COMD1127 Type & Media, Sp2019

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.

This image above is a form of typography, it is showing viewers that Jimmy Kimmel will be back in Brooklyn, New York to perform his show from October 15 to October 19, 2018. As you can see in the picture the “M’s” are being replaced by the bridges so show his viewers that the performance will be happening in Brooklyn, New York and to convince the viewer to come to the Jimmy Kimmel show to watch something interesting, creative and innovative, so basically the people who created this artwork, can potentially be influenced to come to the show and support Jimmy Kimmel. The colors also made it appealing because they used dark mysterious colors to show the viewers that the show will be happening at night.

        What this type of typography shows about my neighborhood is that my neighborhood is somewhat innovative and creative, as well as one of the most popular neighborhoods in the borough of Brooklyn. The reason as to why I labeled my neighborhood which is Fort Greene as one of the most popular neighborhoods in Brooklyn is because of the fact that this Jimmy Kimmel sign was only in my neighborhood and I did not see this exact sign in any other neighborhood. Another reason that probably contributes to the fact that my neighborhood is popular is because the Barclay Center is close to Fort Greene and the Barclay Center seems to be the heart of Brooklyn, so that is probably one of the reasons as to why my neighborhood receives such special signs with creative forms of typography in them. The reason as to why I labeled my neighborhood as innovative and creative is because of the fact that it takes a good thinker and creator to replace the “M’s” of the Jimmy Kimmel signs as the Brooklyn bridge.

         The typography that I’ve personally witnessed in my neighborhood was somewhat diverse, unique and outside the box. I’ve seen the subway sign which had arrows pointing in opposite directions in the “S” and the “Y”. I’ve seen graffiti in multiple places in my neighborhood used in different ways and different colors, some of the graffiti were written in script while other graffiti was written in big bubble letters, the meanings behind the graffiti words could be negative or positive. In conclusion I feel as if there is no other neighborhood in Brooklyn like Fort Greene because the typography here is well thought out and unique, it captures the viewers attention.

East Flatbush has a lot of random businesses that are usually packed really close together. So sometimes you can see a very wide variety of fonts by just walking down one or two blocks. The character and feeling of the font usually goes with the business, so the styles can vary pretty drastically as the businesses vary from one another. A majority of the fonts I saw had no serifs which gave them a uniform look. This was common for the fonts used by industrial companies such as the ‘Federal Pump Company.’ The font used by the pizza shop has curved serifs and beaks with indents in them. That gives it a classical look, like something you’d see in an old western movie. ‘Federal Pump Company’ on the other hand is more serious and modern. They have letters that are very straight and upright with strong bold lines, sharp edges and minimal spacing. Their navy blue and white color scheme adds to the feeling of professionalism, allowing it to appear as a company you can trust. 

Places like restaurants, hair salons and spas tend to have more playful and curvy fonts that seem a bit more welcoming. However, these fonts can be hard to read at times if they are too elaborate and have many unnecessary curves that hide the structure of the letters. There was a stylized ‘a’ that could be mistaken for the letters ‘o’ or ‘u’ which might leave the viewer confused. Overall, the font in my neighborhood is very diverse. But since things are packed so tightly together, the small details that make a font special are often overlooked when it’s around many other font styles that may be larger or more flamboyant than others.