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The I-s Have It

By Peter Lloyd

Saying there is no I in team is like saying there are no letters in words, no words in stories, no stories in books, no books on trucks, no trucks in fleets, no fleets in FedEx, no FedEx in the pantheon of world-class logos. You might as well say there’s no arrow in the FedEx logo.

The legendary, award-littered FedEx logo has something to teach creative people and not just graphic designs. They already fawn over it.

In contrast, the old, short-sighted adage that discounts the importance of the individual in a team fails to remind creative people that great teams consist of fiercely independent but well synchronized I-s, all working, as the Landor FedEx team did, toward a clear goal.

illustrationFred Smith, the CEO of FedEx demanded only two things according to reporting by Matthew May in The Story Behind The Famous FedEx Logo, And Why It Works.

Every element of design had to be justified and the result highly visible. Did the product of creative teamwork and 200 individual design concepts pull it off?

Like Lindon Leader, the individual who placed it, the arrow in the FedEx logo rises above the words, shape, colors, and contrasts as the hero. It says more, does more, and sticks so much more effectively than the rest of the iconic mark.

Consider the smile in the amazon.com logo or the compass point in the Northwest Airlines logo.

illustration    illustration

The element that stands out from the rest, the thing that distinguishes the whole from other’s in its class is always individualistic. As long as it delivers the message and moves that message toward the marketing goal, the individual rules.

For one more look at the fallacy of “no I-s in team,” enjoy this Budweiser commercial, courtesy of Paula Rosch.



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Peter Lloyd worked for more than two decades in the advertising business as a writer and creative director for small and large agencies and eventually on his own as a freelance writer.

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