logos

Before I read my mail on AOL every day, I usually look at the AOL main page to see if theres anything there that I might be interested in. Last week there was an article, along with a quiz, about identifying the correct logo between two for various popular companies. I took the quiz and ended up scoring at 19/20, which is funny because I don't consciously notice logos and signs, but the ones on the quiz were so iconic that it was immediately obvious to me which was the fake and which was the real.

While looking through the power point, it struck me as interesting that Paul Rand has designed so many of today's popular brands (shown below). I started thinking about what it is that makes a brand's icon successful and memorable.
I think the ideal icon is simple, clever and easy to identify. One icon that I have always recognized as especially clever is that of FedEx. Ever since someone pointed out to me that the space between the "E" and the "x" forms a left pointing arrow, I have always noticed the simple effectiveness of this logo.