For my class Visual Language, we had to take the color hue test. Turns out I have perfect color vision. So if you happen to see me wearing clothes that are not really color-matching and look weird together, well it wont be an unconscious mistake, it will be sophisticated fashion.

The first one is the National Film Board of Canada logo. I like the fact it is bilingual without it being too much. Also, I like the image of the eye or of the person. It feels like it is a human body with an eye instead of a head. Like if it was what we see that makes us who we are.

I also really like the logo of the project At Home, an interactive documentary on homelessness. The issue is really delicate and the logo shows a lot. The “o” is drawn by hand like if some one has been thinking a lot about something. It humanises the logo and shows how complicated is the homelessness situation both for the institutions and the homeless two.

I started working on the ITP logo design by asking myself those questions: what makes ITP unique? What is the vibe of the Faculty and how does it make me feel? To me ITP is a special place where creative people gather to explore who they are and what they want to share using technology. It feels like an blank canevas is offered to every student who are also invited to discover cool and crazy tools to create a personal and original language.

Strangely, the only other place I have been that makes me feel the same as ITP is…Burning Man. It is a temporary utopia during which anything is possible. It is the center of the possible. Same as ITP. Here is a picture of the Man of the 2011 edition I attended.

At night, the city becomes glow stick land. Everything is decorated with colorful glow sticks. I really like the colors.

ITP is more than a faculty, it is an ongoing creative event. Everyday, we become some else and explore new ideas. It feels like ITP is an never ending show, or vernissage. I was thus inspired to research images of cultural events or venues. The neon Man inspired me to look for old cinema and casino neon signs.

Then I started to work on the letters. Trying to display them so I could show ITP is an outside-of-the-box place. I started to create with the negative space.

So I thought it would be great if the logo could show that ITP is an amazing space providing a unique experience to every student. ITP is what you make it be. It is a space you fill with your own creativity. So I started trying to create a logo that would show the out-of-the-box thing as well has the fact ITP is defined by what you bring to it.

It made me think that ITP is underneath my own creativity. People discover my creativity through my projects, but underneath them, there is ITP energy. Like if ITP was the hidden side of reality. Like an iceberg.

So here is what I came up with. A mixture of all the ideas above and an hommage to the beloved floppy disk.

Tattoos and Body Piercing shop

This shop is on 6th Avenue and W 4th Street. The design of the logo is so unclear, I had to cross the street and stand in front of it to try to understand what it means: “Kingdom”. I understand the goal is to have a logo that shows in which creative sphere the tattooists of the shops work in, fantastic and fantasy tales. Role-playing game style. But due to fact the “typo” used is so confusing to the eye, I would strongly suggest using images around the logo instead of the logo itself. Per example, the logo could be clearly written in a typo everyone can easily read. And the rest of the sign could have a design or images that would reflect the shop style.

Havemeyer Meat Shop

This meat shop is situated in a Puerto rican neighborhood in Williamsburg. The shop clearly is the biggest meat shop around. The logo in itself is fine. It is more with the pictures at the street level that I have a problem… Using pictures in a public sign is really hard. Low quality photos look so bad when enlarged. In this case, the pictures are not only of bad quality, but they display meat parts. I understand the shop owner wants to shop the variety of meat he offers, but to me, this sign is really not attractive. Meat parts are not beautiful, even if displayed on a rainbow of bright colors. The second picture on the right is even worst. In addition to the pictures, there is a list of what is available. The typo is really small. I would strongly suggest no pictures of meat would be used at all. A well displayed list of what is available would work better than those images.

The Barber Shop

The same suggestion can be applied to this barber shop sign. I am not sure showing happy shaved men really serves the purpose. I do not know if they are the barbers or if they represent happy clients. At the far right of the sign, there is logo. I think it represents a pocketknife with barbers’ tools. I could not really understand what it meant. It looks like the shop owner want to play with the “gangsters” aesthetic. I would suggest they change the name of the shop use only a logo and no picture. The logo should be bigger and more clear too.

The Restaurant

This restaurant is situated on Braodway right underneath the Marcy stop. The picture I took of it makes the sign actually clearer that what it is in reality. The design of the sign uses a weird texture that is raw and full of small bumps (clearly handmade). It is also a 3D logo. This means, you have to stand right in front of it to read the sign. As if you stand on the side you cannot read the letters. The thing is that the shop is under the Subway stop right where the Exit stairs are. It is thus really hard to stand in front and read the sign. The texture idea is a good one, but in this case, it clearly does not serve the purpose. The sign should be a 2D one and use a typo that we can read.

The bike path

I think the worst sign I have encounter in Brooklyn is the one on the bike path right after you crossed the bridge towards Brooklyn. With the number of people using the bridge bike path every day, you would expect the signage the be really clear. But it is not. Right after you left the bridge, you have to follow (and guess where it is) the bike path. When you found it, you turn right on South 3rd Street to go towards East. Then you can see signs of cyclists painted on the street. BUT, at the end of South 3rd the sign leads you to a one-way street that only goes towards West… in direction of the bridge! This means, you just left the bridge and are guided to follow street signs that bring you back to where you came.

It took me 2 weeks to notice another sign situated…on the sidewalk.

It is a weird circle with an arrow that indicates you should take the sidewalk to go towards East. Than, when you follow the sign, on the sidewalk, you arrive at the bike path…going in the wrong direction. I would strongly suggest the signs are clearly painted on the pavement with line that would lead you to a proper path.

Johannesburg Highway

The prize of confusing highway signs goes to Johannesburg. When you are drive around for the first time, you must slow down before the sign to manage to understand it.