arabic, but the arrow was created at the almost same spot in the logo, obviously it has to point the other way.”

As a student learning Arabic, and knowing it on the Elementary Level, I can tell that there are some fundamental problems in this match-making logo. This logo might be shape-appealing and exotic to people who cannot read Arabic. However, a person who is somehow familiar with the language would immediately see that this Arabic version of the logo is inacceptable. Firstly, this version of “FedEx” obviously violates the rules of Arabic language and lettering. The part of “sin” is just chopped off in order to feet the “negative arrow.” Secondly, the size of “fa” (the first purple letter) is ridiculous; it is not supposed to be the same height as “kaf” (the letter with multiple curves, orange). Thirdly, there is no space between the purple part of the logo and its orange part: HOWEVER, these letters cannot be connected in Arabic.

Another post was written by Graham Smith. However, both of the Arabic FedEx logos he wrote about are bad. And they do violate rules of the language.

Designing a Better Arabic FedEx Logo

So, a week ago we as a class “Types of Art” were given a task to try to create a better version of Arabic match making FedEx logo design. We had only an hour and fifteen minutes of the class time. Some of the designs produced by the end of the class were really good and interesting. I will share my sketches not because they are the best, but just for the simple reason that I posses the “copyright” and the image.

Let me now explain why I think that even my sketch is slightly better than the two versions you have seen previously. Its short description and analyses can be found bellow:

The above image presents the current Latin and the new matching Arabic logo for FedEx company. This Arabic spelling introduces transliteration of the Latin name of the company. It also compliments the number of letters used in the inicial logotype (3 for Fed, 2 for Ex). The same way as the Latin version, Arabic one is done in two colors (dark blue - almost purple - for «Fed», orange for «Ex»). Since the style of the initial logo is not very decorative and contains simple and balanced sans-serif letters, the Arabic logo is based on the Kufic style, with references to the shapes of the letters used in the Latin version of the logo. The important distinguishing feature of the logo (the arrow) was saved. However, its placement (now between «Fed» and «Ex») and direction (now: right to left) were changed, as this is the only way to do introduce this element to the new logo without violating the rules of Arabic language. The height of Arabic letters compliments the «x-height» of the Latin logo. The overshoot - as well as the shape of the bowl - of «fa» (the first dark blue letter on the right) is based on the «d» shape from the Latin version of the logo. The height of the «kaf» (the first orange letter on the right in Arabic version) is based on the «cap-height» of the Latin logo. The dots are placed based on the «ascender and descender heights» of the initial logo. The thickness of stroke in Arabic version is almost the same as the one used for the Latin logo, and the angle of «kaf» was took from the angle of both diagonal stems of the Latin «x.» The spacing in Arabic version is complementing the Latin shape of capital «F» in «Fed»-part of the logo (space between its two horizontal crossbars (further: «arms»)). The rhythm of Arabic log is also harmonized in the «Ex»-part.