Equinox:
The font for Equinox gym is simple, sanserif font with even thickness and density to the strokes. The shoulders and bowls of the rounded letters are symmetrical and equally sized from letter to letter. The letters are also evenly spaced apart adding to the legibility of the word. The letters are colored in a sort of yin-yang style dividing at the center letter, I. this adds a feeling of balance and symmetry associated with the name which includes part of the word, “equal.” All these feelings one gets from looking at the title further the efforts of the business itself. It is a New York City gym where people go to get healthy, take yoga and relax in saunas; all things that add to ones own feelings of physical balance and feelings of weighted symmetry.
The cultural and literal suggestions from the name, m&m itself connote sweetness, childishness, and playfulness. The text reflects this by having organic rounded bowls and shoulders. Each ‘m’ is the same serif typeface encased in a large representation of an m&m candy giving each ‘m’ even spacing from the other. The letters themselves have uniform stroke weight and are very legible. Furthermore, each giant m&m is spinning on its axis making each different colored m&m visible from a different location at each moment further suggesting a certain playfulness that goes along with the candy.
This sign has a graphic serif font. The decorative style doesn’t detract from the legibility, it enhances it. The letters are equally dense with consistent stroke widths. The rounded spiraling serifs at each letters joint and end suggest the artistic flare of the dramatic arts. The rounded organic lines of the serifs and of the letters themselves further enhances the fact that an herb is part of the title of the theater.
Polonia Polish Restaurant is one of those staples of the East Village that is always open, you always walk by, and NEVER see anyone inside. I’ve lived near this restaurant for a year and not until the past month or so ever noticed what it was called. The font is awkward, tacky and abrasive. The pointed serifs make it difficult to read. The warmth of the red-lit letters combine with the large serifs make the letters seem much closer together than they really are. The black background seeps through the letters in awkward and uneven ways given the geometric or organic shape of the letters. The font is also very inconsistent. It has the letters O, P, and a which normally would all have rounded edges. Only the P maintains this circular shape while the O’s and the a have been given jagged, pointy serifs along the curves. All in all, the letters are awkward and inconsistent, much like the restaurant’s appearance itself.
Caracas is a very successful East Village arepas bar and restaurant; this isn’t relected in the typography of their sign. The name of the business is one word however the sign has it divided in two making it confusing and relatively illegible. While the letters have even strokes and similar curvature, they are all slightly different making the name seem further disjointed. There are two different styles for the letter A. one
makes the letter appear backwards and awkward to serve a graphical purpose connecting it with the C while the third A is normal. The two C’s are also different. One has a decorative pattern filling the bowl and a small serif coming from its back making the name further unbalanced. The letters are awkwardly connected making the spacing inconsistent as well.
