# An experiment: Tell me if you can see the arrow **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102 "2004-11-29T05:48:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/41 "2004-11-29T21:54:04Z")
> [@Banquet Bear](#): > > …on a slightly different note, the linked logo is for Cantabury of NZ, one of New Zealand’s largest manufacturers of clothing, that have been around longer than I have been born, and I never noticed the kiwi’s until somebody pointed it out here on the dope… > > [http://www.canterburyofnz.com/images/common\_CCC.gif](http://www.canterburyofnz.com/images/common_CCC.gif) > > :smack: So what are you supposed to see if not for the birdies? That’s all I see. Unless those are thinly veiled mountains. ---
**Author:** ![Aagramn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Aagramn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aagramn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/42 "2004-11-29T21:54:16Z")
> [@Salem](#): > > Saw it without the clue, although I will say I’d never noticed it before. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/43 "2004-11-29T22:21:14Z")
I saw it right away, but only because you said to look for an arrow. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/44 "2004-11-29T22:27:32Z")
If I hadn’t known to look for the arrow, I wouldn’t have seen it. Since I did, I went right for the “X” and presto. I saw the birds/CCC and the 11 in the Big Ten without being told though ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/45 "2004-11-30T04:37:56Z")
> [@LorieSmurf](#): > > I noticed it, but only because you said “see the arrow”. If you hadn’t have said that, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. I’ve looked at this logo a zillion times and never noticed it before. That was me too. I chose you to quote becuse I grew up in Oklahoma. What parts you from? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/46 "2004-11-30T05:10:21Z")
Geez, it occurs to me that I never replied to the OP. I was already aware of the arrow – but only because I worked in a shipping department for several years and spent all day looking at it. > [@caphis](#): > > So why can’t you [post the logo]? That sound pretty neat. Ah, now that I’ve dug it up and looked at it again, I’m a bit less enthusiastic about it. Still, here’s [the Spirit Optical logo](http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-11/899072/spirit_logo.jpg). Additionally, there’s another level of hidden text in it. Can anyone “see it”? (I don’t have high expectations, it’s a bit weak.) ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/47 "2004-11-30T06:54:39Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Ah, now that I’ve dug it up and looked at it again, I’m a bit less enthusiastic about it. > > Still, here’s [the Spirit Optical logo](http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-11/899072/spirit_logo.jpg). > > Additionally, there’s another level of hidden text in it. Can anyone “see it”? (I don’t have high expectations, it’s a bit weak.) That doesn’t look at all like what I pictured from your earlier description. Where’s the fashionable lady? All I see is an anvil-like thing and some curvy slanty letters with dots in them. IANA graphic designer, but this logo looks forced. Pretty sad. I liked your description much better. Re the OP, I too saw it immediately but only because I was looking for the arrow. Saw the second one too. Have never noticed either before. Nice job. Also saw the other two “hidden” graphics but only because I was focussing on the negative space. Now, I suspect, I’ll never see what the designers \*had \*intended me to see. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/48 "2004-11-30T06:59:19Z")
> [@Cinnamon Girl](#): > > IANA graphic designer, but this logo looks forced. Pretty sad. I liked your description much better. I would tend to agree with you. I made it a few years ago and hadn’t really looked at it since. I remembered being very pleased with it. Must have been high. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/49 "2004-11-30T07:10:17Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > I would tend to agree with you. I made it a few years ago and hadn’t really looked at it since. I remembered being very pleased with it. Must have been high. Oh crap. You made that? Color me embarassed! I hope I wasn’t too offensive. I’m so sorry. It’s much easier to slam something when you don’t know the creator. I’d have probably been hesitant to comment on it if I’d actually read your first post more carefully. That being the case, if you could design what you described, I think I’d really like that. 🙂 Feel free to virtual-kick me, anyhoo. :o ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/50 "2004-11-30T08:27:43Z")
Ha! No worries, my reevaluation of it was pretty much in line with that, anyway. Fresh eyes. > [@](#): > > It’s much easier to slam something when you don’t know the creator. It’s easier still when you _are_ the creator. Even when people tell you something is fabulous, deep down you know it’s a bit crap. 😃 (The flipside to that is finding old stuff you did thoughtlessly and being pleasantly surprised – so I guess it ain’t _all_ bad.) ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/51 "2004-11-30T14:22:54Z")
Took me maybe three to five seconds. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/52 "2004-11-30T14:47:35Z")
Yeah… got it because I was looking for an arrow. At a casual glance, it doesn’t really pop out. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/53 "2004-12-01T11:49:03Z")
I’m another who got it after a few seconds, but only because I was looking for an arrow. I never noticed it before – and now I’ll see it every time ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102/54 "2004-12-01T14:52:37Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Aye, that’s something that I’ve noticed myself designing logos. > > It’s _really really_ fun and satisfying to create logos that are ambiguously textual/graphic – but they’re problematic because nearly _everybody_ has a blind spot about them. > > The FedEx logo is particularly hard for people to “get” because it makes use of negative space, and the text isn’t particularly stylized, so people look at it in “text mode,” without processing it as a graphic. > > . 😃 I was going to say it is because the arrow thingy is stuck between the words. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-experiment-tell-me-if-you-can-see-the-arrow/277102.md?page=2)