Fonts in Obscurity

D

DanielMartin

Member
I might be 16 , but I'm angered at the way , evne basic fonts are used in so called " Logo's " , I remember a few years ago when i was 12 - 13 , going past a builders yard with a sign on its main building " Noel Clay's Building Merchants " , in Times NewRoman and I was thinking What the complete and utter f*** is that for a logo ? I'm sorry but so many so called " Designers " who get paid real MONEY to what seems to be just whacking any old crappy font on a white background and calling it a logo , which leads me into the main idea about Fonts in Obscurity. I think many people are starting to take Fonts out of context , as we progress in our ideas about design , and theres two sides when compared with developing Ideas with fonts , the secondary idea is that fonts can really be explored in the way they can be used to captivate and draw in new audiences by posing different forms and being used within clever ground breaking advertising campaigns HOWEVER , there are also fonts such as , Verdana for example , I saw that used on an advert for a local chip shop , now ... explain to me the connection between VERDANA and CHIPS ? I don't believe designers get paid to produce crap like that ,


Regards
 
DanielMartin said:
I might be 16 , but I'm angered at the way , evne basic fonts are used in so called " Logo's " , I remember a few years ago when i was 12 - 13 , going past a builders yard with a sign on its main building " Noel Clay's Building Merchants " , in Times NewRoman and I was thinking What the complete and utter f*** is that for a logo ? I'm sorry but so many so called " Designers " who get paid real MONEY to what seems to be just whacking any old crappy font on a white background and calling it a logo , which leads me into the main idea about Fonts in Obscurity. I think many people are starting to take Fonts out of context , as we progress in our ideas about design , and theres two sides when compared with developing Ideas with fonts , the secondary idea is that fonts can really be explored in the way they can be used to captivate and draw in new audiences by posing different forms and being used within clever ground breaking advertising campaigns HOWEVER , there are also fonts such as , Verdana for example , I saw that used on an advert for a local chip shop , now ... explain to me the connection between VERDANA and CHIPS ? I don't believe designers get paid to produce crap like that ,


Regards
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But I'm sure that Noel Clay isn't a huge business and is more likely just getting signage printed up to write his name - the signage company would no doubt have just placed the text on.

Likewise the local chip shop - it no doubt isn't a designer but is probably just the chip shop owner writing up his message on his home printer.

I get the overall argument, but lots of the time like that it isn't necessarily a designer responsible.
 
DanielMartin said:
no but surely to maximize their potential , they should create a brand thats easily recognizable ?
Click to expand...

Ideally yes, but for many occasions I'd say it isn't necessary - your local chippy, for example, is just the local chippy! Everyone knows the chippy, if you wants chips you go there and they don't really need to run big advertising campaigns and brand development and so on, it's just the chippy.

It's a little different perhaps for takeaways as they deliver menu flyers and other such literature, but things like a small poster in the chippy window I think isn't quite the same.
 
If you're the owner of Harry Ramsden's Fish & Chips you get a designer to create a logo and develop your brand because their business has the money and resources and this is one of only a few chip shop in the UK that attracts customers from much further afield than the local community.

If you open up a new chip shop in any town in the UK, you call up a signwriters and say you want a blue sign with big text that stands out. You might also get 500 business cards at the same time for £25.

While a designer might be able to make the logo look better and possibly attract extra customers, the reason 99% of the customers visit the shop is because the make nice chips. The customers don't care about the logo, they just want nice chips and great service.

From a business point of view, the owners of the chip shop don't need to spend a few hundred pounds employing a designer when the sign-writer has already done a perfectly good job of creating a sign that says 'Chip Shop'.
 
The question is really - does the owner want to maintain the ultimate position of the local chippy that (hopefully) makes nice chips or something more.

Would they like to increase demand by attracting customers travelling greater distance, offer a wider menu with greater margin potential, expand the range (premium fish, fresh fish, shell fish, etc), open additional shops building the brand which has become recognisable and associated with quality.

That's the choice. Of course finance is a finite resource and a decision has to be made re: reinvestment or drawings.

Aspire to greater things. A sign is never just a sign (unless it's temporary).

Discuss.
 
Minuteman Press said:
The question is really - does the owner want to maintain the ultimate position of the local chippy that (hopefully) makes nice chips or something more.

Would they like to increase demand by attracting customers travelling greater distance, offer a wider menu with greater margin potential, expand the range (premium fish, fresh fish, shell fish, etc), open additional shops building the brand which has become recognisable and associated with quality.

That's the choice. Of course finance is a finite resource and a decision has to be made re: reinvestment or drawings.

Aspire to greater things. A sign is never just a sign (unless it's temporary).

Discuss.
Click to expand...

I think in respect to the local chippy though it is just that, isn't it? People typically aren't going to be travelling long distances to go to the chippy, it's the one you can wander over the road and pick up your chips.

Whether they look at turning from this local chippy into a chip shop franchise or something like that, of course, is a different matter and where I would agree that signs and logos and so on could start to become more influential.
 
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