Month: February 2019

I live in Great Kills on Staten Island. I can neither defend nor deny the opinions many New Yorkers have about my borough, but I do have to say I enjoy living in the most rural part of the city. My neighborhood is full of many competing businesses trying to win over the different members of the community. We have a main road that runs through the center of town called Amboy Road. This is where most people find themselves if they need something to eat, have to go grocery shopping or just need to grab something from the liquor store. 

The entire town is filled with tons of delis, pizzerias and basic services like optometrists and financial assistants. My neighborhood seems to have everything one could possibly need, and I feel that shows in the photos I was able to take. Most stores have neon lights that compliment one another rather than clutter or outshine the ones around it. I selected the picture above specifically for this reason. I feel that it best represents the wide variety of services my neighborhood has to offer. It truly showcases that my community is very well rounded. 

Some of the other photos in my journal showcase the sometimes lack of diversity within my neighborhood. The abundance of pizzerias and Italian restaurants constantly remind you of how rich of a history Italian-Americans have in my neighborhood. Working in the area and walking around town constantly reminds me that there just aren’t as many people of color in my neighborhood as there are at the schools I’ve gone to or the internships I’ve been a part of. The lack of diversity is one of the reasons I plan on leaving the borough eventually. 

(I also included this photo of my dog peeing on the welcome sign to my neighborhood because it sums up how most teenagers feel about Great Kills growing up.)

In my neighborhood, the typography of the street is very plentiful. Most of the store on the street are food and drinks. I took the photo of typography of the stores, notice board, and restaurants.

Most of the typography is in Sans-serif. The Picture of typography I choose is in San-serif. I choose this to represent for my neighborhood because it is in San-serif and that was my favorite store for buying drinks. the design of the sign is not monotonous as other stores, it looks like written by markers.

There are many businesses in East New york that use different types of typefaces to appeal to the people passing by their stores. The most frequent typeface that i saw was San Serif but the typography presented in the Duane reade sign above is very unique.  The “Duane” in the Duane reade sign is bolded compared to the “reade” in the name. Duane also seems to have a Sans Serif typeface while reade has a serif typeface. I feel like the use of Sans Serif in this sign shows a very direct and serious tone of the store along with the black and white colors. Even though the “reade” in the sign isnt bolded the contrast of the “Duane” in the name being bolded mkes the sign very noticeable to me. Another thing that makes the sign noticeable is the straight black background, The store takes up the corner of the block so the black background goes all the way around.

There are many small businesses running down Nostrand Ave so I decided to stroll down that part of my neighborhood expecting to find many different types of fonts to capture. Strolling down the long Avenue I noticed that most businesses opted to use Sans Serif typefaces for their awnings, and I feel it’s due to it being very straightforward, clean, and legible.  Some newer businesses tried out fancy and unique typefaces but sometimes fell short as they weren’t the most straightforward and sometimes just not legible at all. Another thing I noticed is that mostly beauty stores and hair salons generally chose script or curvy fonts to represent their business, maybe to seem more classy and fresh. As I approached near Brooklyn College in the junction, I saw that a lot of the businesses on a certain strip of the block had very big and bold, clear cut fonts, also pertaining to the Sans Serif family, and I feel it’s because they want to be immediately seen and understood; There’s a ton of stores and competition in the area, so being straightforward and to the point help people find what they need quickly, especially in such a high traffic area regardless of how potentially boring and even unappealing the fonts can be. My featured picture is of a childcare center; I found this to be the most creative and appealing font that conveyed their message. They’re fun and playful and are definitely aimed towards children, and I also thought it was cool that they put legs under the ‘2’ to convey the idea of ‘leaping to success’.

Typography is presented in the photo above, with almost several of fonts used to convey the audience’s attention that draws them to the stores. Dunkin Donuts and Check Cash place has a San serif type family. To differ the round san serifs and equally spaced bold font allows people to read easily and straightforward. In Checks Cash, tall modern san serif bold typeface creates a more modern approach as well as drawing attention of older audiences. Not only is it a modern approach, but more assertive in a bold text. In the second sign, the Liquor and Wine has a casual script type family with few less swatches and creates a more legible font for the older audience as well. The third sign has a mixture of old style and modern with no san serif to connotate the old fashion style they have with a mixture of modernization.

The more fonts I saw in my neighborhood, had the ideal 5 family type there, where it creates a welcoming sign to all ages. Nail salons and Spa’s had more of script and curvy fonts to make you feel more approachable to the store. As for kids stores, there are more fonts that have bolder round color type face to attract the attention of younger kids. I had saw very few old style serif fonts, where all stores had seemingly transitioned into the modern style with no san serif and with either kerning to fit all the writing in one space or to create a flowy type where people can read easily.