Description
A tile at Dufferin subway station has been put in upside down, creating an unsightly gap between the "I" and the "N".
As noted urbanist Richard Florida argues, attracting the "creative class" (e. g. white men with thick-rimmed glasses and iPads) is essential to a city's prosperity. One can do so by investing in condos, trendy coffeeshops, and smart branding involving a lot of Archer or perhaps Gotham. Toronto has done quite well on this front. However, such a visible typographical error in Toronto's trendy west end indicates, intentionally or not, that municipal government has deprioritized the most forward-thinking sort of economic development. We may conclude that our kind is not wanted here, and migrate to a city with a more aesthetically pleasing public transit system, such as London or Montreal. A creative class exodus would undoubtedly result in financial disaster along the lines of Greece or Spain, leaving Toronto a barren postapocalyptic dystopia where the subway tunnels house grizzled CHUDs pushing SUV-sized strollers full of food looted from Pusateri's. And we wouldn't want that to happen, would we?
Please get them to turn the tile the right side up. Thank you!
EDIT: We made the Fixer! THE STAR GETS ACTION. http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer/2013/01/30/big_fuss_over_a_small_letter_at_dufferin_ttc_station.html
46 Commentaires
Emma M. (Invité)
TheFixer (Invité)
Jamin (Invité)
Dean Mellis (Utilisateur inscrit)
Neville Park (Invité)
@Jamin: Augh! Now I can't unsee it.
@Dean Mellis: An interesting proposal, though it may be too late for Dufferin Station, which is undergoing a planned revitalization. Perhaps we should put this before the TTC board for consideration…
TorontoWriter (Invité)
Dean Mellis (Utilisateur inscrit)
88888888 (Invité)
Jules (Utilisateur inscrit)
bc (Invité)
wheelyweb (Utilisateur inscrit)
John Dope (Invité)
SloopJohnB (Utilisateur inscrit)
Aidan (Invité)
Baylink (Utilisateur inscrit)
I see the Amazon reviewers have gotten bored.
This is going viral; be warned. :-)
Thomas Evers (Utilisateur inscrit)
Thomas Evers (Utilisateur inscrit)
DL (Invité)
maurice (Invité)
wheelyweb (Utilisateur inscrit)
Dude! You should have selected inside the tile, not outside. now it looks srsly wonky!
#PSn00b
:(
wheelyweb (Utilisateur inscrit)
88888888 (Invité)
Neville Park (Invité)
Jamin (Invité)
Chris (Utilisateur inscrit)
Thomas Evers (Utilisateur inscrit)
duff_bloor (Invité)
DL (Invité)
Boobies (Invité)
Dufferi n (Invité)
Iamnoskcaj (Invité)
TaylorP (Invité)
Grrrr (Invité)
Tim K (Invité)
Scott Knitter (Utilisateur inscrit)
grafikmilkdesign (Invité)
Hectoria (Invité)
Larry Fellini (Invité)
sister1 (Invité)
grafikmilkdesign (Invité)
I'm sure if any bank out there found themselves in the same predicament they would fix it immediately.
You never notice good design or kerning because you expect it. But many people work hours to get that stuff right and well-designed.
That tile could be taken out in a second and put the right way.
grafikmilkdesign (Invité)
wheelyweb (Utilisateur inscrit)
You BOTH mis the point. Sister1: It was a humorous hipster-y dig at design,m but not really, because, @ grafikmilkdesign, the real problem has nothing to do with design AT ALL, but on instructing the tiler properly, and not putting a "this way up" sign on he back of the tile. So it has absolutely nothing to do with design (unless you bring that discussion about the "U" on board), and everything to do with a little too much time on their hands to bait the people with reduced humour cells. :-)
grafikmilkdesign (Invité)
@wheelyweb.
Of course it has to do with design and kerning. and yah of course it was a DIG. i get that. But I'm choosing to answer about the design. Everything does not have to get reduced to humour. Which i have plenty of. Sure it's so funnnnnny. there was no 'THIS SIDE UP' on back of tile. Or maybe there was, and the person did it on purpose. Or chose to ignore it, or was too thoughtless to read or care. I do not expect that the 'tiler' knew about kerning. The error was that no one was aware that the placement of the 'N' on the tile, would require instructions like the 'O' 'H' "I' 'M?' 'S' 'U?' 'W?' and 'X' -- but typography took the fall.
Poor design and terrible typography is everywhere, and rarely do designers get a chance to comment. For the record. The 'F's are too bold, an the "U" too thin, but who is commenting about that? The font is old and not a mishmash as one commenter said. It's an old deco font, that has become degraded over time. Maybe photocopier machines are still being used somewhere in the process. Or the templates/letters are very old.
What's humourous is the humourous people can't be serious now and then. There ARE millions of things far more important in the world than kerning. But that does not mean that correct kerning is unimportant or should not matter. Would people get on a white plane with absolutely no graphics or logo's. I'd bet, some, if not many, would not - they would wait for the logo-ed aircraft. But does that affect affect the safety aspect? I digress.... good design is a message -- that details matter. And a corporation like the TTC should get that. In London or New York that tile would be flipped 180 degrees in a week.
wheelyweb (Utilisateur inscrit)
@ grafikmilkdesign
it's logos, BTW, as punctuation matters as much as kerning. I for one have always extolled the value of design, and how it can positively improve many people's experiences of a product or service.
There are lots of great arguments for good design but I'll take a few of your points.
First off, people would avoid a white-label plane because it isn't "owned" by an airline, not because it hasn't an attractive logo. I can't imagine people stopping the boarding of their plane because of a dislike for the branding on the tail-fin, do you? If So I'd be jumping off a few dozen badly attired planes a year!
As for London amending that tile in a week, I had to catch my breath after ROTFL. Having just returned from there, where the lift at a popular station remained unrepaired for over 3 weeks, forcing people with heavy shopping and large baggage (over the xmas-New Year holiday period when many have more than average to carry) to climb two long flights of stairs. I would consider that good service of keeping the station in good repair much more important than kerning of a sign, and it appears from the comments that people here also value for money a big issue, over design.
But for sure, let the TTC know they need to feed that U a bit more and take the Fs for a bit of a jog to the next station so that they revisit their typography for any new signage plans.
:-)
happy kerning!
grafikmilkdesign (Invité)
I'm from the UK, you may have a point. but if it were near the design museum they might fix it quickly...
As far as the plane goes. I'm suggesting a test case. Best Airline in the world. Singapore Airlines maybe. One plane stripped bare, one plane with logos. My suggestion is that even though passengers know its as safe. The design, logo, great kerning makes them feels that more care will also be given to the flight. Im just saying'... if you gave people the option. White plane or logo-ed plane they still would venture toward the decaled one. Just a thought?
Happy kerning indeed! That said, the purposeful badly kerned word has merit too. But it's all about intention, isnt it?
p.s. i would avoid bad kerning...
seekaybee (Utilisateur inscrit)