The assignment for week two, was to go out and photograph four signs. Two that we thought were successful, two that weren’t so successful, and then to redesign one of the unsuccessful ones.
For the most part, the signs that I liked, all had a clear theme and clean design. These designs made it easy to see why they were chosen for their respective businesses.
Vivi Bubble Tea is a fun and light hearted sign that clearly displays what you’re getting when you walk in the door. I find the skulls to be a playful take on the tapioca balls that are in bubble tea, further driving home what the business is. It’s memorable without being overly in your face.
Max Brenner is a chocolate shop that I pass everyday on my way to class. The first thing that struck me before I really understood that it wasn’t just a bakery, was that it’s signage reminded me of a chocolate bar. Once again, it’s very clear what you’re getting, especially since the sign has not only the name, but the logo and a tagline. Even with with all of that, it doesn’t feel too heavy or busy.
The signs that I feel didn’t do as well were either too busy, required the uses of sign and awning to make sense, bad color combination, or played unsuccessfully with improper spelling.
The sign for JP street feels too busy and requires (at least for me) the awning to really make sense of what kind of restaurant it is. As it was the sign that first drew me in, it took me a few minutes to realize what kind of food they served from a distance. The brown awning, while in keeping with the building and wood facade, feels out of place combined with the red and white sign.
Unik Wax Center’s sign has a couple of things going wrong for it. The unique spelling combined with the color choices, make it hard to read quickly at a glance. For me, this was the sign that was the most problematic, and so I chose it to redesign. I decided that the best way to update it, was to change the font to something a little more readable and to change the color palate as well.
For my re-design, I decided to make the sign more image based than text. I decided to keep a muted version of the current color scheme, and chose a cleaner font.