While doing research for this class this week, I noticed something that I never really paid attention to. I noticed that my neighborhood was such a commercialized area. It seemed like there were small businesses than places to live. I really never realized this because I have lived in Flatbush all my life so it always felt normal for me to be bombarded by advertisements, people handing out flyers, people sliding flyers under my apartment door and seeing business signs everywhere. I also learned that  there are many self-starters in my area. The amount of independent businesses outweighs the amount of major business chains. There are a lot of restaurants owned by regular people that have lasted just as long if not longer than major food chains. There is another small business in my neighborhood called Bulletproof which has lasted since I was a child. It is a video game and comic book store that is still thriving even with big name stores such as Target and Gamestop moving in that sell the same products. This goes to show that it is possible for normal hardworking people to succeed against the machines as long as they continue to sell great products and get support from the community.

Nice bold san serif font.

Well designed and lovely scripted font.

Carvel Robinson

Type & Media ADV 1167

1/31/14

Typography is mainly everywhere in this day and age. Not many people notice it but it’s everywhere. In my neighborhood Far Rockaway, there’s not many typography that’s located in that area unfortunately. Apart from stores, supermarkets, hospitals and schools there isn’t much type associated with where I live. When you look around it’s hard to find a place that has a unique kind of type that stands out from the rest. It seems as if everything that’s written in my neighborhood uses the same font, a lucky guess would be Helvetica. Mainly is an easy to read font and it’s used everywhere. The only place that might have a different kind of font is probably the salons/barbershops. Those place try and play around with typography a bit just to show a different type of feel to it. They also can do that because they already of symbols or images that portray what they are.  You won’t find a lot of type based design in my neighborhood. The most type based design you would find is graffiti and there’s barely any. I haven’t seen any type in my neighborhood where it stood and that’s memorable. Everything is mostly the same and is somewhat boring. It’s fun to see typography and different type treatments with words on buildings and even build boards, too bad you won’t find that in Far Rockaway. I try looking for symbols, signs or images in type on a lot of different places but could hardly find any. The closet I’ve come to finding image in type is the Key Food Supermarket logo and it just has a key in the name. Not really much of a typography design but that’s the only thing I can say that stands out from the rest. Hopefully in the future there will be more type treatment that goes into making my neighborhood a little more fun when it comes to typography.

My neighborhood is a quiet and calm area. Not much goes on. However, this relative peace wasn’t available many years back.  At one point in my neighborhoods history, small gangs existed, and they were quite active. As a result of their presence, there is a lot of graffiti on the buildings. Much of the graffiti has been painted over in the course of time, yet there still exists a few examples of the neighborhoods dark times. Of course, not all graffiti is related to gangs. A few vandals have left behind their marks as well.

My neighborhood now is composed of three large ethnic groups; Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern peoples. There are quite a few delicatessens around as well as a Mosque and Church.

A large number of Asians have settled into Broadway Ave, a few blocks away from where I live.

There is a lot of Chinese and Korean writing advertising their wares and businesses. Overall, my neighborhood is a straight reflection of the typography that is seen throughout the streets.